Cork footballers look for positives despite Down setback

The Cork footballers suffered a painful defeat on Sunday, as they let a large lead slip away in Newry against a lively Down but lady luck was certainly not on their side either.

Down forward Pat Havern stuck over a late two-pointer from a free outside the arc to move Down from one behind to one up, but from the stands it was unclear as to why the free was allowed to be moved from around the 20-yard line to back outside the arc.

Down had caught an advanced mark close to goal and engineered a goal-scoring opportunity, from which they struck the post. The referee, correctly, blew his whistle as the new rule states that if no advantage comes the attacking team gets a free from where the mark was caught. 

The rule states nothing about moving the kick back to outside the arc, so it did appear as if Cork were undone by confusion around the new rules on Sunday. If there was another indiscretion involved, to explain it, it certainly was not clear.

To add to that, earlier Patrick Doyle had rifled over a point from distance, but was only awarded one point for his efforts, despite the kick clearly coming from outside the arc. The divot he created on the Páirc Esler turf was a giveaway in this regard.

There are going to be teething problems around these new rules, as shown by Cork scoring a pair of two-pointers thanks to Down not keeping two men in the Cork half at all times.

Brian O’Driscoll and Cathail O’Mahony both struck the posts at crucial junctures as well, and O’Driscoll’s left foot slipped on the sandy surface as he planted it while trying to kick a last-ditch winner from 45m off the ground.

Luck certainly wasn’t on Cork’s side, but having been 10 points ahead in the first half they will feel they probably should not have been relying on any. The concession of the last three scores before half-time ended up proving extremely costly, as it gave the Down men the impetus to launch their comeback.

There were positive notes for Cork. Sean Walsh looked like he belongs at this level in the Cork midfield, Neil Lordan showcased his ability to defend in one-on-one situations on multiple occasions, while Sean McDonnell struck 1-2 and left the field exhausted from his efforts.

RIVALS

The night before at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh Cork fought out a draw with Limerick. This league tie was never going to live up to the two championship belters between Cork and Limerick last year. 

Those were two of the greatest games ever played. This was a run-of-the-mill league clash on the first day of February played in tough conditions.

It was not the greatest of games, but the result ending in a draw will have done no harm whatsoever to the burgeoning rivalry between the two counties.

There were standout performances in Cork’s middle eight from Tim O’Mahony, Ciaran Joyce, Ethan Twomey and Darragh Fitzgibbon, with none taking a backward step, while the likes of Ger Millerick, Niall O’Leary, Cormac O‘Brien and Brian Hayes will be happy with their work. 

Others struggled, but the conditions are likely to be very different the next time these two lock horns, which should suit some of the players more.

The league point gained thanks to Darragh Fitzgibbon’s two late frees is obviously a positive, but the injuries sustained by Padraig Power and Conor Lehane meant that the positives were outweighed here.

We await official diagnosis’ but the instinct was that they were both of the serious variety, which means both will be out for most of the league, at least. With Ben Cunningham pulling up injured during the week, while in action for UCC in the Fitzgibbon Cup, it has certainly been a costly few days for Pat Ryan’s forward division.

Cork do not play again for three weeks when they will make the familiar sojourn to Semple Stadium to play Tipperary. Given this break it did look like the panel might be in a heavy training block right now, as some of the hurling looked a bit off, even allowing for the conditions. 

One hopes they will look sharper the next day.