Cork canter home in futile mismatch

Cork 4-19 Kerry 1-7

And their 21 points winning margin could have been even greater but for the brilliance of Kerry goalkeeper Tadgh Flynn.

The 21-year old from the Causeway club made three unbelievable saves to deny Ben O'Connor, Niall McCarthy and Jonathon O'Callaghan early on, but not even Flynn's defiance could stem the tide.

Kerry manager Eddie Murphy admitted his side never had the remotest chance of winning. "We were on a damage limitation operation. Our aim was to stay within 20 points of Cork. We failed to do that by only a point. It just goes to show the nature of this mismatch, and the fact that the Munster Council insisted on it going ahead at Pairc Ui Chaoimh was a mortal blow to the efforts to promote hurling in a football-driven county."

Kerry scored just one point in the first-half - a free from centre-forward Shane Brick after four minutes. Over the 70-plus minutes of utter boredom, the totally outclassed visitors managed only three points from play, and their only strike on goal came four minutes from the end when Errol Tuohy grabbed a last consolation.

The gulf in standard was enormous. Kerry simply had no answer to the class and expertise of the champions, even though Cork never fired on all cylinders. They didn't have to.

Cork coach Donal O'Grady reacted philosophically afterwards. "What can one say about a game like this. When you are up against a second division team, whose problems were elaborated on extensively in the media during the week, it's hard to get motivated. Our goal was to win and win comfortably. We achieved those objectives and I am happy with that."

With the Cork half back-line of Tom Kenny, Ronan Curran and Seán Óg Ó hAilpín in control, Kerry rarely got a look in. With Joe Deane running the show up front, the home side were eight points to the good before captain Ben O'Connor, running on to a long clearance from full-back Diarmuid O'Sullivan, scored a peach of a goal in the 27th minute to leave it 1-9 to 0-1 at the interval.

Brick, with another free, scored Kerry's second point two minutes after the resumption. But then the floodgates opened. Ben O'Connor set up Joe Deane for another blockbuster from the edge of the square and then John Gardiner made it number three when he flicked home a pass from Jonathon O'Callaghan in the 45th minute.

Kerry were chasing shadows as Cork dominated in every area. Brian Corcoran, who came on as a blood substitute for Ben O'Connor, and then took over as leader of attack from Joe Deane, hit Cork's fourth goal in the 55th minute.

Cork, leading 4-14 to 0-3, took their foot off the pedal and Kerry enjoyed their best period of the match with three points on the trot from James McCarthy, John Egan and Pat O'Connell.

But Cork soon pressed the accelerator again .

Brian Corcoran was taken down and Ronan Curran blasted over the resulting penalty It was 4-17 to 0-7 when Tuohy pounced for his consolation goal after the Cork defence failed to clear their lines for the only time in the game.

"This was the low point of our performance," said O'Grady. "It should not have happened and is a warning for the future."

Points from Brian Corcoran and substitute John Anderson rounded off Cork's runaway victory. But, as O'Grady said, "the real challenge will come in our next game with Limerick. It is a big challenge as Limerick will be on their home patch. We have an awful lot of work to do before then if we are to rise to that challenge because nothing can be read into today's game."

Scorers: Cork: J. Deane 1-4 (0-2 from frees); B. O'Connor 1-1 (0-1 from free); J. Gardiner 1-1; B. Corcoran 1-1; J. O'Connor 0-3; J. O'Callaghan 0-2; N. McCarthy 0-2; M. O'Connell 0-2 (0-1 from 65); T. McCarthy, J. Anderson and R. Curran (penalty) 0-1 each. Kerry: E. Tuohy 1-1; P. O'Connell 0-2 (0-1 from free); S. Brick 0-2 (0-2 from frees); J. Egan and J. McCarthy (free) 0-1 each.

CORK:D. Óg Cusack; B. Murphy, D. O'Sullivan, C. O'Connor; T. Kenny, R. Curran, S. Óg Ó hAilpín; J. Gardiner, M. O'Connell; J. O'Connor, N. McCarthy, T. McCarthy; J. O'Callaghan, J. Deane, B. O'Connor. Subs. J. Anderson for N. McCarthy; B. Corcoran for Deane; P. Tierney for Gardiner; J. Browne for Kenny; B. Lombard for O'Callaghan.

KERRY: T. Flynn; B. Blackwell, A. Healy, A. Keane; K. O'Sullivan, J. McCarthy, C. Harris; A. Cronin, D. Young; I. McCarthy, S. Brick, P. O'Connell; E. Tuohy, J. M. Dooley, J. Egan. Subs. L. Boyle for Young; M. Lucey for McCarthy.

Referee: B. Kelly (Westmeath).