John Cleary sends heartfelt message to Cork fans after Donegal upset
John Cleary paid tribute to the travelling Cork fans after their shock win against Donegal in Ballybofey on Saturday.
Donegal had been one of the favourites to lift the Sam Maguire this year, especially after brushing Kerry aside in Round 1, but John Cleary’s Cork side pulled off one of the upsets of the summer with a narrow one-point win over last year’s finalists in Round 2A.
The journey from Cork to Donegal takes around five hours to drive, and John Cleary reserved a special mention for the travelling fans during his post-match press duties.
Cork manager John Cleary celebrates after the All-Ireland Round 2A match between Donegal and Cork. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
‘Ah, it’s super. I even referenced it to the lads in the dressing room after: “You gave the diehards of Cork football a great day out today,”‘ Cleary said.
‘Every one of them, I could nearly know them by name, because they’re the guys who were up in Drogheda this year, the guys that were in Tyrone. They’ve been following us when it maybe still isn’t fashionable to follow Cork football.
‘So, so happy for them; a lot of them had tears in their eyes, and they were really overjoyed. I presume they were outnumbered 50 to 1 today, so it wasn’t an easy place to be for them all day, yet coming into the last few minutes, we could hear, “Rebels, Rebels!” from the stands.’
Cork players celebrate after the All-Ireland Round 2A match between Donegal and Cork. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
The team themselves cut the journey roughly in half by deciding to fly from Cork to Derry on Saturday morning, before getting a bus from there to Ballybofey.
For the fans, the 10-hour round-trip was made a lot sweeter with the victory, and it was clear that delivering a memorable day for the Cork supporters was just as important to John Cleary as anything.
There may be even better days ahead for the Rebels, as they can now look forward to an All-Ireland quarter-final in a fortnight.
Donegal head to Round 3 as Jim McGuinness’ men hope to keep their All-Ireland dreams alive.
