Cork boss John Cleary: 'You have to park the bad results. It isn’t Kerry we are playing'

Cleary thinks Cork needed more movement up front and more running from deep in the second half of their Munster final defeat to Kerry. That game has to be parked now. They face Meath in the All-Ireland SFC round 1 on Saturday

Cork play Meath for the fourth time in 12 months on Saturday. Pic: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Ten days after the League spanking by Derry, John Cleary held court at Páirc Uí Rinn with a couple of press box residents.

Kildare were coming to town that weekend for a fixture of savage consequence and yet the Lilywhites got very little of a look in. A fascination remained with what had happened in Celtic Park. The questions to the Cork manager reflected such.

Cleary spoke of how his group had parked and moved on from the 20-point pummeling by the Wednesday after. Their attention had long since switched to the next assignment. That was not the case for everyone else peering in at Cork football and the dismemberment of their impressively consistent start to 2026.

The similarities to this week are striking.

Cleary spoke to the Irish Examiner on Tuesday last. Exactly 10 days had passed since the Munster final no-show. Cork might have moved on from the eight-point beating, not everyone else has.

Meath are coming to town this weekend for a fixture of savage consequence and yet the Royals got very little of a look in. A fascination remains over what happened at Fitzgerald Stadium. The questions to the Cork manager reflected such.

The Munster final verdict was that Cork’s old failings had resurfaced. This paper, as well as others, carried said judgement.

“I don’t know what they were referring to in old failings, but what I felt is that we really went at them in the first half, should have had more scores. Against that wind in the second half, what would we do differently if we were back there, maybe a bit more movement up front, a bit more running from deep trying to break down their deep defence.

“While we were still in the game, we were trying to be patient. We did get our reward from being patient with the goal and a couple of points. But look, we didn’t score enough,” Cleary surmised.

Never mind the result, it was Cork’s display that frustrated so many. It was unrecognisable from the confident, pressing performances that delivered promotion to the League’s top tier.

Composure was missing from their opening half effort. Penetration was absent thereafter.

There were just 11 second half shots. There was no second-half score until the 47th minute. Four opportunities had not been taken prior to Mark Cronin’s kick. Another barren spell of 14 minutes followed on from that.

Cleary remains steadfast with his glass-half-full review.

Cork lost this year's National Football League Division 2 decider to Meath. Pic: ©INPHO/James Crombie

“Looking back on the video, we played quite well in the first half. Micheál Burns cleared Chris Óg’s goal chance off the line and we missed four or five not too hard point chances. We should have gone in maybe five or six up, instead of three.

“In the second half, we did fight our way back into it, and we were within the width of a post from equalising.

“Coming in on the Wednesday, there were a lot of long faces. But by the time they were leaving, we were looking ahead to the next assignment and not looking back.

“Same as the League, you have to park the bad results. It isn’t Kerry we are playing this weekend. It is a different opposition we’ve got to prepare for.” 

The opposition is becoming as familiar to them as the green and gold neighbours. This is their fourth time crossing paths with Meath in the space of 12 months. The Sam Maguire opener and Division 2 League decider went the way of the Royals, Cork won the League round-robin game at Páirc Uí Rinn sandwiched by the other two.

Robbie Brennan’s side haven't been seen since April 19. His Cork counterpart knows only too well how advantageous such a lengthy layoff from competitive fare in the middle of the season can be.

In 2023, Cork’s return to the stage six weeks after Munster quarter-final defeat to Clare saw victories over Louth, Mayo, and Roscommon racked up, as well as troubling Kerry all the way to the finish line.

What Meath turns up is mired in uncertainty. After the events of Killarney, the same can be said of Cork.

“What we’re looking for is a performance similar to what we had against Kildare and Meath in the League. On both days, we really went at it. The Meath game was particularly free-flowing, so I’d be just hoping that we’ll see a bit of that,” Cleary concluded.