Cork minor football boss Micheál O’Sullivan: We just didn’t show up, I don’t have any answers

CORK minor football manager Micheál ‘Haulie’ O’Sullivan was visibly and naturally very disappointed after his side suffered a second consecutive heavy defeat. 

The Rebels lost to a strong Mayo side in the Electric Ireland All-Ireland MFC quarter-final at Cusack Park in Ennis on Saturday evening on a scoreline of 3-14 to 0-6. The loss came four weeks on from the 2-18 to 1-6 defeat to Kerry in the Munster final at Páirc Uí Rinn.

The Rebels boss was shell-shocked when speaking to The Echo after the match last evening.

“I don’t have any answers really,” O’Sullivan said when asked about what went wrong.

“We all felt that the players put in a good few weeks of training and that we eliminated the errors that we made against Kerry. Today, basic skill level left us down big time in the first ten minutes. We dropped the ball, kicking the ball away, giving away simple handpasses and we gave Mayo the impetus. I don’t know, I have no answers.” 

Mayo led 2-8 to 0-3 at half-time albeit they had a strong wind in their favour. But they were dominant in every sector. 2-6 of Mayo’s scores came from turnovers in the opening 30 minutes.

“You can’t forecast these things [turnovers]. It was loose play, casualness I suppose, I don’t know the answer to it,” the Carbery Rangers club man says.

“When you’re playing against the wind, you have to keep the ball, but you also have to have runners, but we just didn’t do any of that. The goal before half-time finished the game and it was a case of picking up the lads at the break and making them believe that they were in with a chance of having a cut off it.

“Mayo are a very good side in fairness. They will be there with Derry and Kerry at the end of the championship. They are three of the best teams around and have been for the last couple of years. We can’t take anything away from Mayo. We just didn’t show up today and I can’t put my finger on why that was the case.” 

O’Sullivan believes this Cork team are better than what these last two games have shown. Two chastening experiences, against Kerry and now Mayo, a 15-point defeat and a 17-point defeat.

“For some reason, the quality they are showing in training isn’t being shown on the championship playing pitch for the last couple of games,” he said.

“It’s hard to understand why they wouldn’t bring a performance today after what I saw in training over the last few weeks. Given the player’s age, you would take one game where the wheels come off the cart and you say they are better than that and we will go again.

“It’s hard to put your finger on why it would happen in successive matches. It’s a poor reflection on all of us. It’s not the level where we want to be at. I said to the players on the pitch after the game, there’s always a way forward. We have all been there where you get badly beaten a few times in a season. Football is a forgiving game, you get nothing easy. In two or three-days’ time, the lads will get back on the horse and away they go again with their clubs.

“We have had a very enjoyable few years working with these lads since they were 15. I have no regrets about getting involved. They are a smashing bunch, it’s just a pity it didn’t work out for them this season.” O’Sullivan concluded.