John Cleary on great win over Meath: 'We put our bodies on the line'

Cork manager John Cleary has praised his players for their battling qualities in the big win over Meath at Páirc Uí Rinn on Sunday afternoon.

A large crowd of 6,223 turned up to Cork's secondary venue between both sides who won their first three games in the Allianz Division 2 Football League.

The Leesiders won on a scoreline of 1-23 to 1-21 to put them in a great position of moving up to Division 1 with three games remaining.

“We have to be very happy with the performance,” Cleary said post-match.

“We played some outstanding football at times both in attack and in defence. We got really tested by a very good team and we just had enough in the tank to get over the line. The crowd were magnificent.

“You could hear them coming down the home straight. I said during the week that it would be small things that gets us over the line and I think the crowd was a factor today, yeah, definitely.

“It was going to be a tough game no matter what. Week on week when we go back to training after a win, you can see that the momentum is there, you can see that confidence is building.

“We were in a position two years ago where we lost the first three games. You’re going back into training the following day or night and you’re trying to get fellas up.

When you’re winning games, fellas come in with a bounce in their step and just like everything else in sport, they say momentum is everything and I think that’s what it is.” 

Cork could have easily panicked in the closing quarter or so when the game was in the balance. Ian Maguire’s red card after 56 minutes could have been a major factor. The Rebels stood strong.

COURAGEOUS

“I think every team has tactics and you try to set up game plays and you try to do what you can to win, but it just comes down to bodies on the line,” the Cork boss says.

“Our lads, particularly in defence there, showed that courage at the end.

“Any team you’re involved in, all you can ask for is 110%. Some are more skilful than others and some are better players than others but the bottom line is that you want 100% and definitely we got it there today from our lads in spades.

“You have to have your skill and you have to have your head. We had our backs to the wall there at the end and we were able to defend and put our bodies on the line. That separates the players that make the inter-county level from those that don’t.

Thanks be to God we had it in abundance today.” 

On Maguire’s red card, Cleary says that he didn’t see the incident.

“I didn’t see how he got sent off. I would think that definitely he was having a whale of a game. It was a blow to us but I do think definitely he has been a leader in the dressing room for the last 13, 14 years.

“He was distraught coming off but then when he settled down he was roaring the lads on. I don’t think they would have wanted Ian going out the door this evening and we’d been beaten by a point and he was sent off.”