Rebels need result to keep promotion hopes alive

JOHN Cleary has promised that Cork will head to Ardee on Sunday (1pm throw-in) with ‘all guns blazing’ as his Rebels try to get their league campaign back on track.

Losing away to Donegal in their Division 2 opener last weekend wasn’t a shock given the quality of the home side, but the below-par Cork performance has heaped more pressure on the team ahead of their second away game on the trot.

It already feels like a defining game in this league campaign – if Cork win, the promotion push is back on track, but a second loss would leave them playing catch-up in a short race.

‘It is going to be a difficult assignment,’ Cleary said of the trip to Louth, who lost 0-12 to 0-11 away to Armagh in their opener last weekend.

‘We’ll be going up there trying to turn that (Donegal) result around. After this performance we’ll just have to go see where we can go next Sunday. Back to the drawing board and we’ll be going up all guns blazing to see if we can get a result there.

‘I don’t think Louth will fear us too much. We’ve got to dust ourselves down, we don’t become a bad team overnight after one display. Donegal were at it, we weren’t, maybe it’s the lesson we needed to try to get back on the horse again.’

Cork have history when it comes to slow starts to the league; last season the Rebels lost at home to Meath before regrouping to beat Kildare in their next game and a repeat is needed here. 

Beating Donegal away in the league opener was always going to be a tough task, and the Louth game is the more winnable of the back-to-back away matches. But the Leinster men won’t fear Cork, as John Cleary says. Last season they beat Cork 1-10 to 0-10 in Ardee, so they’ll feel they can make it back-to-back league wins. When the counties clashed in the championship last summer, Cork won by two points, so there has been little to choose between the teams. Remember, Louth also finished third in Division 2 last season, ahead of Cork.

With games to follow against Cavan (home) and Fermanagh (away), Cork need to make sure they stay in the promotion hunt this weekend, otherwise they could find themselves four points behind the leading back after the opening two rounds. That's the worst-case scenario, but could be a reality if Cork don’t address the issues that led to their 11-point loss in Donegal. The concession of 1-20 will raise alarm bells, but Cork’s tally of just 2-6 is concerning, too, though the first appearance of the season for Brian Hurley and Steven Sherlock is important to note, too.

How the Rebels react to last weekend will shape their league campaign.