Cork boss happy with result but not 'strolling around' second-half display

Cork led by 15 at the break against Limerick but scored just six points in the second half. They will play Tipperary in the Munster SFC semi-finals

Cork manager John Cleary: "It’s great to get lessons when you win a match. We’re disappointed and we won by nine.” Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Switched off and strolling around. So went the assessment of Cork manager John Cleary when asked about his team’s strangely subpar second-half effort in their Munster SFC quarter-final against Limerick.

Having reached half-time 4-10 to 0-7 in front, and with the backing of a strong breeze to come, Cork were on course to better the 21-point winning margin from their 2019 Munster clash with the Treaty.

Instead, they managed no score at all in the 16 minutes after the break. And managed just six points thereafter.

“Happy with the first half, happy with the result, not happy with the second half. Simple as that,” Cleary began.

But was it that simple? What were the factors in the second-half unplugging; attitude, complacency, a lack of ruthlessness?

“We spoke about it at half-time that we’ve been here before and our second half has been poor enough. I think, maybe, lads switched off and thought the game was won. Fellas were strolling around. Couldn’t get our hands on ball.

“This isn't the first time this has happened this year. Against Offaly, we had the game put to bed. Against Kildare, they came back in. It is not a lack of fitness because there are other days where we have finished very well.

“But with this modern game, if you lose momentum, it is going to be very difficult. Being down to 14 men for 27 minutes, you have only 10 defending against 11, it is a big, big punishment. We suffered big time for it in the second half.

“We’ll definitely address it and work on it. It’s great to get lessons when you win a match. We’re disappointed and we won by nine.” 

Reference to Cork’s numerical disadvantage was the 10 minutes Brian O’Driscoll spent in the sin-bin at the beginning of the second-half, before picking up a yellow card on 53 minutes.

The black should never have been. Not to O’Driscoll anyway. It was Micheál Aodh Martin who hauled down Robbie Childs for the Limerick penalty.

“I didn't see it properly at the time, but the lads were saying, yeah, it probably should have been Micheál who got the black.” 

Championship debutant Dara Sheedy, who was temporarily subbed off during the opening half after receiving a welcome-to-senior-football challenge, did not reappear for the second period. Cleary explained the reasoning behind his withdrawal.

“It was as a result of the knock and the position we were in at half-time, we were trying to protect him as best we could. He had a very, very good first-half, pulling the strings for us. He had an U20 game on Thursday, and he has another next week, so the plan was, if we could, we would rest him and that is what we did.” 

Sheedy included, all red positives were located in the opening half.

“Attitude in the first half was spot on. We were running hard. We were clinical, particularly the way we finished our goals.

“Our overall play was very, very good. But in the second half, it was the opposite.”