All-Ireland final preview: Cork v Down

Cork v Down Sunday 3.30pm (Live on RTE 2)

By Conor Heneghan

After seven years of Kerry and Tyrone dominance, the Sam Maguire will find a new home this Sunday evening and while most pundits would have predicted that Cork would be one of the finalists come the third Sunday in September, there are not many who could have foreseen that it would be Down who would be standing in the way of a first Rebel triumph since 1990.

In the 20 long years since, Cork have been in four finals and lost each one, to Derry in 1993, Meath in 1999 and more recently to Kerry, who triumphed over their arch rivals in 2007 and again last year. Those defeats were the latest in a long line of miserable days for the Rebels in Croke Park in All-Ireland finals.

Only Kerry (18) have lost more All-Ireland football finals than Cork (16), but folk in the kingdom can at least console themselves with the fact that they have won the Sam Maguire 36 times, whereas Cork have only won it on six occasions.

Cork’s dismal record in All-Ireland finals is in stark contrast to the fortunes of their opponents on Sunday, who, as has been well documented, have won every one of the five All-Ireland deciders they have appeared in, a statistic that seems to contradict the well-worn adage that to win an All-Ireland title, you have to lose one first.

And while some will say that tradition has absolutely no bearing on Sunday’s encounter, similar sentiments were expressed before Down’s meeting with Kerry in the quarter-finals, when the Mourne men kept up their impressive record of never having beaten by the kingdom in championship football.

Down confidence

On that occasion and against Kildare in the semi-finals, James McCartan’s side seemed to play with a confidence and flair that was a hallmark of the great Down teams of the 1960s and the early 1990s, and have in the likes of Benny Coulter, Martin Clarke and Daniel Hughes, forwards of the calibre of Down legends like Mickey Linden and indeed McCartan himself.

McCartan deserves a lot of credit for Down’s progression to Sunday’s final, having developed a system that allows his forwards sufficient space to express themselves, without sacrificing solidity in defence. Key to this system have been the performances of Paul McComiskey, Mark Poland and particularly Daniel Hughes in the half-forward line, who have been adept at picking up breaking ball around the middle of the park as well as contributing handsomely to the scoreboard when necessary.

Daniel Hughes will be a key figure in the Down attack

As well as that, Marty Clarke has been roaming the field to his heart’s content and his kick-passing has been an absolute joy to watch. If he is given a licence to perform as he did against Kildare and Kerry, Cork will be in trouble.

With that in mind, the inclusion of Eoin Cadogan in the Cork starting line-up is an interesting decision. Clarke will need to be closely supervised on Sunday and it would seem that by putting Cadogan in the full back line, Conor Counihan is freeing up Michael Shields to track the former Aussie Rules star, assuming he isn’t needed to fill in at centre-back should Graham Canty not be fit to last the pace.

Against Dublin, Cork were able to concentrate their efforts on curbing the threat of Bernard Brogan and Eoghan O’Gara and even though O’Gara was quiet, Brogan ran riot and the Rebel defence cannot afford to be as slack in their marking, with arguably a more talented group of forwards to deal with, in particular Benny Coulter, who has been in imperious form of late.

Cork - strength in depth

Midfield will also be crucial and Down cannot rely on enjoying the same dominance they did against Kildare, particularly with Nicholas Murphy waiting in reserve and likely to be thrown into the mix when the game is in the melting pot early in the second half.

In the Cork attack, the selection of Ciaran Sheehan in the half forward line and Donncha O’Connor and Paul Kerrigan in the full forward line suggests that the Cork forward line will rotate freely in an effort to confuse the Down defence, and while Counihan has the luxury of having a midfielder like Murphy on the bench, he can also throw Colm O’Neill or Fintan Goold into the forward line if needed.

Like all of the games in the latter stages of this year’s football championship, this game is unbelievably hard to call. Cork, having gone so close in recent times, would seem to have the greater motivation to succeed, but they have been far from impressive in their path to the final and to suddenly up their performance to the level required is a big ask.

Down, meanwhile, will have little sympathy for the plight of the Cork footballers in recent times and the momentum they have built from their performances against Kerry and Kildare could well lead them to their sixth All-Ireland title.

Conor Counihan has made one change to the side that defeated Dublin in the semi-final with Eoin Cadogan replacing John Miskella in defence. James McCartan has named an unchanged side from the fifteen who defeated Kildare in the semi-final, meaning that injury doubt Ambrose Rogers will begin the game from the bench. There is one positional change in the side, however, with Benny Coulter lining out at left half forward and Paul McComiskey replacing him at right corner forward.

Click here to read what Nicholas Murphy had to say to JOE ahead of the big game, and here to find out how JOE’s Gaelic Football Analyst Ciarán Whelan thinks it will go down.

Teams:

Cork: A Quirke; E Cadogan, M Shields, R Carey; N O’Leary, G Canty (capt.), P Kissane; A O’Connor, A Walsh; C Sheehan, P O’Neill, P Kelly; D Goulding, D O’Connor, P Kerrigan.

Down: B McVeigh; D McCartan, D Gordon, D Rafferty; D Rooney, K McKernan, C Garvey; P Fitzpatrick, K King; D Hughes, M Poland, B Coulter; P McComiskey, J Clarke, M Clarke.

Odds:

Cork 4/7, Down 15/8, Draw 8/1

JOE Prediction: Down to edge it by the tightest of margins.