Munster SFC Semi-final/Kerry 0-15 Cork 0-7: The slight buzz of anticipation never became a power surge. Cork, injuries and suspensions keeping their loftier ambitions at arm's length, took the game to the champions for the first quarter but unable to create real pressure, lost their way and in the end Kerry cruised this Bank of Ireland Munster football semi-final.
Both managers can take some comfort from the afternoon. Jack O'Connor will take his team to the Munster final next month, his rehabilitation programme still progressing, and he was happy with how his team had responded to the early challenges and battled their way out of trouble.
Billy Morgan wasn't exactly happy with the afternoon but knows he will field a better team next time. Cork took two disadvantages into the afternoon: their lack of match practice and the absence of Colin Corkery and Brendan Jer O'Sullivan, suspended, and the injured Anthony Lynch and Philip Clifford.
Lynch is the central figure in the defence whereas the others would add penetration to the attack. As things panned out the deficiencies at both ends would have an impact. There were successes. Derek Kavanagh, very much on probation at full back, had a storming match and snuffed out John Crowley in the early stages and even if he wasn't as prominent when shuttled around the rest of the full forwards, he was the best of the backs.
Attack was the bigger problem. Suspicions that Cork hadn't the fire-power to trouble Kerry regardless of how well events went in other sectors were largely confirmed. Micheál Ó Cróinín showed tirelessly for the ball early on but his accuracy didn't do justice to his willingness.
Equally frustratingly, what looked on paper like Cork's best line, centrefield, never managed to assert control, as William Kirby, again outshining his partner Darragh Ó Sé, earned an RTÉ man-of-the-match citation and whereas Ó Sé didn't revisit the literal heights of previous clashes with Cork, he worked diligently and was constantly involved in play.
Even allowing for the comparative lack of stress, Kerry put in another good performance. It was marked by the new emphasis on line-by-line defence with physical challenges going in from the full forwards and back down to the other end of the field.
The half forwards funnelled back to support the defence - maybe to too great an extent in the case of a gifted scorer like Declan O'Sullivan - and made it very difficult for Cork to make inroads with the early abundance of possession.
The Munster champions, on the other hand, took their scores easily and economically. There were wides but that was mainly a commentary on the rapidly draining confidence of the challengers. Michael Russell and Colm Cooper were very accurate when the game possessed an element of urgency.
Unusually for the modern age, the teams showed only one change from the announced line-ups. That was the switch of Cork veteran Ciarán O'Sullivan from the 40 to the left wing with Conor McCarthy coming in.
At the start the match was full of incident. Cork unwrapped their game plan and it looked impressive.Playing with great focus and at a fast tempo, they put together sweeping movements from the back. Defenders were combative and Kavanagh launched some dynamic runs from deep.
The half backs, with Garry Murphy particularly visible, won nearly every loose ball as Darragh Ó Sé and Kirby struggled to win clean possession, Graham Canty and Dermot Hurley breaking everything that came near centrefield.
Up front the forwards were lively, darting around the sector keeping the ball in flow and creating chances. But then the problems began. Cork could have had 1-3 before the scoring actually opened in the eighth minute.
Conor McCarthy, who was Cork's best forward, popping up everywhere and distributing sensibly, sent a lovely ball into Alan Cronin but his attempt at goal was saved by Murphy in the seventh minute. Cronin covered plenty of ground but apart from the above incident and the 10th-minute point that gave his side the lead, 0-2 to 0-1, for the only time in the match, he didn't impact strongly.
This central difficulty of poor conversion of chances created contrasted, worryingly for them, with the unfussy manner in which their opponents clipped scores on most visits to the Cork half. This pressure told on the backs, with Noel O'Leary looking jumpy on Cooper, and the unease spread.
As this pattern emerged Cork were also losing a sequence of 50-50 refereeing decisions and the cumulative effect was one of deflating confidence and composure. Although they reached half-time not entirely out of it, trailing 0-3 to 0-7, it was difficult to see from where the scoring threat would come.
The first half had the now traditional aspects of a point that looked wide (from Cooper in the 21st minute) and a yellow card that could have been something more stringent when Canty was seen getting involved with Declan O'Sullivan in injury time.
While Cork felt that they could still compete at half-time, Kerry acted to guard against the possibility. Crowley was replaced by Dara Ó Cinnéide, who immediately varied the shape of the attack by dropping deep and playing an intelligent game. In the redeveloped spaces Cooper and Russell thrived.
Statistically the match went into serious decline in the 45th minute when Cork, having missed a kickable free, lapsed six points behind, 0-4 to 0-10. Within seconds they were spared concession of a goal after a cracking move featuring Kirby and Liam Hassett created an opening for Declan O'Sullivan, whose shot cannoned off the crossbar.
Kevin O'Dwyer in the Cork goal was thoroughly lost as the ball hit off him and rebounded out for a 45.
Kerry were now unstoppable. Again Séamus Moynihan was at the forefront of the shut-out. His positioning, strength and well judged breaks are so familiar a sight that they can sometimes go unrecognised but he was excellent and, together with captain Tomás Ó Sé, kept squeezing the Cork wing forwards back down the field.
Cork's replacements mounted a mini-revival with Micheál O'Sullivan and Kevin McMahon each getting a point. But by then this was purely cosmetic.
KERRY: 1 D Murphy; 2 T O'Sullivan, 3 M McCarthy, 4 A O'Mahony; 5 T Ó Sé (capt), 6 E Fitzmaurice, 7 S Moynihan; 8 D Ó Sé (0-1), 9 W Kirby; 10 L Hassett, 11 D O'Sullivan, 12 E Brosnan (0-1); 13 C Cooper (0-3), 14 J Crowley (0-2), 15 MF Russell (0-7, five frees). Subs: 19 D Ó Cinnéide (0-1) for Crowley (half-time); 17 P Galvin for Brosnan (63 mins); 18 M Ó Sé for O'Mahony (67 mins).
CORK: 1 K O'Dwyer; 2 S O'Brien, 3 D Kavanagh, 4 N O'Leary; 5 O Sexton, 6 M Cronin, 7 G Murphy; 8 G Canty, 9 D Hurley; 10 A Cronin (0-1), 12 C McCarthy (0-1), 11 C O'Sullivan; 13 C Crowley (capt), 14 M Ó Cróinín (0-3, two frees), 15 K O'Sullivan. Subs: 22 N Murphy for A Cronin; 23 K McMahon (0-1) for C O'Sullivan (both 48 mins); 20 M O'Sullivan (0-1) for Hurley (54), 24 F Murray for K O'Sullivan (56).
Referee: B White (Wexford)
