Cork boss John Cleary knows Rebels are ‘going to a different level’ facing Kerry in Killarney

Given Cork’s dismal record against Kerry on their home turf – no one needs reminding that it is 1995 since Cork last beat the Kingdom in a senior championship game in Killarney – one couldn’t fault Cleary if the journey up the N22 filled the Castlehaven man with dread, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Second to playing the reigning provincial champions back in Cork, Cleary says Killarney is the next best place to play Kerry, mindful, of course, of the home team’s and Cork’s record there. He believes there is no better place to bring out the best in a Cork footballer “worth his salt”, even if the odds of victory lengthen considerably for Cork teams once they cross the county border the far side of Ballyvourney.

“Naturally every team prefers to play at home but having said that, outside of our home venue, Killarney is the next best thing. I wouldn’t say we always enjoy going down there as a team but I’m sure the supporters do. They like the day out, there’s a town atmosphere there for these games,” Cleary said on Wednesday, three days out from a game that won’t end Cork’s year if it goes badly, but that could significantly shape their season depending on what way the result goes.

“Look, for any Cork footballer worth his salt, Killarney is where they like to go. It’s been a long time since Cork won in Killarney, last year we were looking forward to going to Killarney but Clare beat us and we didn’t get the chance to go there and we were disappointed. This time it’s very early in the year, we’re only in the middle of April yet.

“I know I was brought up on and played in these games in Killarney on June and July fine summer’s days. Whether we’ll have that on the weekend I don’t know, but from my own playing days there was nothing like going to Killarney on a hot summer’s day, in a cauldron down there, lovely ground, lovely atmosphere inside in the middle of a Kerry town, and I think maybe that’s what’s missing there at the moment.

“Teams might be in better shape a small bit later in the year as well, when the ground is better and they have a bit more championship time under their belts, but we’re looking forward to going there and hopefully we can perform to the best of our ability.”

And there’s the rub. To make any sort of a game of it on Saturday, Cork need to perform to the absolute best of their ability. And even then, it’s debatable if that would be good enough to dethrone the Kingdom, who are well fancied to make it 11 out of 12 Munster titles since 2013. The one that got away from Kerry – 2020 – Cork beat them in a November semi-final (because of Covid) but then couldn’t close the deal against Tipperary in the final.

The Rebels didn’t have the best of National League campaigns in 2024, and their Munster quarter-final win over Limerick a fortnight ago was a struggle for longer than Cork would have wanted.

Ten months ago Cork were within two points of Kerry in their All-Ireland SFC Group Phase match in Pairc Uí Chaoimh, a penalty goal bailing out the visitors on an uncomfortable afternoon for Jack O’Connor’s team. Is there some fragment of hope to be taken from that performance?

“I know last year will have very little relevance on Saturday," Cleary says. “We did give it a good go last year and looking back on it now, whatever about the penalty, we did miss a lot of scores on the day. I think Kerry had only one wide, we had eight or nine and so it was in our own hands that day.

“Similarly in the [2024] League, the reasons we lost [games] at the beginning was we didn’t take our opportunities and we’ve been working hard on that. We know we have to be firing on all cylinders and at our level best to compete against this Kerry team but that’s what we’re preparing for. We’re trying to get better every day we go out.

“We weren’t overly happy with the way we performed against Limerick, we were a bit flat maybe coming off the back of a long league campaign when every game mattered. That needs to be understood, but we know that anything less than our best on Saturday and we’re going to be really up against it.

“We were disappointed with the start of the League. We were well beaten by Donegal up in Ballybofey and after that I thought we were a bit unlucky, particularly against Cavan, and it put us into a bit of a corner. But when we got the win against Fermanagh we started to play with a bit more freedom and things started to improve for us because the bit of confidence was there, and nothing beats winning.

“In the last four games of the League and the Championship game we’ve had four wins and a draw so that has definitely helped confidence. Having said that, we know we’re going to a different level now with Kerry on Saturday, but it’s better to be going into it with the confidence of not losing games than if the league was the other way around and we had lost the last two or three games.

“All we can do is prepare the same as we do for any other game. We look at ourselves and try to get ourselves ready and then have a look at the opposition. It goes without saying we are facing one of the top three teams in the country, and possibly on their day definitely the top team. [Kerry] were within the kick of a ball, possibly, of going for a three in a row of All-Irelands this year, but having said that we can’t spend all of our time dwelling on Kerry and the opposition.

“We’ve got to try and get ourselves right and that’s what we have been concentrating on because we know we weren’t up to the mark the last day against Limerick. We’ve been working the last two weeks trying to rectify the things that we felt didn’t go right there and see where that takes us on Saturday.”

Victory for Cork, or at the very least a competitive performance and being in contention for the full 70 minutes, will rely hugely on Cork’s ability to convert those chances Cleary spoke of the team missing last year against Kerry and too often during the League. Even against Limerick the last day out, the Rebels butchered around 10 goals chances before eventually converting three of them.

To that end, Cork’s inside forwards – Brian Hurley, Conor Corbett and Chris Óg Jones – who are all natural scorers, must put away almost every chance that comes their way. Getting the ball into all three will be an obvious tenet of the game plan.

“It goes without saying that if you can get the ball inside to your scorers, to your inside line – the same as Kerry with David Clifford and now Seanie O’Shea – we will be trying to do that, but sometimes it’s easier said than done,” Cleary says.

“On both sides of the field it will be a case of trying to stop that early ball into the full forward lines. Obviously our full forward line should be our scoring line and it has been our scoring line, and our idea is to get that ball in quickly, but that takes a huge effort from the whole team around the field, right from the goalie up to the half forward line. I think that’s every team’s plan is to get it in as quickly as possible but sometimes it’s not as easy done as people would like.”

Mention of David Clifford invites the obvious question: what the hell can Cork do to curtail the two-time Footballer of the Year?

“One thing for sure is you can’t ignore him,” Cleary says.

“We’d be like any other team I suppose. We wouldn’t be making a special plan for him but we would be definitely noting he is a player you can’t leave free and really you have to be completely on your guard against him. But having said that, Kerry have some excellent other forwards as well, you have Sean O’Shea, Dara Moynihan, Paul Geaney, Stephen O’Brien… Paudie Clifford, of course, who are well capable of hurting you as well.

“If you put all your eggs into the David Clifford basket the other guys there are well capable of coming up and getting the team over the line. And there have been days when maybe David was quiet and it is the other guys who came up trumps. We’d just hope that we defend well as a unit when we’re without the ball, but with having an eye on David Clifford because everyone knows what he can bring to the party.”