Munster SFC Kerry 0-15 Cork 0-15 WHAT HAS recently become the Munster series moved to yet another replay, the fourth time in the last five years that Cork and Kerry have drawn. Yesterday at Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney the visitors left once more without a win since 1995, but similarly Kerry have managed just one win here in the past 10 years.
If Cork were conducting an experiment to establish just how many chances to close the deal can be ignored without losing they just about escaped. Like last year, they were cruising in the last quarter but ended up just about hanging on.
The turning point probably came just after the hour when Alan O’Connor got straight through on goal only for his shot to be saved by Brendan Kealy when even a point might have rediscovered the team’s scoring momentum.
Then almost immediately Aidan Walsh dispossessed full back Tommy Griffin and knocked the ball to the ground but his attempt to slip it into the net ended up as a bad wide and the margin remained at two, 0-14 to 0-12.
For the remaining 10 minutes or so Cork appeared to be just running down the clock, a dangerous approach. But a late scoring flurry yielded three points – equalising strikes from replacements Barry John Keane and Anthony Maher followed by Cork sub Colm O’Neill recapturing the lead before Colm Cooper engineered and converted a free.
There can be few in the crowd of over 35,000 – 3,500 up on last year – not baffled that Cork’s clear domination culminated in the Munster champions not winning.
Yet again they must scrutinise the glass. Half full – they were so comfortably superior and saw good debut performances, particularly from Aidan Walsh at centrefield or half empty – restricting Kerry’s golden triangle of Declan O’Sullivan, Colm Cooper and Kieran Donaghy to a cumulative two points from play and still not finishing the job.
Their record in Páirc Uí Chaoimh replays is spotless in the modern age so they’ll be expected to win but the question of how much more mentally resilient they might prove in a future reacquaintance in Croke Park wasn’t answered satisfactorily.
Kerry started briskly and led by three in the opening 10 minutes. Cork looked edgy. Walsh at centrefield started nervously, spilling his first three possessions as if the pace and intensity of senior championship football surprised him.
The young Kanturk player recovered to post a very encouraging display with his tireless movement and willing shows for kick-outs as well as his high catching ability and defensive breaking of the ball. On the debit side his shooting was haywire – two points’ chances as well as that goal opportunity going wide.
But he and Alan O’Connor gave Kerry a terrifying glimpse of the post-Darragh Ó Sé world by putting such pressure on Séamus Scanlon and Micheál Quirke that manager Jack O’Connor had to replace both.
There was also more dynamism in the way Cork attacked, breaking ball and moved it forward. Paudie Kissane scored three points from play on his counter-attacking forays, demonstrating great kicking accuracy as well as pace.
At times Cork played without sufficient urgency, endlessly hand passing the ball around at the back until someone, generally Michael Shields, broke the tackle and launched forward movement.
The tight grip around the middle had one very positive outcome: it choked the supply line into Kieran Donaghy who never had the sort of service that allowed him to terrorise Tipperary three weeks previously and Colm Cooper, who was nonetheless inventive on short rations.
Graham Canty played a stormer at full back grappling with Donaghy in a tightly organised defensive effort. When he got forward on the counter, cover dropped back to plug the gap. Kerry tried to swap Donaghy and Declan O’Sullivan to kick-start the attack but Cork’s system held firm.
If the effort was significantly short in any way it was in relation to discipline. Fouls were carelessly conceded although at times the intention was more cynically aimed at disrupting Kerry’s attacks. One point was conceded because of a loose hand pass at the back when the immediate danger looked to have passed.
Kerry can also point to their own goal chances. At the end of the first half Cooper and Bryan Sheehan – whose impeccable dead-ball kicking kept Kerry in touch – combined to set up Donaghy with a clear shot at goal but he fired wide.
Three minutes after the restart the industrious Donncha Walsh got in one-on-one with Quirke, who executed a sharp save.
For long periods Kerry looked a tired team and their largely veteran defence was stretched.
Paul Kerrigan’s pace was a constant cause for alarm (although Marc Ó Sé managed the problem efficiently in the circumstances) and Ciarán Sheehan’s quick moves left Tommy Griffin frequently exposed.
From the time they regained the lead in the 26th minute, Cork weren’t caught until the 69th minute but going into the final quarter the lead was twice stretched to four points. Kerry remained calm and Tomás Ó Sé finished off two wavering attacks with well-taken points.
Cork’s lack of acuity in keeping the match out of Kerry’s reach came back to haunt them and they know that despite the All-Ireland champions’ loss of a third of last season’s winning team, the ambition of finally putting them away remains elusive.
KERRY:1 B Kealy; 2 M Ó Sé 3 T Griffin, 4 T O'Sullivan; 7 K Young, 6 M McCarthy, 5 T Ó Sé (0-2); 9 M Quirke, 8 S Scanlon; 10 Darran O'Sullivan, 11 Declan O'Sullivan (0-1), 12 D Walsh; 13 C Cooper (0-4, three frees), 14 K Donaghy, 15 B Sheehan (0-6, five frees). Subs:19 A Maher (0-1)for Quirke (half-time), 25 D Moran for Scanlon (47 mins), 18 P Galvin for Darran O'Sullivan (55 mins), 22 BJ Keane (0-1) for Walsh (61 mins), 17 P Reidy for Young (64 mins).
CORK:1 A Quirke; 2 R Carey, 3 G Canty, 4 J O'Sullivan; 7 P Kissane (0-3), 6 M Shields, 5 N O'Leary; 8 A O'Connor (0-1), 9 A Walsh; 10 P O'Neill (0-1), 11 D O'Connor (0-2, frees), 12 P Kelly (0-1); 13 D Goulding (0-3, two frees), 14 C Sheehan, 15 P Kerrigan (0-3). Subs:24 J Miskella for O'Leary (50 mins), 19 F Goold for D O'Connor (59 mins), 28 C O'Neill (0-1) for Goulding (63 mins), 21 D Kavanagh for A O'Connor (67 mins).
Yellow Cards:Kerry: Darran O'Sullivan (7 mins), Donaghy (30 mins), Griffin (48 mins).
Cork:Shields (1 min), Sheehan (26 mins), O'Connor (29), O'Leary (49 mins), Kerrigan (71 mins).
Attendance:35,782.
Referee:Pádraig Hughes (Armagh)
