Meath clash will give truer indication of Cork footballers' standing

Let us imagine for a moment that, during the upcoming All-Ireland SFC, Cork were to be drawn away to a team like Donegal, Galway, Armagh or Dublin.

Regardless of the stage in the competition – round 2A for winners of the first round, round 2B for the teams that lose their first game or round 3 for the chance to reach the All-Ireland quarter-finals – it’s hard to envisage the Rebels being anything other than comfortable underdogs for such a tie.

There’s not a lot of science behind that apart from the fact that all of those teams have played in the All-Ireland final in recent years and are in the very top tier of counties at the moment.

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Cork are somewhere between sixth and 12th-best – it would be easy to say that a side promoted to Division 1 for 2027 are top eight but there is no guarantee that a side coming up is better than one or both of those relegated – and so a trip to face a genuine Sam Maguire contender is bound to be a tough one.

And when you strip away all the history and emotion that may have been wrapped up in the occasion that was last Sunday’s Munster SFC final, what it was for Cork was an away match against the reigning All-Ireland champions.

Kerry’s next game is a home All-Ireland tie with Donegal and, while the Ulster county beat the Kingdom in the national league final, they are outsiders with the bookmakers for the game in Fitzgerald Stadium; those same bookies were far less optimistic for Cork last weekend than the many who read into Kerry’s long injury list and reckoned that it was a great chance to end the long wait for provincial glory.

None of this is to give Cork a free pass for the defeat. Video analysis this week will no doubt have focused on how poor the third quarter was, with John Cleary’s side enjoying territory but unable to work through a well-disciplined defence that got set quickly while Cork couldn’t punish them by going over them with two-pointers into the wind.

Cork needed to hold a greater half-time lead than their three-point advantage and it was disappointing that Brian O’Driscoll’s goal, followed by David Buckley’s point, could not provide a platform for a fightback.

However, it always has to be borne in mind that the other crowd came to play, too. The Kerry infirmary did not have David Clifford as an in-patient and his goal, coming when it did, was worth more than three points.

The opposition having the best footballer in the country is an occupational hazard but the other star attacker for the Kingdom in the second half provided a better distillation of the difference in standing of the counties.

Despite all of Kerry’s losses, Tony Brosnan was not chosen to start the game but, when he was called upon for the second half, he delivered with a five-point haul. It’s hardly an exaggeration to say that no other county carries such attacking depth and it is worth wondering if Cork should have rotated more during the league to provide more game-time to the likes of Buckley. Keeping a largely settled team was the basis for the promotion tilt but a strong squad with varying options is required for the championship.

But it is a championship in which Cork are still active. 

When it comes down to it, they were outsiders last Sunday against a superior team and they lost. There’s little point dwelling on that, with the Meath game rolling around so quickly.

The Royals are regarded as slight favourites by dint of their Division 2 final win over Cork – it is an encounter which should give a clearer snapshot of where the Rebels are in the national landscape.