Cork call in the cavalry for Kingdom test
Since the turn of decade, only two All-Ireland champions have won their first day out in the league as kingpins Armagh in 2003 and Tyrone in ‘09 showed, both against Dublin in Croke Park). Those are statistics worth considering ahead of throw-in tomorrow afternoon in Tralee as the majority of Conor Counihan’s Cork side prepare for their 2011 competitive bow.
Of the starting 15 that Counihan has named for tomorrow’s clash, only Alan O’Connor and Donncha O’Connor have shaken off the winter cobwebs through appearances in the McGrath Cup. The bulk of Cork’s squad are only back in the country three weeks after their team holiday to South Africa and that’s likely to affect their ability to go at full tilt against Jack O’Connor’s men.
Still, Cork have gone with a strong and seasoned team. There are 10 of the starters from last September’s glory against Down in situ while Fintan Goold and Colm O’Neill both got second-half cameos off the bench that day in Croke Park.
Kerry’s preparations are a little further down the road for this season and Jack O’Connor has judiciously used the month of January to trawl the county’s current and recent underage teams for senior talent. Some have fared out better than others. The Legion defensive pair of Padraig O’Connor and Jonathan Lyne will man the left flank of the rearguard here and they produced competent showings in last Saturday’s McGrath Cup final against Clare. Neither put a foot wrong in pre-season but the level of opposition and standards of defensive play required will rise in tandem tomorrow.
In attack David Geaney is the only newcomer to get a starting berth and he is rewarded for the six points he picked off last weekend.
Having Kieran Donaghy to feed off should be beneficial for the Dingle man tomorrow as they combined well in the early rounds of the competition. Outside them Darran O’Sullivan has been in terrific form over the last few weeks and seems determined not to be a peripheral presence this year. The aim to pin down regular game time is one that is shared by his colleagues Padraig Reidy and David Moran.
On the Cork side, Fintan Goold and Colm O’Neill can relate to that scenario, while defender Conor O’Driscoll gets the chance to demonstrate his dynamism and ball-playing from wing-back.
Tomorrow is an important step for all of them.
If the McGrath Cup semi-final between the teams was shadow puppeteering, this game will be akin to shadow boxing.
The Munster championship draw dictates that the rivals are firmly on course for a provincial final meeting in the summer and that will be the platform on which they will be judged. The bookmakers have a preference for Cork tomorrow but the fact is, though, that Kerry have more pre-season work behind them at the moment and that can manifest itself on the scoreboard to separate the teams.
Verdict: Kerry
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