Brian Hurley: Things are looking up now, for sure

THE Cork senior footballers' early season struggles are now a thing of the past after they won for a second game on the trot in the Allianz Division 2 football league last Sunday in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

After beating Fermanagh away, John Cleary’s side defeated Kildare at the weekend on a scoreline of 2-15 to 3-9. It was a significant win for many reasons, but most importantly it moves the Leesiders another bit up the table and away from the relegation zone.

The win over Kildare was also a big one in terms of Cork’s recent struggles on home soil, which has been well documented. This is the Rebels seventh campaign in the second-tier of the league, (2017 to 2019 and 2021 to 2024), and Cork had only managed to win five of their 20 home games, with the last defeat coming to Cavan two weeks ago.

SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh isn’t an intimidating venue, and Kildare could have fancied themselves, but they are not in great shape at the moment, and went down meekly in the end.

Cork captain Brian Hurley, who landed two points, was happy with a second consecutive victory.

“It was a slow start, but we knew Kildare would come down all guns blazing,” says the Castlehaven star.

“It took a while to figure them out, and they got two goals at a time when we controlled the game, but we responded very well. Credit must go to Kildare, they were very well set up, but Tommy Walsh got a great goal just before half-time and it gave us a good bit of life heading into the dressing room. We spoke about a few things and we delivered big time.

“Our response today was very good, I wouldn’t say we were struggling in that first half, Kildare have a lot of great players, and it just took us a bit of time to get going. We were full of energy after the break, the subs came on and made an impact, and to be honest with you, we left a good bit of scores behind us. There were goal chances there at the end.” 

It was all doom and gloom on Leeside just two weeks ago after Cork lost at home to Cavan, which was their third defeat from three games, but within the camp, the players always knew it was going to turn.

“Things are looking up now, for sure,” Hurley said.

“It had been a difficult opening to the league. We received a lot of criticism from outside the group, but we stuck to our guns. Two wins on the bounce now is massive for us. I have been around the block a bit, so I know how hard it is to win above in Ulster, and the win over Fermanagh last weekend has given us huge confidence.” 

It’s now a two-week gap for John Cleary’s side before they face Meath on Saturday, March 16 in Páirc Tailteann at 2pm. The break is coming at a good time according to Hurley.

“We have a strong panel, you saw that today, so it gives us a bit of time to add more competition, which is what the management would probably love to see. We can bring it up another level again. We will get our bodies right first after today, and focus then on Meath.” he concluded.