Fatigue factor now a worry for Kerry

IT WAS anticipated in the build-up to yesterday’s Munster Final that Cork would come out with all guns blazing, tear into Kerry and play with a defensive line-up to keep the Kingdom’s gunslingers at bay.

The horrors of last September were revisited as Cork visibly struggled and by half-time the Rebels were 1-8 to 0-3 down and gasping for oxygen. The turnaround that followed was unprecedented bearing in mind the quality and experience of the opposition.

The tactic of playing Graham Canty as a sweeper in front of his full-back line backfired on Cork. For this tactic to succeed there has to be serious pressure on the delivery and for most of the first period this was not the case. Tomás Ó Sé operated in a free role as a result of Canty’s withdrawal and drove his team forward. Kieran Donaghy and Gooch got a plentiful supply of good quality ball while Seán O’ Sullivan displayed his full range of kicks off left and right. Up front Cork survived on scraps and failed to find their men with any regularity. The Kerry full-back line was watertight with Tom O’Sullivan dominating Donnacha O’Connor. Much of the ball going in was 50-50 and was kicked from too far back. The Cork half-forwards were playing defensively and struggled to get forward and this played into Kerry’s hands.

By the interval Cork had mustered a meagre three points.

But the Rebels were transformed at half-time. Conor Counihan laid things on the line. Another heavy defeat at the hands of Kerry would have sounded the death knell of this team. The qualifiers would have been viewed as a penance rather than a possibility.

And so the defensive set-up was abandoned, with Canty going to midfield and Michael Cussen coming on at full-forward. Cork immediately proceeded to carpet-bomb the Kerry rearguard. Cussen caused havoc. Most of the ball that broke off him was picked up by red shirts. The defining moments came between the 48th and 50th minutes. Canty was withdrawn with a knee injury and the revival looked over. But instead, two minutes later, Ger Spillane sent in an excellent ball which Cussen first-timed to the net. From then the impetus was with Cork. Daniel Goulding was excellent and kicked some massive frees, including a huge one from the sideline following Marc Ó Sé’s dismissal. The significance of impact subs was underlined as the Cork bench contributed 1-4 from play.

A referee’s job has been made harder by the CCCC breathing over their shoulder. A year ago all three sending offs would not have happened.

Nicholas Murphy attempted to tackle Seamus Scanlon and with Scanlon slipping Murphy tackled slightly high with an open hand. It was not an aggressive foul but Murphy got a second yellow. The Marc Ó Sé sending off was an unbelievable decision. The Kerry defender allowed the ball to beat him down the line to avoid stepping into touch. He slipped as he did so and, realising Seán O’Brien had the run on him, hit the Corkman shoulder to shoulder and got a straight red card. It hardly warranted a yellow. The CCCC will surely revisit this incident and Ó Sé’s red card will be rescinded.

The final insult was the red card Darragh Ó Sé received. As he contested a kick-out with Pearse O’Neill he placed a hand on O’Neill’s shoulder. Derek Fahy may argue that this second yellow was for persistent fouling but to receive a yellow card for such an indiscretion is preposterous.

This Kerry team has been down this road before. In 2002 and 2006 when Cork were victorious by the Lee, on both occasions Kerry managed to turn it around to reach the All-Ireland final. They will endure an amount of soul searching and have four weeks to regroup and rethink.

From the Kerry perspective the most worrying aspect is the fatigue factor. This seasoned team could do without an extra game, particularly a hard physical battle. Yesterday the men in Green and Gold looked tired. When in the ascendancy in the first half Kerry were playing well within themselves. When the pace of the game went up in the second half the Kingdom were not able to go through the gears. The customary power and explosiveness in the middle third was absent. Kerry have trained very hard, maybe too hard, since the League final defeat and should taper it off now in preparation for the qualifiers. The qualifiers will be tough and an away fixture to one of the Ulster powers would be particularly testing. But this Kerry team has the habit of bouncing back fast and they will still take serious beating.

The Cork players went through an emotional rollercoaster yesterday. They are now back in the driving seat. Conor Counihan will look to build and improve for Croke Park football. He will, however, much prefer the job of keeping feet on the ground as opposed to arranging the exorcism of any more green and gold ghosts.