FOR the third time in this year’s Championship, Cork manager Conor Counihan had seen his side let a lead slip, allowing their opponents to seize a draw at the end of 70 minutes of football.
The first time was in Killarney in the Munster semi-final, then a week later Kerry again pulled off a comeback before winning in extra time, but on Saturday night it was Cork who had the extra power in the legs to emerge victorious over Limerick.
While pleased to have reached the All-Ireland quarter-finals, Counihan admitted at the final whistle that the additional 20 minutes of football was something that his side could have done without.
“Absolutely,” he sighed. “Four or five points up, we looked to have the thing shut up. Maybe we missed a few other opportunities that we should have got and didn’t close the game out.
“But look, that’s the name of the game, you play to the whistle.We lost a bit of focus for a minute or two and, in fairness to Limerick, they took their opportunities. I suppose we could have done without it (extra time) but it’s done, and we have to move on.”
Cork began the game with three changes from the side listed in the match programme, as Noel O’Leary, Derek Kavanagh and Paul Kerrigan came in for John Miskella, Alan O’Connor and Fintan Goold.
While Goold was fit, coming on in both normal time and extra time, Miskella and O’Connor were both deemed unfit to start the game, as Counihan revealed, though O’Connor was introduced to good effect.
“John Miskella had a shoulder injury on Wednesday night so that ruled him out,” Counihan said.
“Alan O’Connor had a bit of a bout of flu again during the week so that was a bit of a problem.
“To be fair on that, we had fellas who came in tonight and performed very well. There were enough fellas who had been waiting on the fringes for a while so that was very satisfying to see that.”
The use of a big panel of players will surely be vital again next Sunday against Connacht champions Roscommon, with Cork having, effectively, played three-and-a-half games over the past three weeks, and Counihan knows that such exertions could take a toll.
“It’s a factor alright,” he said, “and our level of performance there tonight wouldn’t be satisfactory enough to get through an All-Ireland quarter-final. Having said that, we’re still there and, with the bit of bottle we showed there tonight, we’re always there with a fighting chance.”
With three victories on the trot behind them, have Counihan and his selectors learned a lot about their team off Broadway?
“I suppose we have,” he said, “but fellas have been in and out with injuries and other fellas have been coming back from injuries, so we haven’t had a full squad to pick from yet. Hopefully, we can get closer to that and get everyone fit.”
While Counihan has concerns, his counterpart on Sunday, Fergal O’Donnell, says he and his side are excited about running out onto Croke Park and fighting for their pace in the semi-finals.
He said: “You have to enjoy these days because they are rare, but a small county like Roscommon can have a tendency to over-celebrate these successes.
“The fellas have to try and get their feet back on the ground because the next day we mightn’t go in under the radar as much.
“Obviously, we won’t be favourites, but we don’t want to go up there and get a trimming either.
“The aim now is to go out there and get a good performance. If you get the performance, the result will look after itself.”
© Irish Examiner