The Schemozzle: Cork buck the trend against Kerry with promising start but still come up short

Cork buck the trend against Kerry

While Cork ultimately didn’t get the job done against Kerry, at least they managed to buck one unfortunate trend. Although the assertion on the GAAGo commentary that Cork hadn’t led at half-time this season was incorrect (they were three up at half-time against Cavan), they had generally started very slowly all year.

Cork trailed against Donegal (0-12 to 1-3), Louth (2-4 to 0-9), Fermanagh (0-8 to 0-6), Kildare (2-3 to 1-5) and Armagh (1-9 to 0-9) and were level with Meath (0-7 to 1-4).

To their credit, the Rebels won the second half in four of those games and finished fourth in Division Two. So, when they found themselves leading at the break on Saturday, they would have felt they were in the driving seat given their second-half record – but it wasn’t to be.

Concerning turnout

Speaking of the big match in Killarney, the poor turnout must be a concern.

“It was nice to see a nice crowd here anyway,” stated Kerry defender Tadhg Morley after the Kingdom’s win – we didn’t detect any sarcasm from the Templenoe man’s delivery but, well, the crowd wasn’t that “nice”, by any measure.

The official attendance was 17,568. The last time that the duo met in the Munster SFC in Killarney (the 2021 clash, which was limited to 2,500 patrons due to pandemic restrictions, excluded) was in 2017 when 31,836 turned up for the Munster final.

The last time they faced off at Fitzgerald Stadium in a Munster semi-final was 2015, when was the attendance was 35,651.

Kerry's Adrian Spillane takes on Cork's Tommy Walsh in the football championship semi-final at Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho

Unfortunate fixtures error

The arguments of those who say the lower tiers in hurling are overlooked were bolstered by an unfortunate error on the live blog on GAA.ie on Saturday.

Now, fair play to the good folks at the association for endeavouring to cover all of the action with updates and video clips “of the best points and goals from some of today’s games” – and let it be said, the Schemozzle is not averse to the odd gaffe.

There were nine games listed across various competitions. Bottom of the list were the Lory Meagher Round 2 ties: “Fermanagh v Longford (Enniskillen, 3pm), Lancashire v Cavan (Glenavy, 2pm)”.

That was fine – apart from the fact that those games weren’t on. Cavan meet Lancashire next Saturday; Fermanagh and Longford clash in a month’s time.

Cavan and Fermanagh actually played out a draw; to make matters worse, the correct fixture was uploaded about half an hour after the game but the scoreline listed (3-18 to 4-12 FT) was incorrect. The game finished 3-18 to 5-12.

Order restored at Cusack Park

Clare and Limerick have met 11 times in championship hurling in Cusack Park, resulting in five home wins, five away and one draw.

The Banner hadn’t lost to Limerick at the venue since 1990 but the most striking stat from the archives pre-match was how the goals had dried up.

The first five clashes in Ennis produced 40 green flags. The last two, before yesterday, saw the net bulge once. Normal order restored, then, with four this time.