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Cork duo Alan Cadogan and Aidan Walsh will be men in demand again in 2017. Cathal Noonan/INPHO
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Cork dual stars in demand in 2017 - 'Whatever decision they make, we'll respect that'

Alan Cadogan and Aidan Walsh will be sought after next season.

CORK FOOTBALL BOSS Peadar Healy admits he would like to have Alan Cadogan and Aidan Walsh at his disposal in 2017 but has ruled out accommodating the duo as dual players.

Cadogan and Walsh were drafted into the football squad in the wake of the Cork hurlers championship exit at the hands of Wexford three weeks ago.

Both came on as substitutes in Croke Park yesterday as Cork bowed out of the football race at the hands of Donegal. The issue of who the dual stars will line out for will crop up again next season.

“They have to make that decision themselves,” outlined Healy after yesterday’s game.

“Of course, I’m going to be asking them and I presume [Kieran] Kingston will be asking them to see where they stand, but whatever decision they make, we’ll respect that.”

“Personally, I think they can’t do it, it’s impossible to do it. You could see yourself now today, if we had [Alan] Cadogan and Aidan Walsh for another two or three months, some of the basic skills, the turnovers they gave away.

“To be fair, they came on and Aidan made a major contribution. I think it was the turnovers, you can’t turn the ball over to Donegal here. They did well to come on.”

The Cork team Donall Farmer / INPHO Donall Farmer / INPHO / INPHO

Healy pointed to the exceptional attacking play of Patrick McBrearty and Donegal’s greater experience as key ingredients in their ultimate victory.

The Cork manager did rue the absence of some defensive options which could have helped stifle the threat of McBrearty.

“They ground us down and we missed too many chances, we should have showed more composure. We couldn’t get a handle on [Patrick] McBrearty either, he was exceptionally good.

“We tried three or four fellas marking him, James Loughrey was a big loss to us, so was Noel Galvin during the week along with Jamie O’Sullivan, three good man-markers that we just didn’t have available to us.

Donegal's Paddy McBrearty goes up against Cork's Eoin Cadogan Donegal's Paddy McBrearty goes up against Cork's Eoin Cadogan Lorraine O'Sullivan / INPHO Lorraine O'Sullivan / INPHO / INPHO

“Look, no excuses, they ground us down and they deserved the win. The game opened up very much so because we had to chase it when they went a point or two up.

“That left us exposed as well at the back, as a result you could see the turnovers, they went from two to four.

“We did particularly (well) on the wings and down the centre, players coming off the shoulder (in the first half). We could have been a score or two more ahead, we created two goal chances, in fairness.

“[Paul] Kerrigan took his very well and [Ian] Maguire had another but we couldn’t finish it. Having said that, we had only a 28 percent scoring record in the second half and 62 percent in the first, that tells its own story.

“You’d have to say that that experience that Donegal brought, as well, that showed in the end.”

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