Slow starts leave Cork and Kildare staring into uncertain All-Ireland future

Rarely has a team travelled so far in such a short period of time without really getting anywhere.

Indeed, after journeying approximately 1,468 kilometres to play their opening two National Football League games, there is an argument Cork are already in danger of being diverted towards the backroads of the football season.

Division Two is where so much of the drama will unfold in this year’s league, and after two rounds the footballers of Cork and Kildare are the early lead protagonists of a storyline in which they’d rather not feature.

Both have lost their opening two games and will spend the next fortnight occupying the relegation spots in the division.

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Cork’s defeats came away to both Donegal and Louth. Kildare lost at home to Cavan (though played in Carlow as St Conleth’s Park is undergoing redevelopment work) and away to Fermanagh.

[ Louth up and running in Ger Brennan era after victory over Cork ]

[ Mickey Harte is gone, but low expectations will not do Ger Brennan and Louth any harm ]

Chances are both will eventually negotiate a way out of the relegation spots, but the weekend’s results caused reason to wonder: What side of the draw are they on in the championship again?

Which is not really what is being asked. What one actually wants to know is: When do Cork meet Kerry in Munster? Do Kildare avoid Dublin until the Leinster final? What are the chances of either ending up in the Tailteann Cup?

It might sound alarmist, but as Meath found to their cost last year, even finishing outside of the relegation spots in Division Two is no guarantee of entry to the All-Ireland senior football championship.

Three of the Sam Maguire spots in 2023 went to teams outside the top 16 of the National League – Westmeath by virtue of winning the inaugural Tailteann Cup in 2022, Clare as they contested the Munster final and Sligo because they advanced to the Connacht decider.

Meath are guaranteed a place in this year’s All-Ireland, because they won last season’s Tailteann Cup, while in Munster one of Clare/Tipperary/Waterford will be in the provincial decider. Should Clare fail to win promotion from Division Three but progress to the Munster final, then that will have an impact further up the league food chain.

Cork, though, have been here before. They lost two of their opening three league games last year but still finished fourth in the table. They failed to win any of their opening five matches in 2022 but snatched victories in their last two fixtures to avoid relegation.

You have to go all the way back to 2009 to the last time Cork actually won their opening game in Division Two of the National League – they have flitted between Divisions One and Three during that period as well.

Their loss in Ballybofey was not exactly a surprise, because Donegal and Armagh are probably the two strongest teams in the division this season, but Cork’s performance that day was lacklustre and naïve.

Losing to Louth in Ardee last Sunday is a bigger setback in terms of putting points on the board, plus the optics of it aren’t good because back-to-back early losses alter the rules of engagement going forward – a possible promotion push is replaced instead by a dogfight to climb as high up the table as possible.

[ Cavan ease to win over Kildare to open Division Two campaign ]

Cork are on the same side of the draw as Kerry in this year’s Munster championship. John Cleary’s men play Limerick in a provincial quarter-final, with the winners meeting Kerry at the semi-final stages. The Rebels do not want to be dangling over the Tailteann Cup net entering a championship match against a Kerry side who would love nothing more than to facilitate such an outcome.

Cork do have players missing at the moment and when the likes of Seán Powter, Micheál Aodh Martin, Killian O’Hanlon, Tom Clancy, Kevin O’Donovan and Cathail O’Mahony return they will be a much more formidable outfit.

However, they might need to finetune their approach and not be so reliant on a running game as Donegal’s aggressive press demonstrated how to largely shut Cork down at source.

Glenn Ryan’s Kildare possibly have more to be worried about because Cavan and Fermanagh were two teams the Lilywhites surely would have targeted to pick up points from in this league. Kildare’s next match is against Armagh in Carlow, and on current form that is not the most attractive of fixtures for Ryan’s men.

They have managed just 0-12 in each of their two games so far, conceding 0-16 against Cavan and 2-10 against Fermanagh. Their remaining fixtures are against Armagh (h), Meath (a), Cork (a), Donegal (h), Louth (h).

Kildare are on the opposite side of the Leinster SFC draw to Dublin. Still, they wouldn’t want to be relying on a provincial final berth to keep them in the All-Ireland SFC.

Kildare will play either Westmeath or Wicklow in a Leinster quarter-final, with the winners of that meeting Louth, Carlow or Wexford in a semi-final. Westmeath are operating in Division Three again this season and will be vying for promotion, so their final standing in that division could also have an impact on Tailteann Cup participation depending on what happens in the provincial championship.

Cork’s remaining fixtures are against Cavan (h), Fermanagh (a), Kildare (h), Meath (a), Armagh (h).

A couple of wins and they can write this off as just an early season blip, but both Cork and Kildare need to put points on the board and start moving away from the possibility of ending up in the Tailteann Cup. Just because you think it won’t happen, doesn’t mean it can’t happen.

It might only be February, but the All-Ireland SFC drawbridge starts rising sooner than you might imagine.

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