A LACK OF patience and composure may have been Cork’s undoing and cost them a place in the All-Ireland final, manager Conor Counihan said after Sunday’s defeat to Donegal.
Donegal ran out two-point winners in the first of this year’s SFC semi-finals but only a point separated the teams at the end of a tense first half, the Ulster champions going in at the break 0-8 to 0-7 in front.
After the restart, it was Donegal who brought more fire and fight to the party while poor decision-making pockmarked Cork’s attempts to stay in touch.
“First of all, I’d like to compliment Donegal in terms of the way they went about the game,” Counihan told TheScore.ie. “They brought fierce intensity into it.
From our point of view, it was neck and neck up to half-time. There was a period after half-time where they got the crucial scores. They defended that well and counteracted well and from our point of view maybe we didn’t take some of the correct options at times.Maybe we didn’t take some of the correct options at times, maybe we forced things and got into a few turnover situations that we wouldn’t have liked but I don’t want to take anything from Donegal’s victory.
Counihan was reluctant to put the boot into his players for their decisions under pressure.
“I suppose when you lose it’s always a bad option,” he added. “Some of it is an element of panic and that’s understandable.
“We’re dealing with human beings at the end of the day and I certainly won’t be critical of our guys because many a day they did the right thing. You put them out there, you put your trust in them and there can be only winner at the end of the day.”
Cork went into yesterday’s game as marginal favourites to set up a September date with either All-Ireland champions Dublin or Mayo, who meet this Sunday in the second semi-final.
While there was no hiding Counihan’s disappointment, he was quick to give credit to Jim McGuinness and a Donegal side who have improved dramatically since the counties’ last championship meeting in 2009.
Donegal were on the end of a hiding that day, losing by 1-27 to 2-10, but this year’s panel could hardly be more different.
“I think they played very much like they did the last two or three games from where we were looking,” Counihan said. ”I suppose it was more down to our performance but our performance is impacted by the way they perform and on the day they performed better.
It’s phenomenal. The gap was major as such and slowly but surely they got to an All-Ireland semi-final last year and were maybe unlucky and then putting back-to-back Ulster titles… I think his [McGuinness's] record speaks for itself.I’m not in the business of making excuses. We were there with 70 minutes to do it today and we didn’t do it. We have to accept the consequences of that and give credit to Donegal.
Despite his praise, Counihan was reluctant to anoint Cork’s conquerors as champions-elect before a ball is kicked on 23 September.
“I think it’s going to be an All-Ireland final… it’s the same as today, it’s 70 minutes. There are stages in games where you need to grasp it.
“They did that today, they could quite possibly do it again the next day but it’s an All-Ireland final. It’s 50-50 whoever comes into it.”
