STAYING ALIVE
Last-ditch goal gives Cork a vital first victory
FERMANAGH 0-16 CORK 1-14
IN going so far off the beaten path, Cork might just have found a way back on to the Championship highway. Their carbon footprint this spring has been large enough to give Eamon Ryan sleepless nights — prior to this they already had pointless road trips to Ballybofey and Ardee — but it was the prospect that they might spend this summer consigned to football’s back roads which must surely have consumed John Cleary and his group with dread.
The last place they had wanted to acquire their ‘get out of Tailteann Cup card’ was their most convenient trip of all a short hop to Killarney for a Munster semifinal but it is a road signposted with such treachery they would not have been fancied to make it back.
Which is why they are likely to have fond memories of this journey to north Fermanagh, where they discovered that the charm of St Joseph’s pristine grounds in Ederney extended beyond the visual, as they returned home with a first win and a clear roadmap to Division 2 survival.
Two more wins from their next three games — home clashes with Kildare and Armagh, sandwiching a trip to Meath — should get it done, and they will hope this is a turning point.
Certainly, it felt like that given that they spent most of the afternoon staring into the abyss after a dire first-half performance which saw Cleary admit he had ‘words’ with his team, and a day spent mostly chasing their own tail as well as Fermanagh’s.
Seventy-one minutes had elapsed before they finally managed to step back from that cliff edge, when Ruari Deane drove hard at the Fermanagh defence, flighted a fisted centre for his fellow substitute Maurice Shanley to flick to the net. It was the first time that they led.
Immediately prior to Shanley’s goal, Fermanagh’s Shane McGullion raced through to find himself on and one with Chris Kelly, but the Cork goalkeeper advanced to beat away the goalbound shot.
In the blink of an eye, a potential four-point deficit in injury time morphed into a two-point lead and that’s why Cork’s season now has a beating pulse rather than a nagging headache.
In truth, this was harsh on Fermanagh, who have developed into a team of greater substance than just being blessed with good structure and great spirit under Kieran Donnelly. They are a proper footballing side, led yesterday by the trio of McGullion , Declan McCusker and Garvan Jones, who impacted the game even beyond the 11 points that came off them directly.
Fermanagh’s control of the opening period bordered on the absolute, probing at Cork’s soft spots and finding joy.
In the absence of Micheál Aodh Martin, who despite being named in the starting team has still not recovered from a groin injury, and when his replacement Kelly was forced to go long, the visitors were chewed up and spat out.
And when their visitors had control of the ball, Fermanagh merely set traps to not only clog up the middle but to also force turnovers. The home side played with a composure and patience that seemed to be beyond Cork’s grasp, but they struggled to translate that dominance into scores. That is why Cork were still in the game at half-time — trailing by just 0-8 to 0-6 — and in the end the home team would pay a price for that.
‘We were absolutely livid at halftime,’ admitted Cleary afterwards. ‘We were lucky to be just two points down in the second half, but we showed more energy, pushed up on them and got some joy on their kick-outs.’
One of the issues that has dogged Cork has been their poor execution but even in winning here that is not a habit which they have yet kicked.
It took five attempts before Shanley scored — and there is a certain irony that it was a cornerback that in the end showed the way — after Ian Maguire, Conor Corbett (making his first appearance of the season), and Brian O’Driscoll all had goal efforts saved and Rory Maguire crashed another pile driver off the crossbar.
In one sense that was down to the excellent net-minder Seán McNally and, after he was forced off injured, his replacement Ross Bogue, but it was also down to poor decision making, when taking points would have been the percentage play with three of those attempts.
However, Cork possessed what Fermanagh didn’t; game-changers from the bench, with Deane gifting them some line breaking thrust through the middle, Seán Powter adding energy around the middle and Steven Sherlock diving full length to make a mark in the 69th minute that would cut Fermanagh’s lead to one.
It would serve as the cue to a finale that shortened Cork’s journey home. CORK: C Kelly; K Flahive, D O’Mahony, T Walsh (M Shanley, 57); D Cashman (L Fahy, h-t), R Maguire, M Taylor; I Maguire, C O’Callaghan; E McSweeney (S Powter, 49), C Corbett, B O’Driscoll; M Cronin (R Deane, h-t), B Hurley, C Óg Jones (S Sherlock, 62). Scorers: B Hurley 0-8 (7fs), M Shanley 1-0, C Corbett 0-2 (sl, m), I Maguire, M Taylor, C Óg Jones, 0-1 each, S Sherlock 0-1 (1m) FERMANAGH: S McNally (R Bogue, 51); L Cullen, C Cullen, O Smith; D McCusker (J McMahon, 70&5), S McGullion, J Largo Elis; B Horan, J McDade; C McGee (C Jones, 67), R McCaffrey, C McShea; U Kelm (J Rehill, 70&5), G Jones, S Cassidy (D King, 64). Scorers: G Jones 0-7 (3fs), D McCusker 0-3 (1m), S McGullion and S Cassidy 0-2 each, U Kelm 0-1 each, S McNally 0-1 (45). REFEREE: A Nolan (Wicklow).