Four-goal Cork put the lights out in Kingdom

GRAHAM CANTY’S gem of a goal may linger in the memory much longer than the powerful display which gave Larry Tompkins and his Cork players some small consolation for the manner of their All-Ireland semi-final defeat by Kerry.

Yet, nothing was quite as significant in Páirc Uí Rinn on Saturday night as the historic staging of this opening round Allianz National Football League under floodlights in front of a record crowd of 13,421, which included both the GAA president Sean McCague and president-elect Sean Kelly.

With McCague describing it as a wonderful occasion and an exhibition of goal-scoring the two managers readily admitted that the essential ingredient in the game was the hunger for victory displayed by the home players.