John Cleary rues Cork losing midfield battle to Meath

Irish Examiner

24-05-2025

Cork manager John Cleary rued losing the midfield battle and giving up too many turnovers as his side began their All-Ireland series with a defeat in Navan.
If losing possession was the problem towards the end of the first half, not winning enough of it in the kick-out battles in the second was the reason for the defeat.
'They got the grips around the middle definitely,' admitted Cleary, 'And I think that was ultimately why they won the game, really.
'We had a lot of that possession in the first half and possession was key out there. Scores were at a premium, the weather turned terrible but once you had possession, you were denying the other team a chance to get a score.'
In the first half, Cork had led by three against the elements but finished the half three behind.
'We had too many turnovers, and we were completely on top, and that was a strong wind there, and probably turnovers killed us,' said the Castlehaven man.
'Then they went down and got a goal and a couple of points before half-time.
'In the second half, we came back and levelled it but they bossed the game there from there mostly to the end. I think for the last 20 minutes, was it five points to one or something, we only scored a point after we levelled it.'
For fear of breaching the three-up rule, Cork's joint topscorer Chris Óg Jones checked himself and pulled out of a tackle in the lead-up to Jordan Morris's goal for Meath.
'I don't think anyone told him,' Cleary recalled. 'He maybe was afraid he'd give a two-pointer or whatever and I think we had three up besides him. But that was at halfway, like, they broke very quickly, and, look, in fairness, it was a good finish by them and a good goal.'
Mattie Taylor failed to finish the game with an injury and the current unavailable list include Brian Hurley, Conor Corbett, Tommy Walsh and Seán Walsh, whose presence in midfield was sorely missed in Páirc Tailteann.
Cleary couldn't say if those who didn't tog out will be fit for Kerry at home next Saturday. 'We'll know now during the week. They weren't fit today now, so we'll just take it week by week.'