Cork manager Ronan McCarthy prior to the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Quarter-Final Group Phase match between Cork and Tyrone at Croke Park.
By Michael Devlin
A four-minute period in the second half of yesterday’s quarter-final that saw Cork lose their commanding position was ultimately the most disappointing thing for Rebels manager Ronan McCarthy.
Cork had run the rule over their northern opponents in Croke Park during a first half where they split open the Ulster side's defence to hit the net twice. The lead though was eviscerated when Cathal McShane palmed in a 44th minute goal and Peter Harte fired home a penalty two minutes later as Tyrone went on to grind out the win.
“I said to my players in games, whether you are ahead by five you keep playing,” said McCarthy after the game. “[Tyrone] are a very experienced side and were probably going to have a period of dominance. What was critical from our point of view was that we conceded so much so quickly, we went from five up to two down in a matter of four minutes, which is poor form our point of view.
“At least we came back and kept at it, kept going up the field and trying to score, but as it went on I felt the game was being played more on their terms than ours, and we never looked as tight at the back.
“We never get too hung up about whether you are ahead or behind at halftime, I think it’s the quick concession of so much so quickly really damaged us.
“The regret would be that we managed the game very well in the first half, textbook really from the point of view that we were very patient. It wasn’t pretty on the eye, but that’s not our fault. The last thing you want to do is to take the ball into contact, we were patient, we probed, we waited for opportunities, and I thought we did that really well.
“As the first half wore on, I thought two or three times we were caught taking the ball into contact. We started the second half quite well, and then in that period on Tyrone dominance we just conceded too much.”
Mattie Taylor of Cork in action against Frank Burns of Tyrone.
Cork’s season is essentially over following yesterday’s defeat - nothing will be at stake when they take on fellow exiters Roscommon in Páirc Uí Rinn in two weeks’ time – but they will look back on a Championship campaign with plenty of positivity.
They pushed Kerry to the pin of their collar in the Munster final, while the one-sided score line of last week’s defeat to reigning All-Ireland champions Dublin was not a fair reflection of the Rebels’ competitive, earnest performance.
Against Tyrone yesterday they were similarly as combative, but while McCarthy wasn’t entirely willing to settle for just moral victories, the last three games have been learning opportunities for a Cork team with a lot more to offer in seasons to come.
“We’ve played Kerry, Dublin and Tyrone now in three matches, and I suppose if you are looking at an elite level, and I know game management let us down a small bit, but it’s a kind of thing we talk about in terms of decision making and everything else, you learn it against elite teams and when your under pressure. We’ve had a lot of learning in those games.
“We cannot come away from this patting ourselves in the back saying we were competitive against the top teams. We went to beat Kerry, we didn’t beat them. We’ve come away from another game that was certainly in our grasp and we haven’t closed it out, so while others might look at it and say we’ve made progress, we’re bitterly disappointed with the fact that we haven’t made progress.
“The main lesson to be learned is that when you’re on top, you need to drive it home, and when you’re not on top you go back to basics and doing basics well. We didn’t do that at times, but I don’t want to be over critical of players, they are a marvellous group of players and want to be successful with Cork. They put everything they can into doing that.
"It’s hard for us to take, we’ll have regrets and it’s going to hurt massively for a while, but that’s the nature of it. You just suck it up and move it on.”
