‘Momentum is the key to salvaging our season’
CORK MUST BUILD CONFIDENCE FROM FIRST WIN OF YEAR, INSISTS MAGUIRE
THOSE who believe the days of bawling out players to get a result belong to the distant past, should have been within earshot of the Cork football team’s dressing room at half-time in Ederney on Sunday.
On the face of it, there might not have seemed too much for John Cleary to be mad about.
His team trailed by two points and had Ian Maguire converted his goal chance on the stroke of half-time, they would even have been ahead.
The real picture was somewhat different, though; a Cork team that had already lost three on the bounce was halfway down the road to losing a fourth, after being totally dominated by a Fermanagh team whose control was completely misrepresented by their two-point buffer.
Which is why the Cork manager reached into his overnight case and produced the hairdryer.
‘Cleary ate us at half-time and rightly so because we just weren’t at it,’ admitted Maguire afterwards, confirming the truth of what his manager told reporters after thematch, that he had been ‘livid’ at the break.
Whatever he said or —more to the point — how he said it, worked, not quite like a charm but enough to at least shake his team out of their slumber.
What may worry Cork supporters is that a team in such dire need of a result required the verbal equivalent of a cattle prod to get them going and even then it
“We must stop
shooting ourselves in the foot”
would be into the second minute of injury time before a flicked goal from sub Maurice Shanley gave them the lead for the first time in the game.
For all of that, there was comfort there too for Cork.
One of the reasons why they were initially fancied to challenge both Armagh and Donegal for promotion is because they are, arguably, the most physically powerful team in Division 2, but it is a strength that they don’t always tap into.
They did in the second half on Sunday, when the trigger cries of ‘Christmas tree’ from Cork players was audible as Fermanagh tried to get the ball off the kicking tee.
It is an inverted variation of the 4-3-2-1 formation made famous by the late Terry Venables when he was manager of Spurs, with the same principle engaged by Cork to press high on the Fermanagh kick-out.
The tactic yielded a rich dividend in the possession stakes when Ross Bogue replaced the injured Seán McNally at the end of the third quarter.
However, Cork’s biggest issue appears to be that few teams have a greater need to secure possession, primarily because their execution rate is so poor.
Earlier this month, when losing to Cavan by a point, they scored just eight times despite having 21 attempts in the second half of that game.
It was better against Fermanagh but a long way still from being up to scratch.
Prior to Shanley’s injury-time strike, they had four failed goal attempts, with Maguire and Conor Corbett denied by McNally saves, Bogue stopping a Brian O’Driscoll effort and Daniel
O’Mahony crashing another off the crossbar. Of those, only Maguire’s was a genuine one-on-one goal chance. ‘The thing is we need to stop shooting ourselves in the foot and our conversion rate up top needs to improve,’ said Maguire. ‘It comes down to game management, put the ball over the bar. ‘Look at the
Dubs on Saturday night, they are just a classic example, high scoring but they kicked 18 points on top of their three goals. What did we end up with? Fourteen points.
‘Keeping that scoreboard ticking over was a big lesson for us and I think it is the big lesson from the last three games as well, to be honest,’ admitted the Cork midfielder.
However, the return of Conor Corbett for his first start of the season will boost their efficiency up front, while they possess a bench that is much stronger than either Kildare, Louth or Fermanagh — the three other sides who remain very much in the relegation frame.
Seán Powter, Steven Sherlock (who kicked a crucial mark), Rúairí Deane, who provided the assist for the winning goal, as well as Shanley had a huge impact on the outcome on Sunday. That depth gives them an edge over the rest as does their experience. Two years ago their Division 2 and Championship status was on the line when they travelled to Offaly in the final round and won.
Last year, they lost two of their first four games and still finished up a comfortable fourth in the table, which may yet be on the cards with games against Meath and Armagh — the latter might have already been promoted by the final round — to come after Kildare.
But for now they are only thinking about that game against the Lilywhites.
‘We have six days to recover to play Kildare, it is a huge game for us but again it is the next game.
‘We will hold our hands up, we got our asses kicked by Donegal in the first round and there was a lesson in that too.
‘Long-term you have the Championship and what comes with that but in the short term, it is all about Kildare and building off that.
‘The momentum gained against Fermanagh can hopefully carry us into next weekend,’ said Maguire.