McGrath Cup preview: Win for Cork over Waterford sets up meeting with Kerry

SUNDAY: McGrath Cup Group B Round 2: Cork v Waterford, Mallow, 2pm 

IT MAY not have been on Cork’s agenda a few weeks ago, but they are on course for a third game in the pre-season competition, with the Rebels hot favourites to overcome the challenge of Waterford and book a final spot.

The decider is pencilled in for next Friday. The opposition in the showdown, should Cork get over the line on Sunday, will be the old enemy Kerry.  

Cork’s scoring difference is +12 after their opening round win over Clare in Clarecastle last week, which is another string to their bow of finishing top and booking that final place. A large scoring difference didn’t look likely for the majority of the encounter against the Banner, it was a tight and cagey affair for 47 minutes, but it was played in atrocious weather conditions. 

Conor Corbett’s goal after 48 minutes proved a crucial score in the grand scheme of things and the Leesiders never looked back after that to run out comfortable winners in the end on a scoreline of 2-14 to 0-8. We are in the middle of January, but Cork will want to go into the first Allianz league Division 2 football encounter away to Jim McGuinness’s Donegal two weeks from Sunday with some bit of confidence and momentum behind them.

The McGrath Cup is only a pre-season competition and it's a time for trying out new players and also an information-gathering exercise and so on, but winning is a habit and the Rebels most certainly would have been happy with the 12-point win over Clare last week, especially when the weather was so bad and also the fact that the home side were ultra-defensive with all 15 players behind the ball. 

TRICKY

No matter how good you are, it’s a challenge to break down that particular set-up. If Clare went any deeper they would have ended up in nearby Ennis. 

The contest was played on an astroturf pitch and that's a totally different ball game compared to an ordinary surface. There was no fancy press box, so this scribe was very fortunate to have been on the sideline, and it was also nice to have been near the management team. The boss John Cleary was kicking every ball on the line, full of passion, while the coach Kevin Walsh, who didn’t have far to travel down the M18 from Galway, was paying attention to every detail.

There was a crowd of around 300 people at the match, with a nice proportion of supporters from the Rebel county.

It was great to see Luke Fahy and Seán Meehan come on midway through the second half, after both sustained nasty injuries in the last campaign. The defenders were impressive in 2023, up until the point when their respective seasons came to an end. Meehan picked up an injury against Louth in Round 1 of the All-Ireland Group 1 game last May, while Fahy, who nailed down the right half-back position last season, picked up his injury with eleven minutes remaining of the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final victory over Roscommon last June at what was a rocking Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

It's a boost for Cleary and his management team to have Fahy and Meehan back available. While they are very good footballers, they are also great leaders in the dressing room. Speaking of injuries, Corbett kicked 1-2 in the win over Clare. 

The Clyda Rovers man has had his injury problems in recent seasons, but if he can stay fully fit, he will be a huge asset to this Cork team. He has everything you need in a modern-day player.

The Leesiders should have enough on Sunday for a Waterford side who are struggling to gain traction for many years. They are under a new manager in former Meath footballer Paul Shankey. There's no doubt it’s the toughest job in inter-county football at the moment.