Cork’s survival now rests in Tipperary’s hands
With Cork unable to do themselves any favours on Saturday, it was the unintentional goodwill of others that has them still in with a slim chance of avoiding the drop. Cork footballers would have been glued to their phones yesterday to see how matters were progressing above in Ennis, given a Clare victory over Meath would have all but sealed Cork’s fate and condemned Ronan McCarthy’s side to Division 3 football next year.
Meath’s five-point win, however, means Cork continue to hang on by their fingertips. Indeed, if they overcome Armagh this Sunday, and anything other than a Clare victory materialises at Thurles, then the Rebels will preserve their Division 2 status.
Speaking after their fourth defeat of the campaign, McCarthy accepted Cork’s final league placing would likely be decided by others, rather than by themselves.
“Realistically, we’ll be going up needing to win and depending on other results, such as Tipperary to beat Clare. There is no magic wand here [to turn things around]. You keep it simple, keep doing the basics well, make sure our preparation is right and go up [to Armagh] with the confidence to say that while it is a difficult fixture, we can win it.”
As for Donegal, back-to-back wins, after their mid-February wobble where they slipped up to Tipperary and Fermanagh, has them poised for a swift return to Division 1, though they will still need to overcome Kildare and may also require a result or two elsewhere to fall in their favour. Equally important is that with Paddy McGrath, Neil McGee and Daire Ó Baoill afforded game-time at Páirc Uí Rinn, Declan Bonner is not far off having his strongest 15 available to him.
“We can only control what’s in our control, we came down here to get two points and we did that,” said manager Declan Bonner. “Whatever happens elsewhere is out of our control. We’ll be keeping an eye on things alright and, hopefully, we’ll have a big match to play for next weekend.”
Having been somewhat conservative in the opening half in terms of the numbers they were committing forward, Donegal, backed by the elements, pressed right up in the second period. An under siege Cork defence found it more and more difficult to work the ball out of their own half, while the Cork restarts became increasingly problematic as the half wore on. Four in a row from the marauding Ryan McHugh, Michael Murphy (free and ‘45) and Jamie Brennan had Cork’s interval lead of five cut to the minimum by the 52nd minute.
The Rebels, to their credit, responded in the play following Brennan’s second of the day, Mattie Taylor creating the opportunity for Luke Connolly to move their advantage out to 1-11 to 0-12. But while their defence offered stubborn resistance all afternoon long, with Sam Ryan and Thomas Clancy being particular nuisances to their respective opposite number, Cork’s attacking challenge was near non-existent in the final quarter. In the closing 18 minutes, plus six of injury-time, Cork managed only a Connolly free.
Donegal, by way of contrast, ran up 1-7 during this period, including 1-2 in second-half stoppages. Two in quick succession from Niall O’Donnell had the Ulster champions 0-17 to 1-12 in front as the clock entered the red, Cork left to operate with 14 men as an injured Ian Maguire could not be replaced on 68 minutes given the home side had used their full allocation of subs. Mark Collins followed him to the line for a second yellow card offence, Cork finishing with 12 as Luke Connolly also succumbed to injury.
Jamie Brennan, played through by O’Donnell, palmed the ball past Mark White to wrap up Donegal’s fourth win of the campaign, the visitors taking the second-half by 1-13 to 0-4. Cork boss McCarthy knew at half-time they’d have a job on their hands to maintain the inside lane to the finish, given their 1-8 to 0-6 interval lead was hardly insurmountable.
It was an advantage forged towards the end of the first period, a Mattie Taylor goal followed by a pair from the impressive Eoghan McSweeney. “They pressed up on our kick-out in the second-half and we found it hard to cope with that,” McCarthy reflected. “Certainly, we had difficulty getting out of our own half. When we did, we made a couple of poor decisions when all we needed to was tack on another two or three scores and you are there. At the end of the day, we have to win our game against Armagh.”
But even if they do, it might still not be enough.
M Murphy (0-6, 0-4 frees, 0-1 ‘45); J Brennan (1-2); N O’Donnell (0-3) R McHugh, D Ó Baoill (0-2 each); O Gallen, C Thompson, C Ward, H McFadden (0-1 each).
L Connolly (0-4, 0-3 frees); E McSweeney (0-3); M Taylor (1-0); M Collins, M Hurley (0-2 each); R Deane (0-1).
DONEGAL:
S Patton; L McLoone, S McMenamin, E Bán Gallagher; P Brennan, E Doherty, C Ward; H McFadden, C McGonagle; C Thompson, N O’Donnell, R McHugh; J Brennan, M Murphy, O Gallen. Subs: D Ó Baoill for Brennan (24 mins); P McGrath for Ward (HT); E McHugh for Gallen (74); N McGee for Doherty (76).
CORK:
MA Martin; S Ryan, Thomas Clancy, C Dennehy; K Crowley, K Flahive, M Taylor; I Maguire, C O’Hanlon; E McSweeney, L Connolly, R Deane; M Hurley, M Collins, P Kerrigan. Subs: M White for Martin (42, inj); R O’Toole for Kerrigan; K O’Driscoll for Taylor (both 57); C Kiely for Dennehy (63); S Powter for Crowley (67). Referee: D Gough (Meath).
