John Cleary pleased with Cork's performance in win over Meath as attention turns to the McGrath Cup

THE Cork senior footballers geared up for the new season with a nine-point win over old rivals Meath in the Teddy McCarthy tribute match at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

The Rebels won on a scoreline of 3-12 to 1-9 on Saturday evening. Cork led 1-7 to 0-5 at half-time and that was despite playing into a gale of a wind in the opening 30 minutes and Cork pushed on in the second-half to win out fairly comfortably.

Cork manager John Cleary was naturally pleased with many aspects after the win over the team from Leinster on the banks of the Lee.

“You have to be satisfied enough after that,” says the Rebels boss.

“The lads showed that they had put in the work over the last few months and that they were ready to play today even though we were rusty in the first-half, but the second-half was fine. Any day you come into Páirc Uí Chaoimh you want to perform the best you can. The lads are fighting for jerseys, fighting for places in the team and fighting for places on the panel so you don’t take it easy. The players are competitive, we are competitive ourselves so when the games come around in January we want the players to put up their hand and say we want to be part of this and today was a chance for many of them.

“We are happy that we scored 3-12, all of our forwards were very good and have played well for their clubs and they didn’t have Steven Sherlock and Brian Hurley to lean on too so it was their chance to stand up and be counted and I think they did. I would temper it though, Meath weren’t anywhere close to full strength but having said that it was a good run around, we are happy enough with it, we won’t be getting carried away so roll on the new year.” 

It was an emotional day down in the Páirc on Saturday, honouring a Rebel legend.

“We got an awful shock this year when the news came through about Teddy. He was a great friend to us all. Particularly at club and inter-county level, you would always meet him. It was so unfortunate that his death was so untimely, so this win is something small to mark his life and mark his football and hurling life. We were delighted to be part of the occasion. He’s a huge loss to everyone and that’s the sad part of it.” 

We might be only a couple of weeks out from Christmas, but Saturday’s game was a vital one for the Rebels as Cleary and his selectors aim to add more depth to the panel ahead of the new season.

“What we are trying to do is build a panel because we know when the games come thick and fast next year we will need 25 players ready to play because you're going to get injuries and so on so the next fella has to be ready to step in. That’s what this time of year is all about. This time last year we didn’t get the chance to play challenge games so we went into the McGrath Cup without any match, it was a competition we really wanted to win and thankfully we did and then it was the league so we couldn’t do much experimenting.

“That’s why today’s game was vital for us, so the McGrath Cup won’t be as important for us in January compared to last season. We will be giving players a chance to put their hands up and hopefully we will have a very strong panel by the time the league comes around.” 

Next on the agenda for Cork is the first McGrath Cup game against Clare away from home on Wednesday, January 3, with Waterford then at home ten days later.

“Like every GAA team now there’s no downtime. Christmas isn’t the same for all of us that’s involved. That’s the way it has to be because we have to hit the ground running when January comes around. Going up to Clare in three weeks’ time will be a tough task, on a Wednesday, three days into the new year, but that’s the way it is. Every time you go out you learn new things and that one will be no different.”