Orchard county
ern side just wore them down.
Cork had no answer at the finish. Three players injured, Mark Collins sent to the line and at the finish just 12 players on the pitch – that last five minutes really did sum up Cork football’s challenges right now.
Donegal powered to the finish and when it was done stayed on the pitch for 15 minutes after the final whistle in a huddle going through the events of the day and sharing in each other’s achievements.
On the other side Cork’s players were showered and almost ready to go when Donegal finally made it to their dressing room – hard to blame them wanting to leave the scene of another crime as quickly as possible.
So, what can Cork take from last Saturday? Well, they can take it as read that right now they are good way off the level of Donegal, but having said that for long periods last weekend they Cork can compete and perhaps win, but Cork are still likely to go down
had Donegal rattled.
Michael Murphy’s class along with superb team fitness and a tremendous self-belief all over pitch meant that Donegal were always likely to win, particularly after reeling in their opponents and while Donegal deserved the win the gap at the end was a little harsh on Cork’s players.
Cork will need to pull out all the stops next weekend in Armagh but that will mean that they will need to play better than they have all season, or for that matter better than they have played in more than a year.
Cork will need to do this probably without their captain Ian Maguire, one of their main scoring threats Mark Collins and also without Luke Connolly with the former and latter likely to miss out through injury while Collins will be suspended for Cork’s final league fixture of the year.
Cork will also need some help from elsewhere with a draw between Tipperary and Clare the best result for the Lee-siders.
Cork need the win and despite the big-name absentees they do have a chance but it will also take serious luck for the rebels to stay up and to this point Cork really have had none.
Cork to compete and, perhaps, win but Cork will likely still go down.