When Murphy met Kelly

WAS Ali-Frazier the last match-up that excited the imagination as much? Michael Moynihan looks at the duel between Brian Murphy and Eoin Kelly in Thurles yesterday.

CONTRARY to rumour beforehand, it was Diarmuid Fitzgerald, not Eoin Kelly, who went in on Diarmuid O’Sullivan yesterday. That saved the Cork selectors from deciding early on whether to go with a natural full-back — O’Sullivan — or a natural man-marker — Murphy — in the case of Kelly prowling the square.

On three minutes, Kelly was dispossessed by Ronan Curran but Tipp still managed a Lar Corbett goal. Murphy won the next three duels, in the fifth, seventh and tenth minutes. Kelly took a ball in the 13th minute and dropped it in the danger area, but Cork cleared; two minutes later the Mullinahone man won another ball but the shot didn’t have his usual venom and Cusack saved easily.

In the 16th minute, Kelly won the ball and laid it off to John Carroll for another Tipp score, but Murphy won the next ball, on 18 minutes; the bash ball between the pair on 19 minutes goes down as a draw.

On 20 minutes, Murphy won an independent ball in his corner and deliberated, Tipperary fans counting his steps with some asperity as he did so, but Murphy played a short ball to Ronan Curran and Cork had a goal through Ben O’Connor ten seconds later.

Perhaps as a result, Kelly went in on Diarmuid O’Sullivan soon afterwards, where he won a free on 33 minutes that he pointed. At the break Kelly had five points: two from 65s and three from frees.

After the break Kelly resumed on O’Sullivan. However, if Tipperary wanted their star forward isolated on the Cork full back they found it difficult – Diarmuid Fitzgerald was told to move outfield and leave space in the Cork full-back line, but Tipp’s main problem was the Cork half-backs’ dominance in the air after the break. It wasn’t pristine possession, but Jerry O’Connor and Tom Kenny helped hoover up ball and disrupt the supply lines.

Ten minutes into the second half, Kelly was back on Murphy, but Ronan Curran and Seán Óg Ó hAilpín cut out much of the ball heading into their corner. On 46 minutes Kelly pointed a free from distance, then 60 seconds later he won a great ball and scored a trademark over-the-shoulder point to level the game. However, Tipperary didn’t build on the score, and on 52 minutes Murphy won another duel between the pair.

The closing stages saw the man from Bartlemy on top: on 58 minutes he blocked a Kelly shot on the 45, and with the play largely bypassing their corner, he had the last word with a terrific steal in the 68th minute, winning a free out.

Kelly ended with seven points: two 65s, four frees and one from play. The reaction of the Tipperary fans to his point from play suggests that, like DJ Carey in his pomp with Kilkenny, a Kelly score is worth a tad more than its scoreboard value. The fact that Brian Murphy kept the Mullinahone man to that score was a huge boost to the Cork effort; that the Bride Rovers’ man was the instigator of the Rebels’ second goal was an unexpected bonus.

Verdict: An emphatic win for Cork.