REGARDLESS of the result on Saturday night, Cork manager John Cleary would have wanted his charges to finish the league season on a very positive note with their Munster championship opener against Limerick just under two weeks away now.
In Cork’s previous three games (Fermanagh, Kildare and Meath) the graph has been going up and up in terms of performance levels, confidence and everything that goes with winning games.
The performance on Saturday against a quality Armagh side, who are a well-seasoned outfit, was another encouraging one. People might have expected the Ulster side to come down and just roll over given they have already been promoted to the top tier, but it doesn’t work out like that anymore. Armagh wanted to finish the regular league season positively too.
A draw was a fair result, but Steven Sherlock was so close to being the hero.
His effort right at the end for a point went narrowly wide.
Cork’s Steven Sherlock reacts after his last kick of the game went wide. Picture: Eddie O’Hare
GONE are the days where you have to rely on the bare 15 players to get you over the line and it’s certainly a panel effort now, and Cork’s impact off the bench has been one of the reasons why the Rebels have turned the corner after a very poor start to the campaign.
When you’re bringing the likes of Sherlock, Mark Cronin and Eoghan McSweeney on, to mention just a few, it shows the depth of the squad.
To just underline the point, Cork’s hero against Fermanagh, which was the Rebels’ first win of the league in 2024, Maurice Shanley, hadn’t featured in the two matches before Saturday’s game, and played for his club Clonakilty hours after the win over Meath nine days ago. Shanley left Páirc Tailteann fairly swiftly after the game to make his way down to Mourneabbey, a match Clon won against Clyda Rovers.
Shanley started against Armagh and played his part, doing his job and kicking over a sweet point.
Even David Buckley for example, one of the best club players on Leeside in 2023, and hasn’t got as many minutes as he would have possibly liked so far. It shows the options the Rebels have now, as they do have largely a full squad available to them.
Killian O’Hanlon did come on against Armagh and went off 16 minutes later due to a hamstring injury, which Cleary confirmed post-match. The bench though did contribute to Cork making a big impression against the Ulster side.
THE Cork league campaign has put everyone through the mill, three defeats to start and then three successive wins, followed by a cracking draw against Armagh on the final day.
Finishing fourth in the final standings, the same position as last season, is good going all things considered. But, the league can be parked and the attention will now turn to Limerick in the Munster championship quarter-final Sunday week down the Páirc at 2pm.
The winners will face Kerry down in Killarney.
2024-03-25 08:32:57
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