Cork v Meath: Footballers have to hit right note after difficult offseason
Cork manager John Cleary before the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Round 1 match between Clare and Cork at Cusack Park in Ennis, Clare. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile
It might sound a tad hyperbolic to state the following, but come Saturday evening we should already have a strong indication as to how the league campaign of the Cork footballers is going to transpire.
John Cleary’s charges open their account at home to Meath on Saturday evening at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, and the evidence would suggest that if they do not win in Round 1 they will not be in the promotion hunt come the final week.
They then lost their next two ties away to Louth and at home to Cavan, before finally steadying the ship with a huge victory up in Fermanagh, although that was only achieved courtesy of an injury time fisted goal by Maurice Shanley.
Cork would go undefeated for the remainder of their league campaign, but ultimately promotion was never on the cards, and in reality Division 2 survival was all the Rebels could hope for.
This year’s Division 2 line-up is missing All-Ireland champions Armagh and Ulster kingpins Donegal, as both were promoted to Division 1 last year. This means that the league has no standout side, so in theory promotion could be a possibility for virtually any of the eight sides.
This tie brings back memories of Round 1 of 2023 when Cork came a-cropper on home soil to Meath on a scoreline of 0-19 to 3-14, with the Royal county’s ability to pilfer goals at crucial stages ensuring defeat for Cork.
In 2022 it was defeat on opening day for the Rebels, again, as they went down 1-13 to 0-10 away to Roscommon, and it was the same outcome in Round 1 of 2021 when Cork lost to Kildare by 0-14 to 2-12.
This all means that the last time that Cork managed to win a game on the opening weekend of the league campaign was way back in 2020, when they defeated Offaly by 0-20 to 0-13, in a result which kickstarted their promotion pushback to Division 2.
As that was a Division 3 tie we can actually go way further back to find Cork’s last victory in Round 1 of a Division 1 or 2 campaign, with the 1-18 to 0-12 win over Mayo in Division 1 in 2016 being the last time that Cork got off to a winning note in either of the top divisions, although it is worth noting that they would be relegated from the top-tier that year, and haven’t been back since.
The big asterisk hanging over this year’s league campaign is all the new rules, as in reality this is the first time we are all going to witness these new rules in anger, and it is extremely difficult to predict which counties are going to best adapt to these law changes.
It is hard to escape the feeling that Cork might not be quickest adapters and innovators to the new regulations given the playing personnel available, and almost more significantly, the playing personnel who are not available.
Injuries, retirements and withdrawals have shorn Cleary and his selectors of a lot of options, with a lot of those who will not be involved this year seeming to be the types of players who the new laws would have benefitted the most.
There is still plenty of attacking talent available to Cleary, but there is a fear that Cork might end up being overly reliant on getting scores from Brian Hurley and Chris Óg Jones, and it remains to be seen if Cork are in a position to take advantage of the new two-point rule from long distance frees, which is destined to be a major feature of the upcoming campaign.
As there are seven teams in the league it means every side is going to have an uneven number of home and away fixtures. Cork have landed on the right side of the fixture lists this year, with them getting four home ties and three on the road.
They must take advantage of this, as four wins on home soil should have them there or thereabouts for promotion.
That assumption goes out the window if they fail to get the job done on Saturday.
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