Allianz Division 2 football league preview: Cork v Meath

TOMORROW: Allianz Division 2 football league Round 1: Cork v Meath, SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, 5pm 

Seven months after the Cork footballers 2024 season came to an end, a new one gets underway tomorrow.

After the upbeat and positivity surrounding the Rebels in 2022 and ’23, which culminated in reaching the All-Ireland quarter-finals, last year was one where the progress and momentum stalled. The 1-9 to 1-8 loss to Louth in the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final was Cork's last competitive game and it would be fair to say that a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then.

Eight players departed the squad, a new member added to the management team in St Finbarr’s Jim O’Donoghue, new rules and a lot of talk about the footballers again, but it hasn’t been overly positive.

In pre-season, Cork haven’t played as many challenge games against counties as they probably would have liked, but the one high-profile game they did play was against Dublin at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, which was behind closed doors. They did win that game on an evening where there was just one two-pointer scored and it was from Eoghan McSweeney.

How teams will adapt to the rules will be fascinating, but it’s important from a Cork perspective, that they hit the ground running in so many ways. There is no doubt that promotion is one of the priorities for Cork this year. They have been stuck outside the top league since 2016 and while Cork have made progress under Cleary in recent years, reaching Division 1 could be the catalyst for the team to kick on and get to the next stage.

But, as we all know, taking that next step is always very challenging to do. Yes, 2024 was disappointing when you weighed everything up, finishing fourth in Division 2, no Munster final appearance and failing to make at least the All-Ireland quarter-finals. It is fine margins though and had Cork beaten Louth last summer in the do-or-die encounter, the campaign might well have been looked at differently.

Cork’s opposition tomorrow in the shape of old rivals Meath will be looking for a second win down the Páirc in three seasons. The Royal County came down to the Banks of the Lee two years ago for also a league opener under then new boss Colm O’Rourke and came away with a win. O’Rourke’s two-season stay came to an end towards the end of last year with Robbie Brennan taking over.

They also come into this one in the long grass with their matches also taking place behind closed doors. One thing is for sure is that they won’t be coming down just to roll over and they will be quietly confident of making the most of the big pitch and small crowd to claim the two points on offer.

There is an element of unknown about both camps, but we will know a lot more by tomorrow night. 

Before that in the curtain raiser, the Cork U20 footballers face Meath in a challenge game at 3pm. It will be a good workout regardless of the result for Ray O'Mahony's side. They don't start their championship campaign until Tuesday, April 1.