Stakes already mounting for Cork as they face tricky assignment in Louth

Willie Nelson will continue to soundtrack the opening performances of Cork’s Allianz Football League campaign this Sunday, as the Rebels go On The Road Again to complete a 1,468 kilometre trek for their two opening weekends in the competition.

After last Sunday’s performance and result in Ballybofey it’s probably more palatable than Jimmy’s Winning Matches, to be fair.

The Cork footballers will face four lengthy away day trips during this Division Two campaign – Donegal (Rd 1), Louth (Rd 2), Fermanagh (Rd 4) and Meath (Rd 6).

Cork stayed overnight in Donegal last Saturday in advance of their opening fixture, with the trip to the northwest from Cork city taking roughly five hours – and several players and members of the management were coming from further west and south of the city.

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A round trip from Cork city to Ballybofey – travelling via Limerick and Galway – is approximately 816 kilometres.

A round trip to Ardee comes in at 652 kilometres and takes an estimated three hours 20 minutes each way. So, by the time Cork arrive back on Leeside this Sunday night they will have clocked almost 1,500 kilometres and travelled for nearly 17 hours to play two games.

Not that manager John Cleary is using their demanding schedule as a contributing factor to what has been a disappointing start to their campaign – shipping a double-digit defeat to Donegal last Sunday.

“It’s not the end of the world to get the bus from Cork, that’s the way it goes,” said Cleary. “Teams are travelling all over the country, it was one end of the country to the other for the first match, that’s the way we were drawn, that’s not an excuse.”

But given the significance of finishing positions in Division Two because of the Tailteann Cup, above all four divisions it is crucial for teams to claw their way towards the top end of the table if they are to avoid the possibility of missing out on the All-Ireland senior football championship – as happened to Meath last year.

Louth derailed Cork’s promotion push in Ardee last season, when the Wee County battled out a 1-10 to 0-10 victory over the Rebels.

“Louth looked very good against Armagh [on Saturday night], it is going to be a difficult assignment, we were beaten there last year. We’ll be going up there trying to turn that result around,” said Cleary. “We’ll be going up all guns blazing to see if we can get a result there next Sunday.”

Cork lost the first game in last year’s league as well, at home to Meath, but proceeded to win three of their next four to put themselves in the promotion hunt before that trip to Ardee.

They suffered three losses during their 2023 Division Two campaign – but the largest margin of defeat was four points. They enter round two on Sunday with a scoring difference of minus 11 already and are the early bottom dwellers in the division.

With the Munster championship draw setting Cork on a path to a possible provincial semi-final against Kerry – they must first beat Limerick in a quarter-final – the Rebels cannot afford to risk a relegation battle in Division Two.

The long road to the All-Ireland is already stretching out in front of Cork on their way to Ardee this weekend.

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