WASTEFUL CORK NEED HUGE LEAP TO UPSET DUBS, SAYS COUNIHAN

LONG after the gun smoke cleared from the Croke Park corral, keen race-goer Conor Counihan promised to give Alan Mullholland a call this week for a few tips to use at the Galway Races.

As for the inside track on how to keep your nose i n front when the winning post beckons on big Championship days, that’s something Mulholland and his Galway team have yet to figure out.

As Galway l eave the Championship unsaddling enclosures, Counihan will resume work on the training gallops, seeking to iron out Cork’s flat spots in running before Saturday’s reunion with the Dubs in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

Against Kerry in the Munster final, it took 35 minutes before Cork responded to a shake of the reins; on Saturday evening, they switched off to such an extent against Galway that all of 42 minutes elapsed between scores from play.

They were also guilty of squandering a cluster of goal chances which, if taken, could have led to a ‘cricket score’, as midfielder Alan O’Connor observed.

Such slackness, not only in front of goal, but in general play too, won’t be sufficient to muzzle the boys in blue. Counihan, and his players, know it.

We know we need to pick it up, big time

‘Look, we know we need to improve big time. Next week, if we’re in a position to convert those chances into goals, who knows where we’ll be?’ he asked.

‘The fact that it was tight and we were pushed to the limit. There is no better preparation for a Championship match,’ he said.

‘At times, Galway looked strong and we looked vulnerable but we showed a bit of experience and composure to get us over the line. A lot of these fellas are on the road a long time, they don’t give up. That’s something which is hard to buy,’ he added.

Counihan bench-pressed a raft of players, including several of those he’d axed, into the fray as Cork clawed back a five-point deficit between the 45th and 65th minutes to collar the Tribesmen.

‘For every team it’s guys coming off the bench that gives you an extra bit. That’s the key. If you don’t have that you’re not going to win the Championship,’ he explained.

As interrogators sift for weakness, Cork will lie low, focusing on improved finishing and a 70-minute sustained level of effort for a glamorous fixture which revives echoes of the famous 1983 semi-final.

No one in the camp was in any mood for chest-thumping after a curate’s egg effort, not even goal-hero Aidan Walsh.

Of his goal which drew Cork level five minutes from time, Walsh acknowledged he ‘ j ust took a chance’ to use his hands.

‘Kicking the ball was not doing us much good so I thought I’d palm it in. I didn’t see the goalkeeper,’ he admitted.

‘It looked like we needed a goal at that time and it swung us in the right direction. We pushed on after that.’

Being outsiders against the Dubs does not concern Walsh.

‘It doesn’t bother us being underdogs. We know we are capable of beating any team on the day. And this is where you want to be playing every week,’ he said.

‘If we had taken one or two of our goal chances, the outcome could have been way different.

‘Only a few small things we did were wrong, and our finishing was not great. But we know what we’re capable of. We’re winning and we’re not playing great,’ he observed.

O’Connor hailed the self-belief in the Rebel ranks. As goal chances went a-begging and Galway opened up a five-point lead in the second half, Cork stayed cool.

‘The belief and drive inside us is huge. Even when we went behind, we were saying to ourselves “just keep the head down, do the simple things, don’t panic”.

‘No one is getting carried away by this. We can only put our shoulders to the wheel and drive on.

‘We have to bring our best back here the next day but that’s the plan. These chances don’t come around too often.’

If Cork can sustain a complete allround performance, ‘they can go as far as they want’ according to Galway manager Alan Mulholland.

‘No one will like getting Cork,’ he said.

As he sifted for positives in the rubble of defeat — the three wins this summer, beating a team outside Connacht in the qualifiers and getting to Croker for the first time in five years — Mulholland’s dismay was palpable.

‘We came in under the radar and wanted to push on. We had big belief within the group that we could do something this year. We showed we could compete with Cork and we’re very disappointed we didn’t see it through.

‘We knew if we held them without a goal we had a great chance. The goal came at a good time for them not for us,’ added Mulholland.

‘We were looking at adding a point but didn’t, they went down the field, hit the post and scored from the rebound.’

When asked about his own future, Mulholland was non-committal.

‘I was looking forward to next weekend, not next year. It’s very difficult when your bubble is burst to look to winter training straight away.’

Ultimately, the final scoreline flattered Galway slightly, as Michael Meehan blasted through a 10strong Rebel wall with the final kick of the game, while keeper Manus Breathnach executed a cluster of outstanding saves. Meehan and Seán Armstrong were outstanding in attack but Galway’s defence couldn’t cope with the rising Rebel tide and, once Walsh palmed home the game’s only goal with five minutes left, the momentum shifted irreversibly.

On another day, Cork might have won at a canter; as it was, they only had a neck in hand at the line. They won’t be allowed win so snugly next week.