’Cork were a driven team, we couldn’t match them’

JACK O’CONNOR troops into the Páirc Uí Chaoimh boardroom and braces himself for the inquisition.

He has experience to draw on. Three years ago on a sun-splashed day in Cork, he watched his Kerry charges being dismantled by their hosts in a Munster championship replay. Saturday was a replica of that affair and O’Connor puts his hands up straight away.

“Cork were every bit as good as we were saying they were. When Cork get a head of steam, we saw that here in 2006 when they were kicking points for fun, they are hard to beat. We just couldn’t match them in the middle third of the pitch and in the last 15 they were just running through us. They’re a driven team.”