Cork v Meath: Christy O'Connor on key issues facing Keith Ricken's footballers
Cork manager Keith Ricken speaks to his players on the pitch at half time during the Allianz Football League Division 2 match at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Pitch: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
ANYTIME Cork and Meath meet, the hackneyed old stories from the infamous rivalry of the late 1980s and early 1990s are dredged back up to underline just how deep-seated and bitter the relationship really was.
The worst of it is well worn at this stage; the poisonous 1988 All-Ireland final replay; some of the Cork players refusing to travel to the traditional Monday banquet in the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham the following day; the two teams finding themselves at the same resort complex on their team holiday to the Canaries the following January, when barely a word was exchanged between both parties.
Cork finally got their revenge in the 1990 All-Ireland final before the two teams faded from the limelight.
The enmity still existed until it took the funeral of the late John Kerins to restore regular contact, some of which has blossomed into solid friendship.
Cork-Meath has never had the same flavour or attraction since because the two teams haven’t had the same profile or success.
The old tales will still always be revisited anytime they meet but Sunday’s Cork-Meath match has a totally different currency because of what defeat could translate into for both teams; relegation to Division 3 and a summer potentially plying their trade in the Tailteann Cup.
Cork are coming off the back of two big defeats to Derry and Galway, so this game has added significance considering Meath are also languishing around the relegation trapdoor.
On the other hand, this also smacks of being a potential gateway game for Cork; a win could ignite their season and give them the confidence to take care of business in their last two matches against Down and Offaly.
Similarly, a defeat here and whatever confidence is in the squad could plummet when the pressure has never been greater.
In the aftermath of the Galway defeat, Keith Ricken said that he didn’t fear relegation.
That public statement may be subliminally aimed at taking the pressure off the players, but it will be difficult to alleviate the strain if Cork suffer a fourth defeat in five games.
Those last two losses came against the two best teams in the Division, Derry and Galway, but the old concerns resurfaced in both matches – the concession of too many scores. Derry only notched 1-13 but it was still enough for a nine-point win; the 3-22 Galway scored last Saturday would have been enough to win four of the six Division 1 hurling games played over the same weekend.
That defensive naiveite, especially around tactical fouling to stop the play building, was evident last year, particularly in the league relegation playoff against Westmeath and the Munster final against Kerry.
Two weeks ago, Cork’s conversion rate from play was 63%, which was considerably less than Galway’s 82%. At least Cork’s conversion rate from frees had dramatically improved from previous games, especially against Clare, coming in at 83% against Galway.
Cork only conceded five scoreable frees, one of which was a penalty, but Galway still scored 2-18 from play. Galway were always likely to cut loose on a good pitch on a decent day, but they’d only been averaging 1-13 in total prior to the Cork match. And they effectively doubled that average two weeks ago.
Cork did put up a decent score that afternoon, 2-17, especially when they had only averaged 0-11 in their opening three games, which included just 0-7 against Derry.
When Cork played against the wind in the first half against Derry, they only got off six shots from 18 attacks. Cork seemed to lack confidence in their shooting, but they were always going to be heavily punished for recycling the ball too much against a team which swarms and hits as hard on the counter-attack as Derry do.
Galway are a totally different team to Derry, but after scoring 1-12 in the first half, Cork only managed four points between the start of the second half and the second minute of injury time.
Some players though, did put their hand up. Blake Murphy scored 1-2 and had four assists. Murphy showed in the first half against Clare what he was capable off when scoring 0-3 from play, but he didn’t feature the following week against Derry.
Steven Sherlock also played well against Galway when scoring 0-4 from play. If Brian Hurley returns at least Cork will go into Sunday’s game with enough firepower to clock a decent score against a Meath team which has only been averaging 1-8.
At least Cathail O’Mahony, Brian Hartnett and Brian Hayes have had time to rehab and get more training time in with no game last weekend.
There are still plenty of issues for Ricken and his management to solve. Galway’s winning margin would have been far greater only for Chris Kelly’s second half heroics, but management are still trying to settle on the goalkeeping position.
The pressure is certainly being ramped up to get the balance right now. History decrees that any match against Meath is always a big game. But Sunday’s clash has now taken on a whole new level of importance.
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