‘It could be our last game or we could be going to Croke Park. It’s the luck of the draw where we could be going’
A win or draw against Tyrone would’ve dealt the Rebels a golden ticket to advance straight to Croke Park in a fortnight’s time.
After being level 10 times, Cork were outscored 1-4 to 0-1 between the 48th and 69th minutes as their chance to take top spot ahead of Donegal fell by the wayside.
In the end, the heavy defeats Jim McGuinness’s men inflicted on Tyrone and Clare were good enough to seal first with a +29 score difference. Tyrone took second on +11, while Cork’s score difference of zero placed them third.
It means Cork now face a one-week turnaround and will also have to head away from home. But Cleary feels their experience of rescuing a poor start in the league can stand to them as they bid to bounce back.
“What choice have we? At the start of the league we were three games down and our next game was away in Fermanagh. It was do or die.
“The guys galvanised and got going and that’s what we intend to do for this week. I said to the lads inside there, we can be feeling sorry for ourselves now for 10 minutes but championship week starts right now.
“This is the first time in the championship this year where it could be our last game or we could be going to Croke Park. There’s still a big prize at stake and hopefully we can learn from the learnings here now today.
“We just have to wait until Monday morning. It’s the luck of the draw then where we could be going.”
Chris Óg Jones’ 43rd-minute black card for a trip on Niall Morgan proved the turning point as Tyrone tacked on 1-3 to Cork’s 0-2 during the sin-bin period.
The circumstances were extra costly too as a Daniel O’Mahony turnover had provided a major overlap to exploit, with the Red Hand keeper out on his 45 when he regained possession.
“The black card cost us big time in the second half. We went from a stage where we were five-on-three but instead of getting a score, we ended up a man down,” said Cleary.
“In fairness to Tyrone, they punished us big time when we had a man off with the black card. They managed the game better during that period than we did. That was a lesson for us and it cost us the game.
“At this stage, we are very disappointed. We came up here to here to win today. We played very well in the first half but we didn’t take our scores.
“We had a slight breeze and we were probably playing into the scoring goal in the first half. We should have been four or five points up at half time and we weren’t.”
It was shooting efficiency that made the difference. Cork converted 17 points from 27 shots, a 63% success rate. Tyrone took 1-18 from 25 shots, two fewer than their opponents.
From open play, Cork converted just half of their chances compared to Tyrone’s 79%.
“I suppose that is the beauty of playing in Division 1 year in, year out, and playing against the top teams. You get your times of dominance, as we had today, and when we get those, you have got to be clinical. And then when you are under the cosh, you have got to manage things better. We slightly panicked a small bit and tried to kick away points.
“Ultimately, Tyrone deserved to win in the end and we just have got to take lessons from it as a group.”
Top-scorer Brian Hurley missed out due to a hamstring injury picked up in training during the week. Cleary will give him every chance to prove his fitness for the coming weekend.
“Don’t know. It’s 50/50. It’s not a serious injury. He has a chance for next week. He wasn’t 100% so there was no way he was going to be starting. If you put somebody out there with the pace and what goes on in these championship matches… Even if it was knock-out today, he wasn’t going to start because he wasn’t 100%.”
Meanwhile, Tyrone’s co-manager Brian Dooher acknowledged the loss of Castlehaven star Hurley was a major blow for his opponents.
“It was good to get the two points and good to get the win. We knew that we were going to be in for a stiff challenge. Cork lost Brian Hurley before throw-in, which was probably a big loss for them in the way they play,” Dooher said.
“The first half was probably touch and go for long parts of it. We weren’t really pushing on. In the second half, we upped our intensity and we were able to push on. Once we got the goal, we were able to keep Cork at arm’s length from then on.
“In the first half, we felt we were turned over too easy. Cork got three or four points from us giving away the ball too easily. We just hadn’t the intensity in the tackle. Sure, we were getting back, but we weren’t doing anything when we did get back. Whereas in the second half, we were getting hands-on. In the first half, we didn’t get hands-on tackles.
“Cork, by and large, played the way they wanted to play. Once you allow them to do that, Cork are a very good side, as we saw against Donegal.”
