Kerry ... 1-15 Cork ... 1-14 Kerry staged a dramatic second -half comeback to deny Cork in a thriller at Austin Stack Park at Tralee last night.

A Fintan Gould goal helped Cork establish a 1-9 to 0-8 half-time lead and early in the second half Brian Twomey added two quick points and suddenly Kerry trailed by six points.

The turning point came in the 43rd minute when Declan O'Sullivan side-footed the ball to the net. Kerry added the points and then held on in a welter of excitement, though goalkeeper and captain Brian Sheehan had to make a double save at the death.

KERRY: B Sheehan; M Breen, C Ó Ceilleachair, C McKenna; J Brosnan, P Sheehan, M Curran (0-1); D Walsh (0-1), P Madden; P O'Connell, D O'Sullivan (1-3), B O'Grady; D Doona (0-5), C MacGearailt (0-3), C O'Connor (0-2). Subs: M Cronin for Curran (inj), M O'Riordan for B O'Grady, D Breen for P O'Connell.

CORK: B O'Connor; D Óg O'Donovan, S O'Donoghue, D O'Connell; P Fitzgerald, R Power, C Cronin; C O'Reilly, S Lordan; D Cronin (0-1), B Twomey (0-4), G Hurley (0-3); O Murphy (0-1), F Gould (1-4), G Leahy (0-1). Subs: M Murphy for D Cronin, T Guiheen for S Lordan, K Hartnett for G Leahy, D Cunningham for O'Donovan, S Twomey for R Power.

Referee: B Tyrell (Tipperary).