Cork's first football league game couldn't be any tougher

AS first games go, the Cork footballers opening league fixture in the Allianz football league Division 2 campaign couldn’t be any tougher, not helped by a lengthy injury list.

Manager John Cleary said last week speaking ahead of the McGrath Cup final against Kerry that goalkeeper Micheál Aodh Martin (groin), Seán Powter (hamstring), Steven Sherlock (quad), Killian O’Hanlon (hip), and Thomas Clancy (calf), will all miss the long trip up to Ballybofey this weekend to take on Donegal on Sunday with throw-in at 1.45pm. Brian Hurley is back training after his exploits with Castlehaven, but this weekend's game may come too soon for him.

It will be the Rebels first league meeting up in Donegal since 2016, on a day when the home side proved too strong winning comfortably on a scoreline of 2-14 to 1-7 in what was a top-flight league fixture back then. The game was played in Donegal’s other stadium in Ballyshannon, but nonetheless, it’s always difficult to get a result up in that part of the country. Cork unfortunately lost their Division 1 league status that season and have yet to return to mix it amongst the elite.

But, there is a feeling that the Leesiders are more than capable of mounting a serious promotion challenge this year, but a strong start will be key to that. Cork will be playing away from Páirc Uí Chaoimh for the first two league games, just so it happened, making the long trip up to Donegal and then the weekend after heading up to Ardee to take on Louth, which is a challenging start, especially with the number of players unavailable to Cleary.

But, on the other hand, it will show how strong the panel is now, and it’s now time for the players who maybe weren't expecting to start a couple of months ago, to show their quality. Cork haven’t a good record away to Donegal, but this is a different management team and a different group of players, and if the Rebels were to get any kind of result above in MacCumhaill Park on Sunday, it would be seen as a shot in the arm.

The stadium holds around 17,500, and it’s expected to be very close to full capacity with the Donegal faithful expected to turn up and be entertained with the return of Jim McGuinness as manager and they will be confident of picking up the two league points on offer. But, under the tutelage of Cleary, Cork have shown backbone and the team will be relishing the game this weekend.

A result will make the long road home on Sunday all that little bit shorter. You wouldn’t bet against it. Bring it on.