Cork need to hold up their end of the bargain as Kildare fight for survival

Such a positive campaign, four excellent results, and all of it undone by one defeat.

It’s cruel in many respects, because it somewhat undermines the work that the Cork footballers have put in this season. It has been a very positive league season, and yet, they look set to come away as emptyhanded as they have done after posting much worse campaigns in Division 2.

Given that Derry and Meath have already met one another, Cork could win both of their remaining games and not get promoted. It is effectively out of their hands now, and that’s assuming wins over Kildare tomorrow and then Tyrone away. Not easy.

Tomorrow at 5pm they face Kildare, with the Lilywhites desperately needing a result from Páirc Uí Rinn if they want to stave off relegation. Given that Cavan face Offaly in Tullamore on the Sunday, there’s a strong probability that Kildare will be in the bottom two places going into the final round of fixtures.

The last number of years have been way off the traditional standards set by the Kildare footballers, but last season was a step back in the right direction with a league and championship double. The Lilywhites claimed the Division 3 league title before going on to defeat Limerick in the Tailteann Cup final, and following that win, there was a huge shift in the panel.

Manager Brian Flanagan named his 35-man squad in the early rounds of the National Football League campaign which culled 16 of the previous year’s panel. Many of the names replacing them have been those that lined out in their 2022 and 2023 All-Ireland U20 Football Championship finals, which Flanagan also managed.

The aim for the Lilywhites is to revitalise football in the county and get a strong young core to lead the way, but their 2026 league campaign has not exactly delivered the start to that which they would have hoped for.

Matters haven’t been helped with the huge injury list that they’ve dealt with in the early parts of the season – 12 of the 35-man panel were sidelined when it was announced at the start of February – but they find themselves on just three points after five games.

Their opening round result was a fightback to draw against Tyrone with 14 men, the next was an 11-point victory over Offaly. But the past three results have been unconvincing and worrying defeats for Flanagan’s men.

Brian McLoughlin has been the standout for Kildare this season; the Clane footballer led the resurgence against Tyrone and was excellent again when they beat the Faithful. Ben Loakman and Alex Beirne have both shown up well too, but their last result against Meath was of particular concern.

Meath raced into an early lead, leading 1-9 to 0-5 at the interval before powering on to win by 14, 1-21 to 0-10 at Cedral St Conleth's Park. The Lilywhites have two games remaining, and they need to win at least one if they want to avoid going straight back down to Division 3.

Cork are wounded after their own beatdown last week, but with home advantage and what both teams have shown this season, they will be favourites.