We’ve won nothing yet, warns Kerry boss

KERRY U21 manager Sean Geaney has warned against complacency in next month’s Cadbury’s Munster U21 FC final with Tipperary.

Geaney’s side are odds-on favourites to win in Ardfinnan on April 5 after dethroning All-Ireland champions Cork — their first victory over the Rebels since 1999 — in Tralee on Saturday.

But Geaney stressed: “We have nothing won yet. Here in Kerry unfortunately titles are all that matter and we’ll face a very difficult opponent in Tipperary in their own backyard in a fortnight.”

Kerry didn’t make things easy for themselves. Despite playing with the aid of a strong wind, they kicked three wides in the opening two minutes; conceded the first two scores to Cork before leading 0-8 to 0-6 at the break.

Ironically the hosts played better against the wind, grabbed two points in succession and were always ahead. They enjoyed a five-point lead by the 42nd minute but the champions rallied and reduced the deficit to two by the three-quarters stage. However they failed to score for the last 17 minutes of the game and can have no complaint about the outcome.

Coach Sean Geaney admitted: “I’m delighted with the result. A win over Cork is always pleasing. Coming into the game there were doubts about the team and rightly so: we didn’t impress against Limerick and the lads knew a step-up in performances throughout the field was necessary to see off Cork. They gave their all out there.”

Cork’s tactic of playing Colm O’Driscoll as an extra midfield worked extremely well in the first half and his efforts helped to pin Kerry in their own half for long periods.

However Paddy Curran was hugely effectively for Kerry at right half-forward and with Tommy Walsh using his height and strength to great effect at full-forward, the home side, led 0-7 to 0-4 after 20 minutes.

Cork finished the half strongly with Shane McCarthy dominant on Killian Young and Colm O’Neill impressive at right corner-forward. The Ballyclough youngster landed two late points which left just two between them and it was advantage Cork as they turned to play with the elements.

However the Kerry mentors shrewdly moved Young from centre to full-back in a swap with Mike Moloney and both players benefited enormously.

Young succeeded in shoring up his defence while Cork began conceding needless frees and Kerry stretched their lead to five points by the 42nd minute.

Cork again rallied strongly with O’Neill giving the Kerry defence a torrid time. Three points in a row left just two between the sides with 17 minutes of normal time still to play and you would have fancied the champions to win the game.

However Kerry upped gears. With Young controlling the backline and man of the match Aidan O’Sullivan excelling at midfield, the home side finished strongly and were full value for their five-point win.

Cork coach John Cleary admitted: “It was always going to be difficult for us coming down here with a team that had not been tested in the championship. We were well in the game at half time, and into the second half when there were only two points between us, but we lacked the killer instinct and paid the price.”

Scorers: Kerry: P. Curran, K. O’Leary (0-3 frees), P. O’Connor (0-3 frees) 0-4 each; T. Walsh 0-2; Alan O’Sullivan 0-1. Cork: C. O’Neill 0-5 (0-2 frees); S. Cahalane 0-3 (0-2 frees); L. Shorten, Conor O’Driscoll 0-1 each.

KERRY: T. Mac an tSaoir; C. O’Mahony, M. Moloney, E. Murphy; G. Duffy, K. Young, S. Enright; D. Moran, T. Walsh; P. Curran, Alan O’Sullivan, B. Looney; K. O’Leary, M. O’Donoghue, P. O’Connor.

Subs: J. Buckley for Moloney; Aidan O’Sullivan for Murphy; J. Doolan for Curran.

CORK: T. O’Connor; E. Cotter, A. Fenton, C. O’Brien; Conor O’Driscoll, B. Lombard, S. Kiely; F. Lynch, A. Barry; M. O’Brien, S. McCarthy, Colm O’Driscoll; C. O’Neill, D. Goold, S. Cahalane.

Subs: L. Shorten for O’Brien; J. Fitzpatrick for Barry; D. Kearney for Shorten.

Referee: B. Tyrell (Tipperary).