'THE ultimate aim of this group is to get up to the very top and we’re a good bit off it now. How long that takes and whether you can get there or not is another matter,’ John Cleary mused after Cork lost the 2022 All-Ireland quarter-final to Dublin on June 25th that season.
The Dubs moved through the gears in the second half of that clash, outscoring Cork by 0-11 to 0-3 as they won by 11 points (0-21 to 0-10), prompting Cleary – then interim boss – to admit afterwards: ‘That’s the standard and we are nowhere near it.’
Less than one month after Cork’s 2022 championship exit, Cleary was confirmed as Cork football manager, taking over from Keith Ricken who had stepped aside due to health reasons. Cleary was handed a three-year term that comes to an end after this season which he will hope stretches out beyond this weekend.
After Cork’s limp exit to Louth from the 2024 championship, the Castlehaven man cast doubt over whether he’d return for this campaign, admitting ‘it’s definitely not a definite’. That invited speculation over his future, but he decided to stick, not twist. The job wasn’t finished. It still isn’t.
So, this Saturday, almost three years later to the day since Cork and Dublin last battled in the championship, Cleary will lead his Rebels back to Croke Park, intent on ambushing the Dubs on their home patch in a knock-out championship game. This is the chance to discover if Cork have closed the gap on the leading pack. If so, by how much? If not, is this a manageable crevice or a sizeable crevasse?
This is not the Dublin that swept aside all pretenders to win six All-Irelands in a row (2015 to 2020), but there are signs this version is trending upwards again. In the group of death, they beat Galway away (1-18 to 2-14) and Derry in Newry (0-22 to 0-20), games that sandwiched their five-point loss (0-24 to 0-19) to All-Ireland champions Armagh. Context matters in that defeat to the Orchard County, as Dessie Farrell’s team misfired – they kicked 17 wides, hit the woodwork twice, had three breaches of the 4/3 rule and were without Con O’Callaghan, since back in action. The Dubs aren’t fully gone away, yet Cork will back themselves to stride into GAA HQ and spring one of the shocks of the championship. Think of Sean Powter’s ‘I fully believe we’re going to beat them’ line ahead of the 2021 Munster final against Kerry in the barren hunting ground of Killarney.
Cork football manager John Cleary.
The Rebels need that belief, but there must be substance to any swagger – that’s why last weekend’s crunch victory against Roscommon (who finished above Cork in Division 2 and were promoted) was so important to this group. Not only did Cork deliver in a must-win game with their season on the line, but, as in previous seasons under Cleary, they defeated a higher ranked team when they had to.
Cork football’s inconsistency is, ironically, their most consistent feature. Hence, the trust issues with fans who sway more to hope than nailed-on belief. But Cork have the knack of sniping the big guns. Think of the back-to-back victories over Mayo and Roscommon in 2023 that sent Cork into the All-Ireland quarter-finals. Going back to last season, Cleary’s crew stopped Jimmy winning matches when Cork beat Ulster champions Donegal in a round-robin game at Páirc Uí Rinn. In fact, in each of Cleary’s three previous seasons in charge, Cork have won back-to-back championship games, apart from this season so far …
This Cork team can produce shocks, and while the consistency needed to move with purpose towards the top counties is still lacking, the ability to raise their game makes these Rebels a dangerous proposition. It’s why the two-point victory over Roscommon – and the manner of it – mattered to this group. Look at Cleary’s reaction at the full-time whistle, fist clinched and raised in the air. Relief and satisfaction, all rolled into one. Job done. Test passed. The summer prolonged for an extra week at least. Cork needed this win. So too did Cleary. There were three championship defeats in a row before last weekend, but this was a reminder that Cork can cause problems. Dublin know this, as Philly McMahon touched on in Indo Sport’s GAA podcast this week.
‘I wouldn't write off Cork. Any time we played Cork over the years they really rattled us. We had a load of friendlies with them. They played with an air of “ we don’t care if you’re Dublin”,’ McMahon said, a nod to that innate Cork confidence. ‘I remember playing them in Nowlan Park and thinking these guys are good, these guys could do well this year. I don’t know why they don’t show up in other games or in Munster. When you see Cork they always put it up to the big teams, like Kerry.’
Cork have ambitions to be amongst the football elite, but are still a distance from achieving that target. But Saturday evening in Dublin presents an opportunity to drive a flag in the ground and grab peoples’ attention. To do that, Cork must turn up, and, as Cleary alluded to three years ago after the loss to Dublin, the Rebels must, like the top teams, find ‘that extra gear when it really matters’. It matters on Saturday, for Cleary and Cork.
