Paul Kerrigan has described Cork's performance against Kildare as "fairly horrific".

In an interview with the Irish Examiner, the Nemo Rangers attacker didn't mince his words as he reflected on the Rebels' disastrous championship exit, which precipitated Brian Cuthbert's departure as manager. 

"It was embarrassing," Kerrigan admitted.

"I didn't know how much we lost by in the end. I didn't want to know really. It was fairly horrific.

"We had fairly high hopes of getting to the August Bank Holiday weekend from the start of the year and pushing on from there. To exit by the end of July is pretty disheartening. Any time you are knocked out of the championship with Cork, it is particularly raw for a number of weeks.

"You put months and months into it and then it is gone in a flash. It was pretty hard to take the whole thing in."

Kerrigan refused to blame Cork's quick turnaround after their Munster SFC final replay loss to Kerry for the abject display in Thurles.

"I don't think that should be an issue. Any inter-county player, from a physical perspective, should be able to play two games in the space of eight days. That is why you train.

"Mentally, look, we felt we were favourites to win and rightly so. We didn't perform and it just didn't happen. They pulled away just before half-time, just like Dublin did in the league final. We weren't playing particularly well and should have shut them down a bit. We didn't and they then took off in the second half."

Tweet

Most Read Stories