Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
IT’S SHOCK ANDRAW
Mccarthy and Rebels came so close to an upset against old foes last year but pain is driving them on this season
RONAN MCCARTHY has challenged his Cork players to seize the opportunity against Kerry as they bid to spring the first major shock of the Championship.
The Rebels go into the game having not beaten their greatest rivals in the Championship for eight years – their longest winless streak in the fixture since 1974-83.
Mccarthy’s first exposure to the rivalry as a manager was a chastening experience as they suffered a 3-18 to 2-4 humbling in the 2018 Munster final.
Coupled with a similarly demoralising defeat to Tyrone shortly afterwards in the qualifiers followed by relegation to Division Three in March 2019, it meant expectations were low approaching last year’s Munster final – yet they were within touching distance late on.
“If you look at last year’s game, we had an opportunity to win it,” Mccarthy insisted.
“It was there in the mix with 15 minutes to go and we probably just weren’t clinical enough or controlled enough when the game was there for us.
‘To be fair to Kerry, they had [Paul] Geaney sent off with 10 or 12 minutes to go and sat back and picked us off.
“We were very close last year. Kerry were quick out of the blocks and we showed good character to get back into it. Certainly, at 1-5 to 0-1 a lot of people had written us off based on the previous year.
“That was all good but, when the game was in the mix, we had an opportunity and we probably just lacked that bit of guile to get it over the line. The question is, if we have the same opportunity, would we be able to take it?”
After that loss, Cork beat Laois easily in the qualifiers to reach the Super 8s where they continued their development against Dublin, Tyrone and Roscommon, even if they didn’t progress.
Mccarthy feels they “turned a corner” last year as they battled to avoid relegation.
He said: “With the players at a fairly low point last FebruaryMarch, we nearly pulled ourselves out of it, we won a great game in Armagh, at 70 minutes we were actually up in Division Two, but at 71 we were gone.
“But through the challenge match circuit, through the Championship, through the Super 8s, the players to be fair got motoring.
“So I think the players overall and the group are in a much more positive place.”
Defeat on Sunday will bring their campaign to a halt, something Mccarthy disagrees with.
He said: “If you’re an intercounty player, what do you want? You want matches.
“Players want games and the point was to treat players the same in both codes. It’s not that I’m against hurlers having a back door, but treat the codes equally.”