Kerry 3-19, Cork 2-7 Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad. Which is just about the only plausible explanation of yesterday's dismally disappointing Bank of Ireland All-Ireland football semi-final at Croke Park.
Kerry were once more exceptionally good, particularly going forward, but for the neutral the most striking (and the word is used advisedly) aspect of the afternoon was the manner in which Cork lost their heads and - crushingly - the match.
Kerry's full-forward line again seized the day. On a beautifully sunny day at Croke Park, the new pitch was running fast and Michael Russell and Colm Cooper ran riot.
For Cooper it was a coming-of-age performance.
Throughout the qualifiers and quarter-final he has improved but yesterday he was facing the defence that had muzzled him two short months ago. Less than two minutes into the match it was obvious the young corner forward was off the leash this time when he raced across the pitch to score his first point.
He and Russell each had 1-3 from play chalked up by half-time. In between them Dara Ó Cinnéide was also going well - kicking a confident opening point after 30 seconds - and Cork had no answer. Some pre-match expectations suggested the Colin Corkery-Séamus Moynihan confrontation would be the decisive match-up.
Maybe it was but not in the way anyone could have expected. Throughout his early career and beyond Corkery had been occasionally berated for his lack of physical assertiveness. This season has been his best championship to date but his performances have relied more on skill than aggression.
Yesterday a screw seemed to come loose. From an early stage the Cork captain was in furious humour for no immediately obvious reason. He appeared aggrieved from the opening contests with Séamus Moynihan but surely the Kerryman - greatly troubled by Corkery in recent years - wasn't doing anything that the big full forward hadn't encountered in his career to date?
But from early on on this occasion he manically disputed frees - even when he was holding fistfuls of Moynihan's jersey - and harangued the referee Brian White at nearly every opportunity. On one occasion he went on what must have felt like a stamina-training run to course White deep in the Cork defence.
On a yellow card from the 42nd minute, it was only a matter of time before he walked. The moment came on the hour when he kicked the ball at the referee to register displeasure at a free being turned into a referee's ball. It was a sadly uncharacteristic end to a campaign that until yesterday had Corkery in the running for footballer of the year.
The irony was that although he was getting disastrously poor service Corkery was competing with Moynihan. But the Kerry defence was sharp and allowed no real space for the Cork forwards. Hungry on breaking ball and quick to back up, they pressurised the Munster champions into situations demanding a more incisive response than they appeared capable of providing.
Those things over which he did have control weren't going well for Corkery. He was unable to contain Moynihan when his marker got possession and the Kerry full back got away on a number of big runs. Corkery's kicking wasn't as accurate as usual - dropping a 45 short, admittedly into a strong breeze, sending wide the first chance of the second half when an early score was vital for Cork and driving a goal chance over for a point in the 56th minute.
Centrefield wasn't an immediate disaster area for Cork either. Eventually Darragh Ó Sé took control but the early high catches were shared.
It was the defence that caused the match-defining problems. Going into the match Cork's back six were rated highly on the basis of their performances against Kerry last June - on pitches as wide as Croke Park's. Yesterday showed the difference sunshine and a hard sod can make.
Owen Sexton had pocketed Cooper two months ago and moved back with a view to repeating the dose. But by the end of the first quarter, Sexton had unsuccessfully toured both corners and fetched up back in his selected spot on the right wing. Anthony Lynch was the best of the defenders, but even he got well burned in the first half.
With Liam Hassett preventing too much movement down his wing, Cork's half backs struggled to build attacking platforms and defensively they were in trouble. The constant movement of Cooper and Russell made them far too hot to handle and both struck hard.
In the 20th minute, with Kerry seven ahead, 0-8 to 0-1, Russell slipped in behind the cover onto a breaking ball and finished marvellously into the right corner.
Nine minutes later, Cooper shuttled the ball across goal to Donal Daly and nipped in to take a return pass and clip a glorious finish.
The one consolation for Cork was that two years ago in Killarney they nearly recovered a 10-point half-time deficit. Before the interval some hope was injected into the situation when 1-1 helped get the margin down to nine at the break. Moynihan lost a ball to Fionán Murray, who slipped it to Philip Clifford. His careful negotiation of the cover opened the goal, which he duly exploited.
Even with the breeze behind them Cork couldn't kick-start a revival and Kerry took the first three points after the break. The lack of composure in Cork's attack was to undermine even their chances of making a match of it.
Had they focused on exploiting the gaps that were beginning to appear the match mightn't have ended up the forlorn spectacle it became. Brendan Jer O'Sullivan had a nightmare second half, frittering away a litany of chances. Nonetheless had Corkery goaled the 56th-minute chance, the margin would have been down to five points with quarter of an hour left.
But already the team had been prone to ill-temper, triggering scatters and Clifford had had to be replaced in the 46th minute as he appeared to be openly courting a red card.
But the overall indiscipline was wretched. Cork supporters threw objects onto the pitch in the corner of the Canal End and Hogan. Cork were ready to rumble at any opportunity and even Kerry - in complete control for so long - were foolishly willing to join in with the eventually dismissed Tom O'Sullivan risking that sanction almost from the moment he arrived on the field.
O'Sullivan and Murray - whose fine individual goal in the 52nd minute opened up some remote hope for his team - got the line in the 59th minute after brawling in the aftermath of a free awarded to Cork. Murray was already on a yellow but got a straight red.
White must take some of the blame. He should have shown red long before the hour. Clifford, Murray, Tomas Ó Sé and Graham Canty - already on yellow but let off with a ticking for a wrestling match with Eoin Brosnan - all could have walked.
For a capper Seán Levis pushed an Eoin Brosnan lob into his own net with five minutes left. All told a disaster for Larry Tompkins whose early tactical manoeuvre of starting Alan Cronin for Maurice McCarthy (and having to reverse it after 25 minutes) set the tone for his afternoon.
For Kerry there's the satisfaction of erasing the memory of last year's 15-point defeat by Meath with a similarly sized win at the same stage.
Cork in the end offered no more resistance than Galway and Kildare. So technically Páidí Ó Sé's new-look team still hasn't been tested but the way they're playing they could be waiting a long time for that test.
HOW THEY LINED OUT
KERRY: 1 D O'Keeffe; 2 M Ó Sé, 3 S Moynihan, 4 M McCarthy; 7 J Sheehan, 6 E Fitzmaurice, 5 T Ó Sé; 8 D Ó Sé (capt), 9 D Daly; 10 S O'Sullivan, 11 E Brosnan, 12 L Hassett; 13 MF Russell, 14 D Ó Cinnéide, 15 C Cooper. Subs: 17 A Mac Gearailt for S O'Sullivan (45 mins); 18 T O'Sullivan for M Ó Sé (53 mins); 19 J Crowley for Ó Cinnéide (65 mins); 23 D Quill for Hassett (67 mins); 20 B O'Shea for T Ó Sé (69 mins).
CORK: 1 K O'Dwyer; 5 O Sexton, 3 C O'Sullivan, 4 A Lynch; 2 S Levis, 6 R McCarthy, 7 M Cronin; 8 N Murphy, 9 G Canty; 10 BJ O'Sullivan, 11 J Kavanagh, 27 A Cronin; 13 P Clifford, 14 C Corkery, 15 F Murray. Subs: 12 M McCarthy for A Cronin (26 mins); 21 J O'Donoghue for Kavanagh (half-time); 25 C Crowley for McCarthy (half-time); 24 D O'Sullivan for Clifford (46 mins).
