Tony Leen: Cork have travelled a distance but regret will linger

Cork's Colm O'Callaghan is dejected. Pic: ©INPHO/Bryan Keane

ANY summer knockout loss hurts. At Croke Park, it pains more but the deepest cut is signing out of Jones’ Road without showing anything approaching your best version.

Quarters are for winning, so Andy Moran and Mayo have another big day to iron out the creases. They were on the up as the clock ticked down and into the final four with a bounce in their step is no bad place to be. Their issues are still around kickout variety and primary possession, whether to start or introduce Tommy Conroy and how they maximise that delightful inside forward line.

But for John Cleary’s Cork there is no such absolution. They handed a mindless breach in each half to their opponents, passed up juicy attacking moments, made some bad decisions in other good situations and stuttered their way frustratingly out of the championship. Five points at the finish felt about right.

There is a more benign way to examine this: Cork have come a road, won promotion back to the top table and made some good headlines. But don’t offer that to their players tonight, because you mightn’t like the response. Right to the final minutes when Mayo were almost beyond reach, Cork broke from the Cusack Stand side, with a three on three but the first pass was too rushed when Mayo’s guardsmen should have been sweating. Conor Corbett was bottled up, lost possession and Mayo were away.

Moran’s side grew visibly in the third quarter. Tommy Conroy added an electric outlet to their attacks, Darragh Beirne kicked two outrageous scores – one a two pointer – in clutch moments, and Kobe McDonald glided impressively into the chorus on occasions. He could have finished it all off with a goal but that would have been unduly harsh on Cork.

It’s facile to pass this off as another Cork no-show – more that the occasion beat their composure - but they were inaccurate in too many aspects, not least basic handling. They kicked ten first half wides but almost worse was the manner in which they butchered an overload after pilfering Jack Livingstone’s kickout. They went right with the overload left. Not two minutes later Kobe McDonald was arrowing a two-pointer at the other end off his right side to level a game that Cork felt largely in control of.

For sure, Andy Moran will argue his side won going away after a more expressive second half but they were on Cork’s coat-tails for much of the opening period. Chris Óg Jones was winning his one v ones but not profiting. His scuffed effort was brushed wide of the upright by Livingstone. Maguire and O’Callaghan looked to be working in tandem better that Mayo’s midfield but poor wides from central positions hurt. 

Steven Sherlock kicked a couple of 45s and Mark Cronin landed a two-point free but Ryan O’Donoghue and Darragh Beirne were more productive off less ball than Cork’s scoresmiths. Nevertheless, Cork’s three point advantage after 25 minutes felt like it could have been more. Strange game, and in truth at the less forgiving end of the quality spectrum.

That Mayo turned level was a little gift for their dressing room. Within six minutes of the restart, of Beirne’s looping two pointer, they were gone 0-14 to 0-10 up.

Paul Walsh did simple stuff efficiently over the piece, something of an outlier in that respect. Points from his boot and from Sherlock had the gap back down to two, but Donnacha McHugh was making life difficult for the Barrs man and his attempts to loop into two point range.

Jack Carney’s two-pointer put Mayo went four up off a Cork unforced error. First Chris Og Jones misplaced a short pass, then Ruairi Deane committed a needless foul in the back when he only needed to shepherd the Mayo player back towards his own goal. These gaps were important, but the source of the scores was also draining Cork confidence. Suddenly it’s 0-18 to 0-14 and Tommy Conroy slalomed through with uncomfortable ease to extend the gap to five. Diarmuid Duffy had a goal chance to put it to bed snuffed out, and it was Sherlock’s turn to make it pay, with a two point free, 0-15 to 0-19.

Cork pitched in Brian Hurley for Cronin and the Jones threat into the Hill end began to look more sporadic. A class Beirne point from an acute angle at the other end knocked up Mayo’s 20th point.

With seven left, Cork engineered some urgency but Brian O’Driscoll’s goal effort was parried away. Season stalled. Mayo, meanwhile, have road to travel with improvements to make. No wonder Andy Moran was smiling.