Cork footballers only have themselves to blame for massive misfire against Louth

A DARK defeat for the Cork footballers on a sun-kissed Sunday afternoon.

After the brilliant victory over Donegal at the start of the month, John Cleary's side are out of championship, on the back of a missed opportunity against a Tyrone team that was subsequently beaten by Roscommon and now a first defeat to Louth since 1957.

It's a major backward step for the Rebels, who butchered glorious chances in the last quarter after a Chris Kelly error allowed Louth to snatch a goal and move 1-8 to 1-6 in front. Brian Hurley, Mark Cronin and Conor Corbett fired costly wides in the aftermath of that blow. And then Eoghan McSweeney drove the ball at the keeper when Sean Powter sent him clear with a clever assist.

Chris Óg Jones did pilfer two points to tie up an extremely dour contest that only sprung to life late on but his 62nd-minute effort was fisted over when he was through after a kick-out mixup and had Powter to his right.

Still, Cork had 13 minutes left including added time and they were unable to retake the lead. They paid the price when Matty Taylor gave away a softish free at the death that Sam Mulroy converted.

Scoring droughts were a theme at Inniskeen though. A crafty flick from full-back Daniel O'Mahony put Cork four up, 1-5 to 0-4, in the 34th minute. They then didn't score again until the 51st minute, through Hurley. 

In the first half, they had gone from the 10th minute to the 25th minute without raising a flag.

Not remotely good enough even if Louth will appreciate they rode their luck at critical stages. The bottom line is, Cork were knocked out by a county that are pushing themselves to the limit to get to the quarter-finals.

So what now for Cork football? There will be a lot of soul-searching for Cleary and his management team before their third season at the helm in 2025.

OVERHAUL

Looking at the bigger picture, Conor Counihan, a towering figure in Cork football and an All-Ireland champion as a player and manager, will finish his five-year term as Director of Football in September. Counihan had an ideal start to his tenure when minor and U20 All-Irelands were captured in 2019 but in the last five seasons, no underage team has reached the final and the only silverware as an U20 Munster and two provincial minor titles.

Hard work has gone on behind the scenes by Counihan and the Cork GAA head of S&C Aidan O'Connell, who was to the fore in 2010 when Sam Maguire last returned to the South Mall, but the senior team aren't genuine contenders for the top prize. 

The dominance of hurling and Cork schools' struggles in the Corn Uí Mhuirí haven't helped, while the size of the county can be as much a hindrance as a help at times.

However, Corkonians can still expect the footballers to be in the top flight of the league and they haven't really come close to a return since relegation in 2016.

Patrick Kelly wrote in The Irish Examiner before the Louth tie: "The most valuable progress for this Cork team will be in gaining promotion from Division 2 next season. In my opinion, it is more important than making a third quarter-final in a row as Cork look to become a top-eight team for the first time in almost a decade."

The business end of the championship is dominated by Division 1 teams and in that regard, Cork are an outlier. They made the quarter-finals, then the Super 8 format, in 2019, and took out Kerry to be one of the last eight teams standing in 2020. That was a knockout competition due to Covid and it was the same in '21, when Cork were also in the provincial final and they reached the quarter-finals in '22, losing to Dublin, and '23, eliminated by Derry.

There was some level of consistency in that record but they only have themselves to blame for Sunday's disaster. 

If you can't beat Louth you don't deserve to head to Jones Road in July.