Doherty recalls 2009 Cork loss

Kevin Cassidy with John Joe Doherty after the 2009 defeat to Cork

A GLUTTON for punishment, former Donegal manager John Joe Doherty has sat down on more than one occasion and popped in the video of the county’s quarter-final clash with Cork at Croke Park in 2009. The final score? Donegal 1-27 Cork 2-10.

It ranks as one of the county’s worst defeats in modern times, and Doherty, who was on the sideline that day, feels that in just three years the Tir Chonaill men will have needed to learn plenty of lessons from that day if they are to get past the Munster champions on Sunday.

“I watched a tape of that game and at 17 minutes (Cork 0-4 Donegal 0-2), even though the writing was on the wall, we were still hanging in there,” said Doherty.

“But after that we just didn’t have the answers and it turned out to be a case of limiting the damage as much as possible.

“The sideline was a horrible place to be that day, you just didn’t have the answers. The funny thing about that match was that we scored 2-10, that’d win plenty of championship matches.”

The full story is in the current issue of Gaelic Life, published on Thursday August 23. Buy your copy now in your local newsagent, or you can purchase the online version – for only 90p – by clicking here