John Cleary on Cork’s diehards: ‘I’m so happy for them. A lot of them with tears in their eyes'

CLEARY EYES, FULL HEARTS: Cork manager John Cleary celebrates after his side beat Donegal. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile.

This was deserved. The performance, the victory and the celebration that followed.

John Cleary and his Cork side worked hard for their stunning win over Donegal. They earned time to celebrate it.

“I referenced it to the lads in the dressing room after, ye gave the diehards of Cork football a great day out today,” said Cleary post-match.

“Everyone one of them, I know them by name. They are the guys that were above in Drogheda this year, they were above in Tyrone, they have been following us. Maybe it still isn’t fashionable to follow Cork football, but I’m so happy for them.

“A lot of them with tears in their eyes. They were really overjoyed. I presume they were outnumbered 50 to 1 here today, it wasn’t an easy place to be. Yet coming into the last couple of minutes, we could hear them, “Rebels! Rebels!” from the stand. A great day for Cork football fans.” Cork kicked six two-pointers on their way to the shock in front of a sell-out crowd at MacCumhaill Park in Ballybofey.

“We would have been disappointed with the way we performed in the second half of the Munster final. We have been working hard since. I thought our second half against Meath was excellent, particularly down to 14 players with 17, 18 minutes to go.

“When the draw was made, everyone was complaining. ‘It was the draw from hell.’ We said, ‘Bring it on!’ We felt there would be more pressure on us if we were drawn at home against a lesser team.

“What we wanted to do today is give a performance and see where it would take us. Whatever happened today, we would have another day out anyway. Now we didn’t mention that once during the week.

“But what we wanted to do was put on a performance, come up here into the lion’s den, a cauldron, and I felt we did that. I feel we have often had better performances, but I thought our defence was heroic all through.” Cork opted for a slow, controlled attack throughout. It meant a devastating Donegal attack had limited opportunities to hurt them.

“The Kerry game we got big criticism, too passive, too slow,” said Cleary.

“We have been working on one or two things since then. We knew Donegal would do the same. They would hold the ball for two, three minutes. Over and back to tire out our defence, I thought our defence was heroic with their switches. There were times they did get in but they are a fabulous team.” Their reward is a spot in the final eight for the first time since 2023.

“We are in a quarter-final. Donegal win next week, they are back in a quarter-final. Kerry win today and next week, the same. It is a nice lift to have. In the previous quarter-finals, we played week on week on week. It is tough, I know. It will probably take three or four days to get over that tough game,” said Cleary.

“The only thing we know now, is we are in Croke Park. I said to the lads there after the game, nothing won yet. We just have to prepare accordingly, whatever the draw Monday week throws up for us.”