McCarthy struggles to explain failure to push on in the second half
ONCE again, a winning first-half position in a home game was overturned as Cork’s promotion hopes withered on the vine at Páirc Uí Rinn on Saturday evening.
Had led by two points at the turnaround, the Rebels found themselves stymied by a resurgent Clare in the second period and coach Ronan McCarthy was left ruing a failure to create openings in the Banner’s defence.
“We were seven-five up at halftime and I felt we were well set up,” he said.
“We like playing against the wind and running the ball, but when they have 13, 14 behind the ball you have to work hard to break them down and work it through, and we couldn’t find find the final pass to do that.
“We had a bit of momentum, but nothing to say we were well on top.
“When we ran the ball through them with support we opened them up, no question, but they were lively up front too. They’re a good side and they cause teams trouble.”
Having followed the home defeat to Cavan with a win away to Clare, Cork’s chances of promotion were reignited. The margin for error was limited – even if they had beaten Clare, they would still have needed a victory in Roscommon this weekend – but consistency was once again the blight that couldn’t be eradicated.
“It wasn’t as poor a performance as the Cavan game,” McCarthy said, “but again, we’ve gone from a positive performance, a good win away from home – we haven’t followed that up, which is the most disappointing thing about it.
“We couldn’t have any argument with it, they always looked dangerous – we possibly could have gotten a draw out of it but we wouldn’t have deserved it.
“They had an early goal chance – and they got a goal against Down in the first minute of the game. That can happen early on when you’re not set up properly, but we focused after that and they didn’t have any goal chances after that.
“Nor did we, I suppose, though we did hit the post coming up to half-time. That was probably a goal chance and was probably an important one looking back on it.”
It means that, instead of still harbouring ambitions to get out of Division 2 via the sun-roof, there is a slight chance that they may drop through the trap door.
“It’s a tough one now going to Roscommon and depending on results we may need something out of it to avoid relegation,” he said.
“The big disappointment out of tonight was we could have been going to Roscommon looking for promotion, but we’re now in a position where we’re depending on other results and we might need something from that game next week to stay up.
“It was a poor evening all round. But if you don’t take advantage of your home games, that’s the price you pay.”
McCarthy also provided an update on injuries to the panel.
“Ruairí Deane was scanned, we don’t have an accurate idea on that,” he said, “you could be looking at a month but maybe longer. Brian O’Driscoll will be long-term, definitely. Kevin O’Driscoll rolled his ankle on Tuesday night but we’d be hoping that he’d be okay fairly quickly.
“Seán White has a quad injury and that could be a couple of weeks. We lost four of our starting team from last week but, as I said, we still felt that we had a strong enough team to go out and win the game.” MAIN MAN
Gary Brennan,ashe so often is for Clare, was a colossus in midfieldand the driving force as they turned the game around in the secondhalf.Jamie Malone was another who was very impressivefor the visitors, while onthe Cork sidetheencouraging signswerefewand far between.
KEY MOMENT
Keelan Sexton’s point toput Clare 0-11 to 0-9 infront was brilliant, roundingoff a move startedby corner-back Cian O’Dea. Then, with Cork having drawnlevel at 0-12 each, thefactthat Clare pushedahead again, through Malone, showed that theywere not going tobe shaken.
TALKING POINT
Thelosses to Tipperary and Cavan raised the questionthat the new Páirc Uí Chaoimh was a stumblingblock for Cork, but this showed that the home discomforts are wider-ranging than just a familiar-butunfamiliar new stadium.