‘Glass half-full’ - Ray Keane takes positives from Cork U20s draw with Clare

Cork manager Ray Keane said his side’s battling 1-10 apiece draw with Clare in Quilty may ultimately prove “a point gained” as the Rebels opened their Dalata Hotel Group Munster U20 Football Championship Phase 2 campaign with a hard-earned share of the spoils on Thursday evening.

In a tense, wind-affected contest on the West Clare coast, Cork were forced to dig deep in the closing stages, with Seán O’Leary kicking the levelling point. 

Keane felt the character shown in those final minutes was the defining feature of the performance.

“I thought defensively in the last four or five minutes, the character they showed — to work and work and keep turning the ball over without giving away a free, which would basically have decided the game — was huge,” he said.

“It could have gone either way in the end. Overall, I thought we played with a bit of nervousness. People will think what they want, but this isn’t an easy place to come to. Clare were playing their fourth game, and you could see the momentum and rhythm they have.

“We had it in patches, but then we’d miss an easy chance. That’s just the way it went. We got a point — and that might be a valuable point yet.” 

The swirling coastal wind made life difficult for both sides, though Keane refused to lean on it as an explanation for Cork’s inconsistency in a game where they were favourites to win.

“The wind doesn’t win any game,” the Éire Óg clubman says.

“It probably affected us more though because we’re not used to playing in that kind of wind, but both teams had chances to win it. It could have gone either way.

“I’d say from your standpoint watching it, you were wondering what was going to happen next. You could be too despondent about it, or you could look at it as a half-full situation. We’ll take the point and walk away.

“We could have lost the game as easily. I’m usually a glass half-full person — that’s just the way I am. So I’d be thinking that was a point gained, really.” 

Keane praised the impact of Seán O’Leary, who contributed two points from wing-back and ensured the Rebels avoided a damaging defeat.

“Seán just showed great character — he’s that kind of player,” Keane said.

“He’s busy, he’s buzzing, and even at the end when we turned over the ball in the last 10 seconds, he was fouled I thought, and it went the other way. But he was in the middle of it, as he always is.” 

Cork's next group game is against Kerry next Thursday at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh (7pm).