WHEN CORK ANALYSE yesterday’s game in the cold light of day, they may point to Damien Cahalane’s 51st minute red card as the turning point.
Cahalane picked up a booking in the 26th minute for hauling down Austin Gleeson, and was dismissed in the second-half for a high tackle on Conor Gleeson.
Cork were leading by 0-15 to 1-11 when the full-back was dismissed, but without a spare defender protecting their full-back line, the Rebels were ripped apart in the next ten minutes.
By the 61st minute, the Deise had added 2-4 to their tally to move six points to the good. From that point they could sit deep and hit Cork on the break. It was the perfect scenario for Derek McGrath’s side.
If Austin Gleeson had been sent-off after pulling the helmet off Luke Meade in the 18th minute, the game might have followed a completely different path. The Cork management chose not to dwell on any refereeing decision after the game.
“I’ve got to look at them again and I won’t comment on those until I do so,” said Cork boss Kieran Kingston. “We lost Damien. There was two at the end, I didn’t see that incident at all to be honest, I don’t know what happened there but that had no bearing on the game.
“Who knows what bearing the other one had but the swings and roundabouts, they go against you some days, the go with you other days. Today they didn’t go for us and what bearing it had on the game, who knows?”
Cork selector Pat Hartnett added: “I saw the first one (yellow that Cahalane picked up), I didn’t see the second one. There’s no one more disappointed but in saying that he has been phenomenal all year for us.
“From where we came from just to acknowledge Alan Cadogan had been quite sick with cellulitis, Luke Meaade had a broken finger, (he) got a pin removed about a week ago.
“In certain areas we didn’t do ourselves justice so we have no complaints. We are delighted that justice is done and the better team won.”
Despite the disappointing end to their season, Kingston highlighted the pride he had for his players after the season they put down.
“It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge firstly our lads and what they gave us this year. At the start of the year we were totally written off, we won a Munster league, we won a Munster championship, had a good league campaign.
“But we’re greedy, we’re ambitious, we want to do more than that. We’d a right chance of doing it, I’ll be honest.
“That Cork bunch of players have been fantastic all year. They’ve done everything we’ve asked them for and we asked them to change a lot. We asked them to change a huge number of things and the culture of the way we do things in many ways. They bought into that.
“There has been a fantastic bond created between the supporters and the team and we have to acknowledge what they have done. Of course we’re disappointed. We’d love to be going further, absolutely, who wouldn’t?”
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