Cork v Roscommon: John Cleary says Rebels could have no tougher test

Cork football manager John Cleary believes that Roscommon were as a tough a draw as the Rebels could have expected for the All-Ireland SFC preliminary quarter-finals.

The counties clash in the championship for the first time since 2019 on Saturday, with Páirc Uí Chaoimh the venue for a 2pm throw-in.

As enjoyable and impressive as the win over Mayo was last week, there is no time to bask in the glow of victory and Cleary knows that the visitors will represent a huge test for his team.

“Absolutely,” he says, “it’s a tough, tough draw.

“Before Sunday, Roscommon had been going very well. They finished third in the league and they were probably the bounce of a ball of the post from winning Connacht. They drew with Dublin, so they have been going well.

“It’s a tough draw but there are no easy teams left at this stage of it. Whoever we were going to get was going to be tough but this was probably as tough as we could have got at this stage.” There may be a sense that Cork’s win over a county that had been regarded as All-Ireland contenders will give them some strong momentum, while Roscommon’s defeat to Kildare – having been undefeated up to then – could be a blow for them.

However, the bookmakers have the visitors as narrow favourites for the game and Cleary is loathe to put too much store in any notion that Davy Burke’s side will be deflated. If anything, he feels that they could be ready to bounce back strongly.

“Something that we found this year was that, any time we had a loss, we bounced back the next day and won,” Cleary says.

“The games do come thick and fast. We were able to enjoy Sunday for about an hour after the game but, the very minute the draw was made on Monday morning, it was a different focus completely.

“We’re not really looking back at the Mayo game anymore, we’re looking forward.

“It could work two ways – it could give us the momentum.

“Both teams had tough games last weekend and it’s only six days later so it might be the case of which team recovers the quickest in that time in terms of energy levels.

“At this time of year, the days are very warm and you could see on Sunday that there were a lot of mistakes towards the ends of the games as players had run themselves to exhaustion in the heat.

“The benches made a big difference and it’ll probably be no different on Saturday.” Given the quick turnaround, the focus is on recovery from a physical point of view and then looking at any specific challenges that need to be countered tactically. There simply isn’t time to work on anything else, Cleary acknowledges.

“A game like that, 75, 80 minutes, it takes a lot out of lads,” he says.

“It takes three or four days for the body to recover so all we’ve been able to do is have a light kickaround and do our tactical preparation.

“You’re trying to keep the lads fresh for Saturday and see how it goes from there.” To that end, Cleary hopes that the effort expended in ensuring Cork beat Mayo by three points to earn the home game is rewarded.

From a logistical point of view, it makes things easier but in a close game, the home support could play a part. With Roscommon expected to bring a big number of fans, having a strong Cork presence by the Marina would be most welcome.

“Of course, if you’re given the choice, you’d prefer to play at home,” Cleary says.

“Travelling can be tiring – if we were given an away game on Saturday, we’d probably have to travel a long distance up the country on Friday evening.

“In saying that, when it does start on Saturday, it’s just a game being played on a pitch the same as anywhere else. Anything else goes out the window.

“We’d be hoping that we’d get a big home support and that might make a difference if the game is tight.

“Roscommon always have a big travelling support so we’d be hoping that the Cork public will turn out on Saturday and give the lads a shout on.

“It could be the small difference at the end of the day.”