{"id":299781,"date":"2026-02-15T19:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T19:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/299781\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T19:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T19:21:08","slug":"cork-footballers-maintain-perfect-start-in-division-2-with-win-in-offaly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/299781\/","title":{"rendered":"Cork footballers maintain perfect start in Division 2 with win in Offaly\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Offaly 0-19 (0-2-15) Cork 3-15 (3-0-15)\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

Cork have maintained their perfect start to their Allianz Division 2 Football League campaign following a polished performance against Offaly at Glenisk O\u2019Connor Park in Tullamore on Sunday afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s now three wins from the first three games for John Cleary\u2019s side and very few will argue with the scoreline in this one. Cork have now picked up six points from a possible six for the first time in the top two divisions since 2014.<\/p>\n

The groundwork was done in the first half as the Rebels led by nine points at the short whistle despite playing into a strong wind. Colm O\u2019Callaghan was the scorer of the two goals in the first half.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There will be aspects to the second half display that Cleary won\u2019t be pleased with but it\u2019s another win.<\/p>\n

There were four changes to the team from the one that was named on Friday night with Se\u00e1n Meehan and Rory Maguire coming in for Tommy Walsh and Brian O\u2019Driscoll in defence.<\/p>\n

Ian Maguire replaced Se\u00e1n Walsh in the middle of the field while Dara Sheedy started for the first time at senior level instead of Brian Hurley.<\/p>\n

\"MarkMark Cronin of Cork celebrates after scoring his side’s third goal against Offaly. Picture: Thomas Flinkow\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

Offaly were aided by a strong wind advantage in the opening 35 minutes in front of 1,260 patrons, but it was Cork who had the lion’s share of possession early on and got the first score after three minutes through a Chris \u00d3g Jones point.<\/p>\n

The home side replied through a two-pointer from Cormac Egan with the wind having an impact early on as both sides tried to get to grips with the elements. It would be the only time Offaly would be in front.<\/p>\n

The Rebels tacked on two unanswered white flags from Jones and Sheedy, 0-3 to 0-2 after eight minutes.<\/p>\n

A minute later, the away outfit rattled the back of the net, a great move involving Jones resulted in O\u2019Callaghan unleashing a powerful shot into the top corner of the net.<\/p>\n

Se\u00e1n McDonnell, Mark Cronin and Steven Sherlock (free) white flags pushed Cork seven points clear, 1-6 to 0-2 after 18 minutes.<\/p>\n

Despite playing against the elements, Cork were patient and clinical in their approach.<\/p>\n

Offaly\u2019s second two-pointer, this time from Keith O\u2019Neill, was badly required for them after 16 minutes without a score.<\/p>\n

\"PaulPaul Walsh of Cork in action against Aaron Leavy of Offaly. Picture: Thomas Flinkow\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

Cork never looked in trouble though, another Sherlock free and a fisted effort by Cronin gave the away team a 1-8 to 0-4 advantage with nine minutes to the break.<\/p>\n

The winners also created a goal chance in that time, but McDonnell\u2019s piledriver came back off the post after a clever pass by Sheedy.<\/p>\n

Offaly kicked two of the next three points before Cork got their second goal after 34 minutes when O\u2019Callaghan bagged his second green flag after another assist from Jones, 2-9 to 0-6 at half-time.<\/p>\n

An easy Plunkett free got Offaly up and running in the second half, but Cork replied with 1-1 in a minute, Sherlock with the point while Cronin netted the goal after another brilliant move, 3-10 to 0-7 after 39 minutes.<\/p>\n

A pair of Plunkett points, one which was a free, and an effort from Daire McDaid did keep the home side just about alive.<\/p>\n

Rory Maguire picked up a black card after 46 minutes, as Cork were reduced to 14 players for 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

A Cronin free pushed Cork 10 points clear in what was a dull second half to this point, which suited the Leesiders.<\/p>\n

The sides swapped white flags until a Plunkett effort left Offaly 3-12 to 0-12 behind with 15 minutes to go. That man Plunkett cut the gap to eight points as Rory Maguire returned to the field.<\/p>\n

\"ChrisChris \u00d3g Jones of Cork in action against David Dempsey of Offaly. Picture: Thomas Flinkow\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

Cork had the measure of their opposition despite Offaly\u2019s gallant effort. The Faithful landed three of the next four points to trail 3-13 to 0-16 after 62 minutes.<\/p>\n

A beauty from Sherlock from an acute angle settled the Rebels followed by a Se\u00e1n Walsh effort.<\/p>\n

Offaly did finish the game with the last three points, but they were mere consolation scores. Cork prevailed by five points.<\/p>\n

Scorers for Offaly: H Plunkett 0-8 (0-4 f), K O\u2019Neill 0-5 (1 2pt), C Egan 0-3 (1 2pt), N Furlong, J Hayes, D McDaid 0-1 each.<\/p>\n

Cork: M Cronin 1-4 (0-1 f), C O\u2019Callaghan 2-1, S Sherlock 0-5 (0-2 f), C \u00d3g Jones 0-2, S McDonnell, S Walsh, D Sheedy 0-1 each.<\/p>\n

OFFALY: C Melia; S O\u2019Toole-Greene, D Dempsey, D McDaid; C Egan (capt), D Egan, R Egan; J McEvoy, A Leavy; M Dalton, J Hayes, K O\u2019Neill; H Plunkett, C Murphy, E Sawyer.<\/p>\n

Subs: N Furlong for E Sawyer (h-t), D Flynn for C Murphy (46), E Dunne for M Dalton (52), D Molloy for A Leavy (64).<\/p>\n

CORK: P Doyle; M Shanley, D O\u2019Mahony, S Meehan; M Taylor, R Maguire, L Fahy; C O\u2019Callaghan, I Maguire (capt); P Walsh, D Sheedy, S McDonnell; S Sherlock, C \u00d3g Jones, M Cronin.<\/p>\n

Subs: R Deane for P Walsh (46), S Walsh for I Maguire (51), C O\u2019Mahony for C \u00d3g Jones (52), M A Martin for P Doyle (59, inj), C Cahalane for S McDonnell (66).<\/p>\n

Referee: Se\u00e1n Lonergan (Tipperary).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Offaly 0-19 (0-2-15) Cork 3-15 (3-0-15)\u00a0 Cork have maintained their perfect start to their Allianz Division 2 Football…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4365,1964,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-299781","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-gaelic-football","9":"tag-cork-gaa","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}