Kerry 0-8 Cork 0-8 The crowd drifted slowly up to Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney yesterday afternoon. And as 30,000 or so made their way with heavy tread and spirits dampened by the exhausting television drama and this "summer's" ceaseless rain, the eternal verities of Irish sport re-emerged and it was showtime for Kerry and Cork.
In the circumstances the attendance wasn't bad. Had Ireland reached the World Cup quarter-finals, the numbers might have been considerably down because of the awful conditions. And the football was as good as could be expected in conditions that would make your heart sink on a league afternoon in February.
Both teams have reason to be relieved and both have reason to feel disappointed. Yet again Cork departed this fixture muttering about the referee - the third year running - and it was hard on this occasion to blame them. John Bannon uncharacteristically seemed to duck a hard decision when Fionán Murray was tumbled by Seamus Moynihan and Marc Ó Sé in injury-time.
Kerry started very poorly but Cork's finishing didn't present them with the full bill. Adjustments were made and Kerry switched Seamus Moynihan to centrefield. Bit by bit he turned the match and halfway through the second half, his partner, Darragh Ó Sé, kicked into action and pulled down five straight high catches.
The game looked up for Cork.
Yet this Bank of Ireland Munster football championship semi-final was also about the teams' two shooters. Michael Russell and Colin Corkery duelled on the scoreboard, picking up six and five points, respectively - substantial totals on a day of such low scoring.
Russell was more economical, shading his achievement with just one wide. Corkery was himself, spraying shots from all over the place - his stack of wides equalling his scores in number and treated with the same serene self-confidence. For the third year running the Cork captain was his team's deliverance.
His early wides looked to have squandered the team's initial superiority as Russell kept Kerry in touch with two first-half points for a 0-2 to 0-4 interval deficit - a more than attainable target in the minds of most people watching and sure enough within 13 minutes of the second half, the gap had been closed.
Just after Darragh Ó Sé had soared once more to initiate a move that Dara Ó Cinnéide and Russell completed for a two-point advantage to the defending champions, Micheál O'Sullivan finally got his hands on the ball and went long, Corkery swooped and took an exceptional catch.
The rest was easy. Once on the ground, his size and bulk combine with a surprising agility when it comes to turning his marker - like a bulldozer taking a corner on two wheels - and he kicked the point that cut the deficit back to one and in that instant revived his team's apparently doomed prospects.
Minutes later Cork had taken the lead - courtesy of another remarkable act of bobbing, weaving and point kicking by Corkery. It was fitting that Russell was the Kerry player to equalise and bring the match to a replay.
Maybe Páidí Ó Sé and his selectors will be happier with the replay than Cork. For a long time Kerry were very flat and unable to establish a dominant rhythm.
It was no day for younger, lighter players and both Seamus Scanlon at centrefield and Colm Cooper at corner forward were called in before half-time. Realistic appraisal of their prospects will have to wait for a better day.
What happened in the reshuffle creates a knotty problem for Kerry. With the second centrefield position one that has caused bother for years, the temptation must be to retain Moynihan there where his drive and creativity fit in so well. Then again will the uncertainty over Barry O'Shea's right to the full-back slot be cleared away by yesterday's events? Perhaps. Perhaps not.
Moynihan was well on the way to having another difficult afternoon in Corkery's company when he moved and his impact around the middle disrupted the supply into the Cork full forward. Elsewhere, there was vexation for Kerry with the half forwards again failing either to pose much of a threat or to stop their markers picking up possession.
Liam Hassett's return to action was therefore very welcome. He's been struggling with his fitness since recovering from a cruciate injury but showed some evidence of the benefits his forceful presence can bring back to the attack.
There was mixed news for Larry Tompkins, who spent the match in the stand serving a sideline suspension. His re-arranged defence worked really well, with Owen Sexton and Ciaran O'Sullivan looking very comfortable in the unusual surroundings of the full-back line.
Alan Cronin had a good debut, working hard at winning possession and picking off a nice point in the first half. Diarmuid O'Sullivan's bid for dual stardom won't have been advanced by his first big football championship match. The action largely passed him by and he was replaced at half-time.
Centrefield didn't do badly at first and Nicholas Murphy was the most influential player there in the early stages. But just as it looked as if he and Micheál O'Sullivan were rediscovering themselves as a partnership, Moynihan was switched and the music died for the Cork pair.
Interestingly, Tompkins brought on Jim O'Donoghue for O'Sullivan with a few minutes left and he won a couple of balls, setting up Corkery for the lead point with his first touch.
HOW THEY LINED OUT
KERRY: 1 D O'Keeffe; 2 M Ó Sé, 3 S Moynihan, 4 M McCarthy; 7 T O'Sullivan, 6 E Fitzmaurice, 5 T Ó Sé; 8 D Ó Sé (capt.), 9 S Scanlon; 10 A MacGearailt, 11 N Kennelly, 12 E Brosnan; 13 MF Russell, 14 J Crowley, 15 C Cooper.
Subs: 25 B O'Shea for Scanlon (24 mins), 17 D Ó Cinnéide for Cooper (34), 20 L Hassett for Kennelly (43), 18 S O'Sullivan for Brosnan (56).
CORK: 1 K O'Dwyer; 2 O Sexton, 3 C O'Sullivan, 4 A Lynch; 5 S Levis, 6 R McCarthy, 7 G Canty; 8 N Murphy, 9 M O'Sullivan; 10 BJ O'Sullivan, 11 M Cronin, 12 A Cronin; 13 D O'Sullivan, 14 C Corkery, 15 F Murray.
Subs: 21 P Clifford for D O'Sullivan (half-time); 25 J Kavanagh for Levis (56 mins); 20 J O'Donoghue for M O'Sullivan (56).
Yellow cards: Kerry - D Ó Sé (21 mins), E Fitzmaurice (32), A MacGearailt (36), L Hassett (46), J Crowley (70). Cork - G Canty (36 mins), M Cronin (38) Red cards: None.
