BEFORE a ball was kicked in the league, if you had offered John Cleary the chance to be in with a promotion shot going into the final game, he would have snapped your hand off.

If Cork beat Kildare in Páirc Uí Rinn on Saturday evening (5pm), they will travel to Tyrone the following weekend with a realistic chance of promotion from Division 2.

‘This is a very important game to try and put ourselves in the picture going into the last one the following week,’ Cleary told The Southern Star.

‘At the moment it looks like a three-way fight for promotion between ourselves, Derry and Meath. Louth might not be completely out of it either if they win at the weekend.

‘We knew coming into the league that our last four games were going to be Meath, Kildare, Derry and Tyrone, so they were probably the tougher games in the division.

‘It was important there were no slip-ups in the others as well, particularly going to places like Louth and Offaly.’

Winning their opening four games has put Cork right in the promotion conversation and they are tied on eight points alongside Derry and Meath. But – and there always seems to be a but – the 20-point loss to Derry last time out has badly dented Cork’s scoring difference.

Whether that comes into play in the final round remains to be seen. First Cork must take care of business on Saturday to keep their promotion bid on track.

‘Every game in this division is big. I’ve been asked that question before every match in this campaign,’ the Cork boss said.

‘At the start it was big because you wanted to get off the ground running. If we had lost a couple it would still be big because you’d be looking behind you towards the bottom.

‘But we’ve put ourselves in a good position now, winning four out of five. A win leaves us with everything to play for going into the last game, so it’s big for us.

‘We’re preparing for it that way and we’re not looking any further down the line. This game against Kildare is all we’re focused on.’

Since the 1-31 to 0-14 loss to Derry, Cork have spent four days on a training camp in the Algarve – a break that came at the right time.

‘If you include the McGrath Cup, we had six games in seven weeks,’ Cleary explained.

‘It’s towards the end of the league and getting ready for the championship, so it gives you a chance to take stock of what you’ve done and prepare for what’s coming down the line.

‘It was a good camp. The weather was good, we got a nice bit of work done and overall it was very positive.

‘When you’re away together for three or four days you can take your time with the video, take your time on the training pitch and work on things properly. It just gave us a bit more time to get around to everything. That’s a big positive.’

The Derry defeat – and the manner of it – was addressed too.

‘We dealt with that the first night back after it and then put it to one side because we weren’t going to be playing Derry again for the next few weeks,’ Cleary said.

‘You take the learnings from it – and there were a good few – and then drive on. Hopefully it won’t hurt us too much by the end of the league.’

It’s a sign of a good team how they react to a setback, and Cleary wants to see a response from the Rebels this weekend.

‘You can’t keep looking back,’ he said.

‘Last year Kerry were beaten fairly well by Meath in the championship, but they got back on the horse quickly and went on to win the All-Ireland.

‘You take the learnings and move on. You don’t become a bad team overnight, but teams can have off days – and we had one. It’s a case of battening down the hatches and driving on again.’

Cork must drive on again this Saturday and get the win they need to stay in contention for a return to Division 1.