The Rebels finally yell but ultimately fall short to Mayo
Mayo 0-27 Cork 2-20
WITHOUT a doubt the Cork put in their best performance of the year in this titanic Qualifier against Mayo but that also makes it the most frustrating. Cork players looked shattered - physically and mentally - at the end of almost 100 pulsating minutes of action but quite what they will take away from the Gaelic Grounds is hard to say. Regrets? Absolutely. Regret at not winning a match having fought back from seven points down in the second half to lead by two in extra-time. And regret that it took until late July for this team to produce a performance that was somewhat more reflective of their potential than everything they have shown all year up to last Saturday.
There was absolutely no surprise in Peadar Healy deciding to end his term in charge as manager immediately after the game. Healy’s two-year tenure ended with this defeat and there was never a question that the Ballyvourney native would seek a second term in charge. Healy is certain to depart with several regrets, but the gnawing one this week will be how and where this performance suddenly came from, and why only now? Telling us that he and his players always knew it was in them is all well and good, but the reality is that Cork still lost the game and they are out of the Championship in July.
Calls to finally give this team some kudos after Saturday’s game were well-intentioned too, but the overal picture remains grim. Cork played 11 matches across the National League - Division Two, let’s not forget - and Championship and won just four of them. The two League victories came against Derry and Fermanagh, the two counties that were eventually relegated to the third tier. The two Championship wins were over Waterford and Tipperary, both by a single point. Healy’s successor can be in doubt that there’s a huge job of work to be done.
It’s likely some players will walk away with Healy. Donncha O’Connor stopped short of making an announcement on his Cork career but there’d be no surprise if the Ballydesmond man - one of Cork’s better performers against Mayo - called time on an excellent career. Alan O’Connor - who had previously quit the Cork panel only to return to play for Healy - is also expected to step away, while Michael Shields and Paul Kerrigan will probably consider their futures over the winter.
The new manager - for everyone’s sake the sooner an appointment is made the better - has a lot of new material to find, but there are some basic building blocks already in place. Sean Powter, John O’Rourke, Jamie O’Sullivan, Ian Maguire and Michael Hurley provide a youthful platform for a rebuilding programme, but the next management team’s greatest task might be to change the mentality of the whole set-up. Throughout the Munster Championship there seemed an air of fatalism around the team: there wasn’t an angry or embarrassed poke struck in the defeat to Kerry in Killarney.
Encouragingly, there was far more bite and crankiness on show in Limerick but rather than praise the players for that, they should be reminded that those are compulsory qualities required every day the jersey is pulled on. To that end, Powter was best on display (as he was in the Munster Final too) with strong support from Maguire, O’Rourke, Donncha O’Connor, Kerrigan and Ruairi Deane when he came on for the injured Aidan Walsh. Indeed, Cork can, with some justification, look to the injuries incurred last Saturday as a tipping point, and certainly the early loss of James Loughrey - followed by Jamie O’Sullivan’s black card dismissal in the 34th minute - and Walsh’s departure with a foot injury two minutes into the second half, were significant losses to the Rebels.
Three Donncha O’Connor scores put Cork into an early lead but Mayo were back on terms, 0-4 apiece, but the 18th minute, and the Connacht side led 0-7 to 0-5 before Kerrigan and O’Connor found the target to restore parity. O’Sullivan’s black card arrived then and Mayo punished Cork with three points, including super scores from Jason Doherty and Cillian O’Connor, to lead 0-10 to 0-7 at the break.
Cillian O’Connor (2), Andy Moran and Paddy Durcan pointed to put Mayo 0-14 to 0-7 clear but just as it seemed Mayo would ease to victory Cork - as Healy put it - went to the pit of their gut and found a response. Donncha O’Connor converted a free, O’Rourke nailed two fine scores, and Colm O’Neill added a fourth, and though Mayo replied through Cillian O’Shea and the impressive Aidan O’Shea, each turning provider for the other, Cork had a new-found belief.
In the 55th minute Powter cut through three tackles and smashed a low shot past David Clarke. O’Rourke fluffed a goal chance moments later and than Clarke had to acrobatically tip over Tomas Clancy’s flick at goal from Deane’s pass. At that stage Lee Keegan had been black-carded for Mayo, Colm Boyle and Seamus O’Shea been called ashore, and Andy Moran just about to leave the action.
As the game tipped into added time Deane turned provider for Luke Connolly to find an equalising goal, 2-14 to 0-20, and after Durcan looked to have won it for Mayo in the 74th minute Connolly conjured another equaliser in the 77th minute with a converted 48-metre free.
On to extra-time where points from Kerrigan (2), Hurley and O’Neill gave Cork a 2-19 to 0-24 lead at the changeover, having briefly led by two points, but Mayo found an extra gear in the final 13 minutes with Keith Higgins, Diarmuid and Cillian O’Connor raising flags to see Mayo through to an All-Ireland quarter-final Connacht derby with Roscommon.
For Cork it was a case of so near on Saturday but still so very far away in overall terms.