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.