NY GAA: Senior Football final preview: Down v Cork

Lots of talent in the package then, and they will certainly want to leave behind the heart-wrenching loss to Kerry by creating history this year.

What then of Cork? Well, they too have a good keeper, the best in New York in fact in Evan Byrne. Kick outs are long or short wherever needed, and his ball handling and shot stopping are second to none.

Denis McCarthy and Paddy Harrington and tight marking corners, with McCarthy back to his best after some earlier injuries this season.

At full back look for Rafferty to sit in and take Downey. The former Galway and London player has fit right in with the Rebels.

David Crimmins, Jack Hoare and Kevin Cotter look like mainstays in the half line, but Liam Hanley and John Fitzpatrick will be pushing them all the way for final places.

Midfield will see two of the following three -- Rory Stafford, Sean Lordon and Colin Daly. Staff plays very big, and last Sunday he kept the ball out of the Tyrone hands by breaking or catching. Look for more of the same.

Lordon leads with his desire. A former Cork minor, his heart is a huge positive. Daly is off the Dublin panel and may be on the 40 or in the middle. An excellent ball carrier well capable of firing over the bar or steam rolling to goal.

The forward line has a number of players who come off county teams -- Rory Woods with Monaghan, Ciaran Lyng with Wexford, Francie Cleary with London. Joe O’Neill is a goal scoring corner man, and he ghosts in behind the full back line.

Woods looks to be happier on the 40, while Lyng will be very difficult to contain although he does have a tendency to drift out of a game if the ball is not coming his way.

J.P. Boyle kicks the frees from the left, while Lyng takes the ones from the right, Boyle played for New York in an earlier tour and should be around the panel for the Galway contest in a week’s time. A terrific striker of a dead ball, distance is not a problem.

Cleary is being used off the bench and should be injury free after a trip to the hospital after the semifinal. He is a fantastic ball carrier who sets up his inside forwards. Nicky Dineen will also have a shot at a starting slot, with Pat Mahoney very likely to come off the bench at some point in the final.    

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Nster.com