Tommy Walsh now key figure at heart of Cork football revival

After 210 minutes of high-octane football, the final result of Cork and Meath’s three-game saga is Rebels 3-70, Royals 3-67.

The league silverware went to the Leinstermen, but John Cleary’s side would likely have taken this end of the bargain to head into the winners’ side of the draw with the guarantee of two shots at making an All-Ireland quarter-final.

The round 2A draw won’t take place until next week, after which Cleary will have two weeks to plan.

Donegal in Ballybofey was the bum draw being bandied about on Saturday evening, but there could equally be a match-up against teams that Cork have handled in the past year, such as Tyrone or Westmeath/Cavan.

Kerry will be the bogey team for everyone in the losers’ group. They will have to play three games in three weeks to make an All-Ireland semi-final.

If Cork lose the next day out, they will also fall into that potential three-games-in-three-weeks cycle. But if they win, a week off before an All-Ireland quarter-final is a valuable prize.

Styles make fights and Cork-Meath pitted together two streaky teams who can demolish each other for spells and then be steamrolled.

At their worst, Cork were taken for 1-5 without reply in four minutes shortly before half-time. Then, they blitzed Meath for 11 consecutive points in the space of seven minutes after the interval.

Between the 31st and 46th minutes, they flipped a nine-point deficit into a three-point lead with a 0-13 to 0-1 burst.

In a stiffening breeze, Meath kicked five orange flags to Cork’s one in the first half. Then, Cork booted five orange flags to Meath’s one in the second.

The first half would turn on a pair of five-point swings. After Seán Brennan recovered from an intercepted kick-out to tip a Mark Cronin goal chance onto the post, Meath countered for a Ruairí Kinsella orange flag and Conlon added another. Instead of a five-point Cork lead, Meath led by two; 0-9 to 0-7.

Then, after Bryan Menton blocked Luke Fahy’s goal-bound shot, Meath countered for an Eoghan Frayne two-pointer. They capitalised on the next two kick-outs, with Ciarán Caulfield ghosting in unmarked for the 27th-minute goal before a second Frayne orange flag. Instead of a two-point Cork lead, Meath led by eight; 1-14 to 0-9.

Those kick-outs were momentum changers. Patrick Doyle was picked off when going short for a Kinsella chance, which smacked the crossbar and ricocheted over. Brennan was robbed for Cronin’s shot onto the post.

MOVEMENT

By our tally, Meath converted 1-9 off possession won from the Cork kick-out as they got on top with the wind. Doyle showed great perseverance to come out in the second half and nail eight successive kick-outs to fuel their 11-point streak.

“I'd have to give Cork big credit,” said opposition manager Robbie Brennan. “Their movement off the kick-outs, they were able to find those little spots.

“Something for us to look at is they got some short kick-outs away, which would be really disappointing when you're up a man. That's the one thing we should be able to stop.

“Towards the end, we ended up going man-on-man and trying to free up our plus one. Their movement was good to be able to get it away, so again I'd give them massive credit and not necessarily negative on our lads.” 

These Meath encounters at Páirc Uí Rinn have served to prove Cork’s grit when it comes to playing with 14 men.

Back in February, it was Ian Maguire sent off for the final 13 minutes. This time, his midfield partner Colm O’Callaghan was dismissed on a straight red with 19 minutes to play. The incident looked completely innocuous and served to fire up the Cork majority among the 8,526 crowd.

Post-match, Cleary referred to the fact that Maguire’s red was reduced from a two-match suspension to one on appeal. Like Maguire, any match without O’Callaghan would be a major miss.

He scored two points in the first half and made a goal-saving block before half-time to prevent Meath from going in with an 11-point cushion.

It’s to the immense credit of his teammates that Cork won the 19 minutes while down to 14 men by 0-5 to 0-4. Seán Walsh came in and won a vital lead free on the hour after Meath had levelled.

Tommy Walsh’s influence must also be flagged as the Kanturk man carried ball up through the middle time and again in a brilliant performance.

Ultimately, Steven Sherlock was the difference with his range of two-point shooting, ably assisted by David Buckley, on his first championship start, and Cronin.

The St Finbarr’s virtuoso scored one orange flag from play in a phone box’s worth of space with minimal backlift, the next on the run, and the last with a beautiful dummy and outside-of-the-boot swerve. It truly was a fitting winning score to cap a Leeside classic.