{"id":391948,"date":"2026-04-10T17:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T17:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/391948\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T17:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T17:38:15","slug":"glass-half-full-ray-keane-takes-positives-from-cork-u20s-draw-with-clare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/391948\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Glass half-full\u2019 – Ray Keane takes positives from Cork U20s draw with Clare"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cork manager Ray Keane said his side\u2019s battling 1-10 apiece draw with Clare in Quilty may ultimately prove \u201ca point gained\u201d as the Rebels opened their Dalata Hotel Group Munster U20 Football Championship Phase 2 campaign with a hard-earned share of the spoils on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n

In a tense, wind-affected contest on the West Clare coast, Cork were forced to dig deep in the closing stages, with Se\u00e1n O\u2019Leary kicking the levelling point.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Keane felt the character shown in those final minutes was the defining feature of the performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought defensively in the last four or five minutes, the character they showed \u2014 to work and work and keep turning the ball over without giving away a free, which would basically have decided the game \u2014 was huge,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Clare'sClare’s Daire Culligan and Cork’s Odhran Foley in action. Picture: Eamon Ward<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could have gone either way in the end. Overall, I thought we played with a bit of nervousness. People will think what they want, but this isn\u2019t an easy place to come to. Clare were playing their fourth game, and you could see the momentum and rhythm they have.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had it in patches, but then we\u2019d miss an easy chance. That\u2019s just the way it went. We got a point \u2014 and that might be a valuable point yet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The swirling coastal wind made life difficult for both sides, though Keane refused to lean on it as an explanation for Cork\u2019s inconsistency in a game where they were favourites to win.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wind doesn\u2019t win any game,\u201d the \u00c9ire \u00d3g clubman says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt probably affected us more though because we\u2019re not used to playing in that kind of wind, but both teams had chances to win it. It could have gone either way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say from your standpoint watching it, you were wondering what was going to happen next. You could be too despondent about it, or you could look at it as a half-full situation. We\u2019ll take the point and walk away.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could have lost the game as easily. I\u2019m usually a glass half-full person \u2014 that\u2019s just the way I am. So I\u2019d be thinking that was a point gained, really.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Cork'sCork’s Dara Sheedy in action against Clare. Picture: Eamon Ward<\/p>\n

Keane praised the impact of Se\u00e1n O\u2019Leary, who contributed two points from wing-back and ensured the Rebels avoided a damaging defeat.<\/p>\n

\u201cSe\u00e1n just showed great character \u2014 he\u2019s that kind of player,\u201d Keane said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s busy, he\u2019s buzzing, and even at the end when we turned over the ball in the last 10 seconds, he was fouled I thought, and it went the other way. But he was in the middle of it, as he always is.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cork’s next group game is against Kerry next Thursday at SuperValu P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh (7pm).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cork manager Ray Keane said his side\u2019s battling 1-10 apiece draw with Clare in Quilty may ultimately prove…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391949,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1964,61,60,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-391948","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-cork-gaa","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391948","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=391948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}