Cleary's recruits have brought freshness and depth to Cork challenge
John Cleary's hand had been forced. Eight departures from the 2024 panel meant recruitment was necessary.
The Cork football boss knew he had to dip into the underage and club scenes to unearth fresh talent.
Killian O'Hanlon, Thomas Clancy and John O'Rourke retired, Kevin Flahive went travelling, Jack Cahalane pivoted to the hurlers, and the forward trio of Fionn Herlihy, Damien Gore and Steven Sherlock opted out of the 2025 panel.
The loss of Flahive, Sherlock and the experience of O'Rourke meant Cleary had gaps to plug.
In came defenders Seán Brady and Neil Lordan, midfielders Seán Walsh and Conor Cahalane, and further forward, Seán McDonnell, Hugh O'Connor and Éanna O'Hanlon.
Their impacts have brought freshness and competitiveness that Cleary insists has put Cork into a good place for their All-Ireland SFC Group 2 opener against Meath in Navan on Saturday.
"They've been excellent," Cleary said. "Year-to-year, there's going to be changes, that's going to happen. The way any panel is judged is by the new blood coming in and they've added an awful lot both in the way they apply themselves and as a boost to the panel.
"You'd have to be pleased with the way that they've stood up. In a lot of cases, guys come into the panel and they've to wait their turn or it takes a bit of time.
"The injuries this year definitely forced our hand in giving those guys chances and they have all put up their hand. It's come to a stage now where, when the injured players have come back, we have big competition and that can only be healthy.
"We'll need a big panel for what's coming there over the next few weeks."
Ballygarvan's Brady will not feature against Meath due to suspension following his controversial red card in the extra-time loss to Kerry in the Munster semi-final, but there is once more a starting berth for Seán McDonnell at wing-forward. The Mallow man has enjoyed a productive opening to his Cork senior career.
Walsh, Lordan, Cahalane, O'Connor and O'Hanlon are all among the 26 for the Páirc Tailteann clash.
One man not new to the panel is Cathail O'Mahony. The Mitchelstown sharpshooter has long been credited with the potential to become one of the top forwards in the country.
The enormous promise shown back in 2019 when Cork secured All-Ireland under-20 glory has not come to fruition just yet. His senior career has been stop-start due to injuries.
Debut in 2020 was followed by injury-plagued seasons, despite showing an ability to score freely whenever his body played ball.
He was front-and-centre off the bench against Kerry five weeks ago, kicking a two-pointer and looking dangerous throughout.
Cathail O'Mahony of Cork reacts after kicking wide in the last play of the second half of extra-time against Kerry. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach, Sportsfile
He did miss two late two-point attempts to grab victory, but his courage in taking on that responsibility against the old enemy was admirable.
This weekend, the 25-year-old starts in place of injured go-to man Brian Hurley in a full-forward line that also includes old under-20 pal Mark Cronin.
Perhaps it's time one of the triple threat of O'Mahony, Cronin and Chris Óg Jones took over that mantle of chief marksman from Castlehaven stalwart Hurley. Conor Corbett - now close to a return following his ACL tear last summer - will have his say in the Cork forward line shake-up too.
'Yeah, it's great really (to have Cathail fit)," Cleary said of O'Mahony. "I know Cathail has been very frustrated. He has had two very serious injuries, two operations and even coming back from that, again and again, he has suffered little nicks and missed training.
"But the last few weeks now, thanks be to God, he has got a good run of games and hopefully now all will go well for him. He'll be a big addition to us going forward, definitely."
Unlike opponents Meath - who Cork beat in this year's Division 2 campaign - Cleary's men has had over a month to work on their craft in-house.
There will have been spent mulling over another near-miss against Jack O'Connor's men, but the Cork boss insists that didn't linger long.
"We gave them two days off and in fairness, they wanted to get back at it again as quickly as possible.
"It was disappointing because we'd all been looking back on it, we had the chances, particularly to win in extra time, and we didn't take them.
"So, that's something we've been working on now since. Once we were back in it a few days, it was looking forward, we weren't looking back at this stage."
The time away from competitive action afforded the Cork setup the chance to get another decent chunk of work under their belt.
"It's been good because the season started, we had five games in seven weeks, and just going from one game to the other.
"We were straight into the championship with two games, so basically we were able to reset, get a good block of work done."
Cleary continued: "We've been happy the way the last three or four weeks went because we weren't just recovering from one Sunday and going to the next weekend.
"We've worked hard and hopefully we'll get the benefit in the next couple of weeks."
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