John Cleary’s return as Cork senior football manager confirmed for new two-year term
THE big news in Cork GAA circles was the confirmation that John Cleary will remain in his role as Cork senior football manager.
The announcement was no great surprise once John confirmed his intention to go again. The grace period is, arguably, over and he will be expected to take his panel up another level in the coming year or two at the most.
So, how do we define what success will look like for John Cleary and the football squad?
The English songwriter Billy Bragg has a tune called ‘Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards’. While Mr. Bragg might be more concerned with socio-political issues, the title lyrics could well be applied to Cork football followers over the last decade or so.
For us, the first giant leap would be promotion to Division 1 of the National League, preferably with the league trophy in the bag but finishing in the top two and making Croke Park for a final would constitute a successful campaign.
That will be easier said than done in the Spring of 2026 with northern heavyweights Tyrone and Derry starting favourites to jump straight back into Division 1.
Their fellow Ulstermen from Cavan join Cork and Leinster neighbours Louth and Meath from last year’s Division 2. Promoted Kildare and Offaly complete the eight teams.
All involved with the Cork panel will be relieved at the prospects of a little less travelling.
The lack of Munster and southern Leinster sides in Division 1 and 2 means that ourselves and Kerry tend to rack up the most travel miles each given year and, trust me, it is definitely a factor.
Wins away from home are hard come by and it increases the amount of time required substantially also. A Sunday afternoon game in Derry could mean 40 hours or so away from home for the travelling party which is not insignificant.
Add to that the fatigue on a Monday after a late return in the wee small hours and the Sunday afternoon away game in Ulster becomes an ordeal.
Much, then, will depend for Cork on the home and away split, even if our home record in recent years is nothing to write home about.
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Cork played at home to Meath and Louth last year, so we can assume those fixtures will be reversed. Victory was gained away to Cavan in the final game so we should have home advantage for this year’s return fixture.
Ideally, Cork would get three more home games including Tyrone and Derry with one remaining away fixture on the east coast. I may be asking a little too much but that would give us the best run of fixtures and the best opportunity for a top two finish.
The opposite would be two long overnight away trips to Omagh and Derry with home ties against the promoted teams. If that is what the fixture list throws up, Cork’s odds for promotion will increase that bit further.
Whatever the league may bring, championship is where the serious corn is earned. Here, silverware will be even harder to come by given how far we currently are from the business end of the All-Ireland series (no matter the format). There is the prospect of a trip to face the All-Ireland champions in Killarney if we overcome our understandably very annoyed Munster compatriots.
Seeding is a common tool in sports competitions and certainly has its place. The way the new stipulations to seed according to league positions in Munster have been shoehorned into existence will leave a sour taste in the other Munster counties.
At the very least, the new system should have required a notice period of a year or two to allow the other counties to strive for promotion and compete with Cork on the field of play for the second seed position.
For the life of me, I’ll never know how the Limerick board can look a seething Jimmy Lee (Limerick manager) in the face after voting in favour of the proposal.
Football in Munster, outside of Kerry, is not in a great place. Limerick would have been hoping to build on their Tailteann Cup adventures to create more momentum in another hurling stronghold. They will now feel their own officials are making it harder for them to make a provincial final.
That the prevailing opinion is that we are all squabbling over second place behind Kerry is irrelevant. As long as seedings remain in place, a provincial final is still something for the lesser lights to aspire to for a day in the sun against David Clifford and co.
There is always the hope then that they can emulate Clare against Kerry in 1992 or Tipperary against Cork in 2020. The fine Limerick side that ourselves and Kerry has so many close encounters with in the noughties in particular should most likely have added themselves to that list at least once also.
It all adds up to a testing Munster campaign for Cork in 2026. It’s hard to see anything beyond another trophy for the Kingdom, as much as I hope I am wrong.
The All-Ireland series brings us yet another new format just when many were starting to see the merits of the group stage given the excitement in the final rounds in particular this year. The new system was actually in place in Cork a few years back, and while it was an improvement on other ‘backdoor’ championships, it is still less than entirely satisfactory.
Until the GAA bites the bullet and puts short pre-season provincial competitions in place ahead of a league system leading into knockout games as tried and trusted across many sports in many countries, we are merely papering over cracks. Run that season from February until the middle of August as well and we will be in business.
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Returning to matters at hand, and given that John Cleary and his team haven been given a two-year term, the minimum expectation will be to ensure he sees out both years.
Cork will need to at the very least, challenge for promotion into the latter stages of the league and to give Kerry another fright down in Killarney having seen off whoever they play before that, which is no fait accompli. A decent run to the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals would round off an acceptable season, albeit without adding any much-craved silverware.
Should that be the way things pan out, the group will be given one more chance in 2027 to win a trophy of substance. Between 2006 and 2012, Cork won four National League trophies (one Division 2 and three Division 1), four Munster championships (2006, 2008, 2009 and 2012) and an All-Ireland title (2010).
The trophy cabinet has been gathering dust since, apart from one Covid-affected Division 3 title in 2020 which did not include a final in Croke Park.
So, hopefully, John and his charges can change that fact in the next two seasons. John’s tenure thus far has brought moments of promise, moments of great frustration but ultimately overall stagnation. We wait in eternal hope for the great leap forwards.
