John Cleary on facing Meath: 'We will be going up to Dublin to win'

Cork manager John Cleary is confident his side will put their best foot forward in Sunday’s Allianz Division 2 Football League final.

The Rebels face Meath in Croke Park with throw-in at 1.45pm.

There’s a good buzz around Leeside this week as Cork look to lift major silverware.

Before we look ahead to Sunday’s big game, a few days on from sealing promotion after the win away to Tyrone last Sunday, the Castlehaven clubman was naturally still in great form.

“When I came in, the first thing we wanted to do was steady the ship, and then, when we felt we had that done, it was the case of could we drive on for promotion,” he said at Wednesday afternoon's press conference at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

“I felt last year, the Down game got away from us, it was a game we should have won, and like this year, we could have ended up with six or eight points starting out. The last couple of years, we had been nearly out of it before it started by losing one of the first couple of games. 

“We got a difficult draw in the league this year. We felt the easier games were front-loaded, and it was a case of could we get off to a good start and put maybe six or possibly eight points on the board.

“It’s very hard to play catch-up in Division 2. The longer it went on over the last few years, it was getting more frustrating. We wanted to get out of it, and we’re delighted to get out of it.

“Everybody was putting their shoulder to the wheel, and a couple of years there, we had eight or nine injuries, and we were throwing in guys that maybe weren’t fully ready for it.” 

Sunday’s clash comes only a month on from the sides meeting at Páirc Uí Rinn on a day when Cork won on a scoreline of 1-23 to 1-21.

“Meath are very formidable, we knew last month that it was a key game in our campaign against them, it turned out to be as well,” the Cork boss says.

“The only game that they have lost, they have been very impressive. I think it’ll be an open, free-flowing game, they’ve scored a lot of two-pointers, we’ve scored a lot of two-pointers, probably in Croke Park there’ll be a lot of room.

“Depending on wind conditions and things like that, I’d expect something similar to the last day. We played in Croke Park last year, we’ve played out here in Páirc Uí Chaoimh several times, which is not too dissimilar, so look, Croke Park is where you want to be playing.” 

Cleary is quick to point out where priorities lie when asked about the importance of lifting silverware on Sunday.

“We would love to win on Sunday, but the most important game was last Sunday. Championship is coming down the line. We will be going up to Dublin to win, make no bones about that.

“We will see how it pans out on the day. The championship game against Limerick in two weeks’ time is more important than Sunday. At least there’s two weeks between them.

“We will be going to win it and putting our best foot forward and see where it takes us.” 

Cleary has once again pleaded with the Cork supporters to come out in force. They have done that in recent weeks and it has worked.

“The day against Meath coming down the straight, we felt the roar coming down from the stands and it helped us. Even last Sunday against Tyrone, the support we got was magnificent. They were very vocal.

“Hopefully they will travel on Sunday and hopefully we can give them something to shout about because they have latched on over the last three or four games.”