Resilient Kerry retain Munster crown as sprint finish kills off faint Cork revival  

Watched by a handsome 32,961 crowd, an 87th Munster SFC title and the capturing of the Corn Pháidí Uí Shé wasn’t done the easy way. All but one of Kerry’s substitutes were injury-enforced and will be of great concern to Jack O’Connor who had fielded a depleted team. 

There was blood in the water but Cork didn’t smell it. Even if Brian O’Driscoll’s solo goal brought them within three in the 60th minute and David Buckley narrowed the margin to two, Cork never showed enough gumption or will to end their sorry streak in Killarney. A total of 1-2 in the second half wouldn’t win a Munster quarter-final, never mind a final.

Kerry finished out the game with the last five scores, one of them a two-pointer by substitute Tony Brosnan who was one of the top performers. Keith Evans, Diarmuid O’Connor and David Clifford were impressive too.

After the break, Cork returned to the field with doubts that they did enough in a wind-assisted opening half, finishing with a three-point lead (0-13 to 0-10). When they didn’t score for the first 12 minutes of the next period when Kerry hit them for 1-2, those doubts would have turned to regrets.

The goal in the 39th minute was David Clifford’s. Brosnan sent the ball in for Clifford who had cut through the backdoor and then availed of a slight slip by Daniel O’Mahony before dummying and despatching.

"It was a very satisfying second half."

Man of the match David Clifford was happy that Kerry dug deep into their panel to earn the victory over Cork.

He said it's an unbelievable honour to win the Páidí Ó Sé Cup pic.twitter.com/Xb5hLl12mw

— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) May 10, 2026

Clifford boomed a massive two-pointer in the 45th minute to stretch Kerry’s lead to four prior to Mark Cronin breaking a pattern that really broke Cork. Mike Breen and Tomás Kennedy added scores and save for O’Driscoll’s moment of inspiration Cork were listless.

Before throw-in, Paul Geaney became the latest player to be forced off the Kerry panel and Tomás Kennedy deputised. A TV shot of the number of home players not togged out illustrated just the tightness of O’Connor’s options.

Familiar in personnel, Cork started as intended. O’Mahony once more took up David Clifford while Maurice Shanley was assigned to Paudie Clifford. Tommy Walsh switched to the full-back line to tag Keith Evans.

Cork won the toss too, captain Ian Maguire choosing to play with the wind at their backs in the first half. Eleven minutes in and Cork having kicked three two-pointers, it seemed the shrewd move.

Steven Sherlock also sent over a sideline that was just outside the two-point range. Twice, they led by five points in those opening 11 minutes.

Kerry built their way into the half with successive David Clifford points. Seánie McDonnell’s two-point effort was followed by another Clifford strike after Keith Evans and Micheál Burns and then Breen teed up Paudie Clifford for his first point.

Shanley was sticky on Clifford but Evans was benefitting from that attention and his second score tied up the game in the 25th minute.

Before that, David Clifford had a goal attempt kept out by Patrick Doyle and Kennedy converted a soft free he won himself. At the other end, Chris Óg Jones had earlier won one that was on the harmless side too.

Jones and Colm O’Callaghan countered with points and Breen was fortunate that his errors in trying to collect a kick-out weren’t punished.

Armin Heinrich’s second point on the half-hour mark was Kerry’s last of the half when a goal was on. Burns kept out a Jones goalbound shot in the 33rd minute but there was compensation for Cork in the form of a Sherlock 45 and Cronin followed up with a point as Cork seized on the resultant kick-out.

Kerry would have been reasonably happy only for some awry decision-making when there were goals to be had.

Scorers for Kerry: D. Clifford (1-6, 1 tp, 1 free); T. Brosnan (0-5, 1tp); K. Evans, A. Heinrich, T. Kennedy (frees) (0-2 each); P. Clifford, M. Burns, M. Breen, G. White, D. Geaney, K. Spillane (0-1 each).

Scorers for Cork: M. Cronin (0-5, 1 tp, 1 free); B. O’Driscoll (1-2, 1 tp); S. McDonnell (tp), S. Sherlock (1 free, 1 sideline), C. Jones (0-2 each); C. O’Callaghan, D. Buckley (0-1 each).

KERRY: S. Murphy; E. Looney, J. Foley, D. Casey; T. Morley, M. Breen, A. Heinrich; M. O’Shea, S. O’Brien; M. Burns, P. Clifford, D. O’Connor; D. Clifford (c), T. Kennedy, L. Evans.

Subs for Kerry: G. White for D. Casey (temp, 26-ht); G. White for A. Heinrich, T. Brosnan for P. Clifford (both inj, h-t); K. Spillane for T. Kennedy (inj 54); D. Geaney for S. O’Brien (inj 55); E. Healy for M. Breen (blood, 60-65); C Trant for M. Burns (62); E. Healy for T. Morley (65).

CORK: P. Doyle; T. Walsh, S. Meehan, D. O’Mahony; B. O’Driscoll, M. Shanley, L. Fahy; C. O’Callaghan, I. Maguire (c); S. McDonnell, P. Walsh, R. Deane; M. Cronin, S. Sherlock, C. Jones.

Subs for Cork: C. Corbett for R. Deane; S. Brady for S. Meehan (48); D. Buckley for P. Walsh (59); S. Walsh for S. McDonnell (63); R. Maguire for S. Brady (65).

Referee: P. Faloon (Down).