BY SEÁN HOLLAND
MARK Collins is backing Cork to build on their brilliant win over Donegal and beat Tyrone this Saturday.
The former Cork star feels John Cleary’s table-toppers have all the tools – and now the confidence – to maintain their 100 percent record in Group 3 and go directly into the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
The Castlehaven man was in Páirc Uí Rinn to watch Cork stun Donegal last time out, and he likes what he’s hearing from his former team-mates. He thinks back to when Cork beat Kerry in the Munster SFC semi-final in 2020, but didn't back it up in the Munster final against Tipperary. That hit hard, but Collins believes the current crop is ready to kick on.
‘I was on the pitch after the Donegal game and speaking to the lads who I’d be close to on the panel, the mentality seems super, it's onto the next game,’ Collins says.
‘I thought that was brilliant because I know we had a big win in 2020 against Kerry. I found the emotion of that success was hard to come back from. The training was flat after it, and we never really came down off that. Whereas speaking to any of the lads, they were on to the Tyrone game straightaway. They know they're expecting themselves to win these matches now, which is a great sign for the panel.’
Collins is confident Cork can use the energy and belief from the 3-9 to 0-16 win against Donegal as they prepare to meet Tyrone in Tullamore on Saturday (3pm), the first leg of a double-header followed by the Cork hurlers against Offaly at 5pm.
‘It was absolutely brilliant for the lads to beat Donegal,’ Collins says.
‘I know they put a lot of work into it over the last couple of years and maybe came under a bit of pressure during the league, but to get the win against Donegal was super because it backs up what they did last year. They had two big wins against Roscommon and Mayo, and to back that up with another big win against the Ulster champions is great for the confidence in the panel and great for the county.’
Although Cork and Tyrone don’t meet often, there always seems to be an edge when this fixture pops up. One of the more recent championship meetings is a game Collins would rather forget – a 3-20 to 0-13 hammering in 2018. That was a day to forget for Collins and his teammates, but he hopes Saturday's clash will be one to remember.
‘It was a very frustrating day. It was a horrendous performance. I was sent off at the end of it out of frustration. We just did nothing right that day,’ he recalls.
