John Cleary rues underpar Cork showing

The Cork boss regretting inefficiency in front of goal and poor turnovers

Kerry Manager Jack O’Connor and Cork Manager John Cleary. Pic: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Knowing his team’s potential, John Cleary couldn’t hide his frustration with their performance in this Munster final.

“Cheap turnovers” were the bane of his and Cork’s experience in this, their first senior championship clash in Killarney in five years.

“Looking back on the whole game, I think we were definitely disappointed. Disappointed by the way we played. I think we were capable of better than that. Hats off to Kerry, they deserved their win on the day, played the more efficient football.

“I thought we had too many turnovers, too many poor shot selections and at this level it comes back to haunt you. In all fairness, we fought to the bitter end.

“But there were times when we took the wrong option, it goes down the field and a score for Kerry. So, we're disappointed with that. I think we're capable of playing better than that, and that's the disappointing thing for us today.”

Brian O’Driscoll’s 60th-minute goal offered Cork some hope but Cleary suggested to claw back a win might have been unjust given what had happened before.

“Look, in fairness, Brian O'Driscoll kicked a great goal and I think Conor Corbett had a shot for a two-pointer, which would have levelled it, but I think we've got five and a half minutes to go. Whether we deserved it or not, we would have been level at that and who knows what might have happened coming down the straight.” 

On a day when Steven Sherlock converted just two of six scoring chances, Cleary pointed out the accuracy of Cork's opponents. “Kerry were very efficient at the other side. I don't think they had a wide for 20 or 25 minutes. And then in the second half, we tried to force things and we got punished for it."

Cleary doesn’t sense it will be difficult to raise his charges for the All-Ireland series. “We've just got to get back in it. This competition is finished today. We would have loved to have won it. We didn't, but, look, Meath are coming down in two weeks' time.” 

Cleary maintained last Monday’s All-Ireland SFC draw and confirmation on Thursday they will face Robbie Brennan's in Páirc Uí Rinn on Saturday week didn’t distract them. “We were focused on this game. At inter-county, all you can do is concentrate on the next game and then you get over that.

“We probably made it easier for Meath. They had a good look at us today and they have three, four, maybe five weeks to be fully prepared for that game. But from our point of view, we'll just look at the Meath game now from tomorrow on."

Forwards Brian Hurley and Dara Sheedy, Cleary said, face races to be fit for that game after missing this clash. “They tried for today, but they weren't (ready), so 50-50. We’ll see how they go in training. We'll leave it to the medics now and they're not telling us one way or the other.”