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JOHN HAYES: This Cork football squad can still mount a Division 2 promotion bid

January 9th, 2025 8:45 AM

By Southern Star Team

JOHN HAYES: This Cork football squad can still mount a Division 2 promotion bid Image
Brian Hurley will be a key man in the Cork attack again in 2025.

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HAVING waved goodbye to 2024 with last week’s review column, we now turn our attention to 2025 and the prospects for the Cork footballers in the season ahead. 

While last week we spent some time lamenting those who aren’t available to Cork football manager John Cleary, let’s concentrate on those the Castlehaven man does have. While we have acknowledged the absences already, it’s important now that the squad and management that are willing to put in the hard graft get the support they need from the Cork football fraternity. Let’s assess the squad ahead of their Division 2 campaign that starts at home to Meath on Saturday, January 25th.

Taking stock of Cork’s goalkeepers to begin with, 2025 will see Micheál Aodh Martin, Chris Kelly and Patrick Doyle vying for the number one jersey. Carrigaline’s Callum Dungan is expected to provide further back-up in this position. With the new rules introduced, some of the influence of goalkeepers has been reduced, as the short kick-outs will be less frequent, and the goalkeeper can no longer be used as a safety net backpass for a defender under pressure in his own half. The door is ajar though for a goalkeeper with serious mobility, fitness and football ability to venture forward to the opponent’s half and become an extra man in attack. 

With this in mind, and hearing stories of Michael Murphy wearing the bigger gloves now for Donegal, this is an area where managers and coaches at the highest level may look to get creative. Without being overly critical, I don’t think any of the Cork goalkeepers fit the profile of a Niall Morgan or Rory Beggan in being able to be a serious threat as the extra attacker. The strategy is high risk also as often the keepers were encouraged to raid forward by the lack of forwards in their opponent’s half. Turnovers were seldom punished with goals in recent years, even if the opportunities were there, and I’m thinking of Sean Powter failing to punish Niall Morgan in Tullamore last year. With three forwards staying up the field now, a turnover could very much be punished with a goal at the other end. 

The strategy of bringing the goalkeeper forward regularly will be a high-risk endeavour and I expect Cork will be one of the teams to err more on the side of caution to begin with. Longer kickouts will be back in vogue also with the kickout arc enforced and the opponent can no longer push 15 players up for maximum pressure. With that in mind, I think Cork will go with one of Martin or Kelly in goal to begin with, although Doyle may be the outside-the-box gambit if Cork are to be more adventurous. This is a position to watch with great interest in the opening rounds of the league. I don’t currently see a player like Michael Murphy who could make the transition to goalkeeper for Cork just at this minute either, therefore the status quo will remain for a start. Kelly or Martin to get the nod to begin with, I would expect. 

In defence, injuries permitting, it appears Cork will choose from Tommy Walsh, Daniel O’Mahony, Maurice Shanley, Mattie Taylor, Luke Fahy, Rory Maguire, Sean Meehan, Kevin O’Donovan, Darragh Cashman and Jacob O’Driscoll. Brian Murphy and Colin Molloy have also been called up after strong showings for Nemo Rangers in 2024. 

On paper, it’s a strong group, with Walsh, Taylor and O’Mahony as the leaders based on last season’s performances. Shanley and Maguire are very capable and solid performers, while Meehan, Fahy and O’Donovan will hope to overcome injury problems to find their form from a couple of seasons ago. Cashman showed some promise in the early league games but didn’t see much championship action, while Jacob O’Driscoll is far better than he showed in Cork’s U20 defeat to Kerry two seasons ago. Briain Murphy is the most likely of the Nemo duo to see game time, as Molloy is still U20 and has time on his side. Neil Lordan from Ballinora is another who has been around the panel in recent years without seeing much game time. 

If all are fit, a full-back line of Walsh, O’Mahony and Shanley fronted by Fahy, Maguire and Taylor is none too shabby. Man-markers have premium value again in the brave new age of Gaelic football and Walsh and O’Mahony showed they are two of Cork’s best last year. Hopefully, O’Donovan and Meehan can recover full fitness to give us different kinds of options to mark players of a different profile. Sean Powter, of course, is another who could revert to more defensive duties, yet I feel his talents may be needed further up the field. 

Midfield picks itself after the season Ian Maguire and especially Colm O’Callaghan had last year. Unfortunately, Cork’s depth in this area has been reduced with the withdrawal of the injury-prone Killian O’Hanlon at just 28. Paul Walsh, Rory Maguire, Ruairi Deane and possibly Brian O’Driscoll and Maurice Shanley may be required to provide the back-up in this area, especially as Maguire can no longer guarantee 70 minutes of box-to-box efforts. 

Up front, on paper again, there is talent to choose from if a genie could grant John Cleary his most fervent wish and guarantee the fitness of his first-choice weapons for the forward line. Firstly, the half-forward options include the preferred trio of Paul Walsh, Powter and Brian O’Driscoll. Ruairi Deane and Eoghan McSweeney could all see game time in this area during the league also. David Buckley has the long distance shooting range to be a threat from outside the two-point arc. 

Brian O’Driscoll has been a big addition to Cork since his return ahead of the 2023 season.

 

While I did say I wouldn’t mention any of the departees this week, there are strong rumours that Fionn Herlihy has also withdrawn from the panel for the year ahead, thus removing another arrow from John Cleary’s bow. It’s another disappointment as the Dohenys man is talented and could make an impact. 

Dual U20 Hugh O’Connor may get an opportunity also, however he will need to develop his physical attributes to compliment his natural football ability. The intelligence and passing and shooting ability of Mark Cronin provides another option, although he lacks the size of the others or the sheer dynamic pace and power of Powter to be a complete inter-county half-forward.

Cronin is more likely to be stationed in the full-forward line again, where he will likely be joined by Brian Hurley and Chris Óg Jones to begin with. Conor Corbett is not expected to play any part in the league campaign at least and will likely struggle to feature for Cork in 2025 after another cruciate ligament injury in the summer of 2024. I always hesitate to enquire about Cathail O’Mahony and his fitness as the answer is rarely positive, yet we live in hope that his luck will change soon, and he can get the chance to show his undoubted ability in the red jersey. 

Dan Ó Dineen has returned to the squad also to provide another option up top. Danno is another talented guy who has had some good moments in the Cork jersey in the past, however the challenge for him is to prove he can find another level to really prove he can nail down a place in the first team.

In short, the squad is still capable of mounting an assault on Division 2 honours, but only if Cork’s fortunes change on the injury front. With a tighter panel now, there is an increased onus on the conditioning and medical backroom personnel to give management as close to a full deck to pick from as possible. It will be needed if Cork are to have a successful season. We wish everyone involved well, here’s to Cork surprising more than a few of us.

 

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