Mark Cronin: 'Crowd got us over the line against Meath'

Cork forward Mark Cronin felt the crowd played a huge factor in getting the Rebels over the line against Meath on Sunday afternoon.

Both sides had picked up six points from their first three Allianz Division 2 Football League games in what was a key fixture in the battle for promotion.

John Cleary’s side won 1-23 to 1-21 at Páirc Uí Rinn and are in with a great chance of moving up to the top tier.

The home team had to play with 14 players for the final 13 minutes following an Ian Maguire red card.

“Coming down the home straight with 14 men, the crowd really got behind us,” the Nemo Rangers player says.

“They really got us over the line in this one against Meath. We got a huge boost off them. Over the last few years, we haven’t given the Cork public a lot to shout about.

“We know though when we do, they do get behind us and you saw that today.” 

Cork scored 1-3 without reply in the closing stages of the first half to give them a seven-point buffer at half-time.

It was a crucial period of the game and a scoring spree that proved so important.

“The wind was funny, we kicked a few two-pointers, but the wind was coming and going,” Cronin said.

“In the second half, I felt the wind was that bit stronger. It was a bit harder to kick into the top goal. We really had to work the ball in close to goal.

“It was a game of two halves especially with the wind and the new rules when you are chasing two-pointers to try and rack up a score.“ 

It’s now four wins from the first four matches for Cork as they chase promotion to Division 1, a place where they haven’t been since 2016.

“Confidence can be funny, you're not going to win every day you go out, but we know what’s inside our group and training has been going well for a long period of time, not just when we are winning games.

“Our confidence comes from what we know we are capable of inside our group. We have 35, 36 lads pushing each other on every day.

“We are seeing that now on the pitch. Obviously you want to do well, but the result is all that matters. We are four from four now and hopefully we can keep the winning streak going.

“We will be back down to work tomorrow and then a long trip next weekend to Derry. We will look forward to the long trip as we know what’s at stake. Derry are a very tough side, so we know that we have to be on it.”