Most Cork football people I spoke to after the Munster final said it was the worst ever, writes Paddy Kelly.

Cork 2-4 Kerry 3-18

Waking up this morning to re-watch Saturday night’s Munster final, I began to wonder if it was really as bad as it seemed in the flesh at Páirc Uí Chaoimh?

Before the door of Dressing Room No 3 underneath Semple Stadium’s Old Stand closed towards us, the first four of Liam Kearns’ words to his numbed Tipperary players seeped out.

Before the door of Dressing Room No 3 underneath Semple Stadium’s Old Stand closed towards us, the first four of Liam Kearns’ words to his numbed Tipperary players seeped out.

Roscommon 0-17 Cork 1-11: Roscommon promoted, Cork safe. Well, as good as. Cork dropping to Division 3 can only materialise if Meath draw against Louth next weekend and Down overcome Tipp by at least 13 points. Those are two sizeable ifs.

Like their half-time advantage of one point, Cork weren’t in any way flattered by the final result as they dismissed Down with relative ease.

CORK’s inter-county contingent appear to have emerged unscathed from a weekend of Cork SFC action, which saw a return from injury for midfielder Aidan Walsh.

Having been battered and bashed in recent weeks, Kerry’s Stephen O’Brien is expecting a backlash from the Cork footballers when the counties meet on the first Sunday of next month.

Colm Cooper will have a scan today on his collarbone although it has already been confirmed he has suffered no break to the bone or ligament tear.

A look ahead to all the weekend’s action around Cork...

Kerry manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice has backed Paul Murphy to shine again at centre-forward, though he accepts that tomorrow’s Allianz FL Division 1 clash with Donegal in Tralee will represent a different challenge for the Rathmore man than Down did last week.

Over four weeks on, the value of Cork’s opening round win over Mayo in Páirc Uí Rinn has been depreciated greatly, both by Mayo, who have followed it up with two more defeats, and by Cork themselves. 

Aidan Walsh of St Mary’s makes his league debut as Kerry make seven changes for tomorrow’s Allianz FL Division 1 clash with Down at Páirc Esler in Newry (2pm).

With the Allianz NFL in its second week, our GAA writers watched some of the tactical patterns unfurl.

Kerry will field eight starters from last September’s All-Ireland final loss to Dublin when they open the Allianz Football League Division 1 against Dublin in Croke Park tomorrow night (7pm).

McGrath Cup - Clare 0-12 Kerry 0-9: Paul Galvin will not be returning to the Kerry football set-up for the season ahead, manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice confirmed yesterday evening.

Dr Crokes will face Austin Stacks in the 2015 Kerry Division 1 SFL final following Stacks’ 1-12 to 0-7 victory over Legion in the Division 1 play-off at Fitzgerald Stadium yesterday.

South Kerry 1-13 Killarney Legion 1-12 (AET): In the gloomy twilight of Fitzgerald Stadium, a set of crutches were called for.

Munster Club SFC semi-final: Nemo Rangers (Cork) 0-14 Killarney Legion (Kerry) 0-8

South Kerry manager John Sugrue played down the row that developed between some of his players and Legion at the final whistle.

Legion 2-10 Feale Rangers 1-11: Two second-half goals helped a below-par Legion beat Feale Rangers and advance to the last eight of the Kerry senior football championship at Fitzgerald Stadium yesterday.

Bishopstown 1-9 Clyda Rovers 0-8: This fourth-round Cork SFC game at Páirc Uí Rinn Saturday proved an endurance test for both teams. Similarly for neutrals, with the worst excesses of the modern game in terms of ‘blanket’ covering, body-checking an obsession with hand-passing and, additionally, an undercurrent of bad feeling which saw two of seven players yellow-carded eventually shown a red card, another black-carded and several more escape censure.

A total of 110 days have passed since Bishopstown’s last Cork SFC game – a win over O’Donovan Rossa in the first round – and tonight’s fourth-round clash with Clyda Rovers in Páirc Uí Rinn (6.45pm).

Saturday evening’s game being a replay and in awful weather conditions was a difficult game to referee and Maurice Deegan will be happy to get over it with no major controversy.

Kerry 1-11 Cork 1-6: Enough. That just about summed up this Kerry victory.

It’s a measure of Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s standing in Kerry that the decision to relegate Colm Cooper to the bench today was met if not with indifference then with a rueful sense of acceptance.

Cork football boss Brian Cuthbert was happy with his side’s win over Clare yesterday but remained unhappy with the late notification of Jamie O’Sullivan’s suspension.

I enjoyed my holidays, thanks very much. Catalonia is a nice place to be any time, but particularly in the week that Barcelona won the European Cup, with plenty of fireworks in our locality. 

Cork defender Jamie O’Sullivan is unavailable for selection for the Rebels’ Munster SFC opener against Clare on Sunday due to a suspension which Croke Park did not communicate correctly to Cork GAA officials.

Cork footballer Jamie O’Sullivan has been cleared to play against Clare in the Munster SFC semi-final on June 14 after GAA authorities deemed he had no case to answer arising from an incident in last month’s Division 1 final.