Seán O’Donoghue happy to end winless run against Clare

Seán O’Donoghue of Cork. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

While not making a huge deal of it, Cork defender Seán O’Donoghue was delighted to end a winless run of five games against Clare in the championship.

Cork hadn’t beaten Clare since the 2021 All-Ireland SFC qualifier and to do so while qualifying for a second successive Munster title was sweet.

“We’ve had a few close run-ins with them,” said O’Donoghue. “Obviously, the (2024) All-Ireland final was a draw and last year was a draw in the first game. We never really pipped them. I wouldn’t say they were a bogey team but we’ve got better at closing games out in the last couple of years.”

O’Donoghue was glad Cork were able to keep Clare goalless in the opening six minutes when Ian Galvin had a couple of opportunities.

He pointed to the team’s efficiency and determination to finish out matches with aplomb. “We started well. They had a couple of chances that they didn’t take that might have let them into the game a small bit more. But we were a bit more resourceful with ours, took them and tagged on score by score.

“It left us in a good position at half-time but we’ve often let those leads slip against Clare so a big second half was needed and we got that in the first 15 minutes and were able to close the game.” 

That Cork have become only the second team to go through the round stages with a 100% record while absorbing a series of injuries further illustrates their strength in depth.

O’Donoghue singled out his long-time team-mate Shane Kingston as an example of that. “Kingston here came on and scored three points. He wasn’t even on the 26 the first day, so it just shows the level that’s there and we can get the best out of ourselves.”