Cork display champion poise

Ultimately, a victorious one for Cork — and a particularly sweet win for the All-Irelandchampions with Daniel Goulding’s late free deciding matters on Kerry’s home patch — but an intriguing bout for a plethora of reasons.

Forget the two red and six yellow cards — this was no grudge match. On a sodden Austin Stack Park pitch, both defences were on their best behaviour and the playersendeavoured to give the 4,100-sized audience an entertaining game if one lacking in quality.

Given it was the second month of the year, that was hardly surprising but the affair was riveting. The teams were level on seven occasions and looked set to share the spoils before Goulding arrowed a long-range free to grab the two points for Cork.

Taking into account how dominant they were in possession, the visitors just about deserved it. Kerry may have kicked eight wides after the break but their barren spell in the third quarter couldn’t go unpunished. Ironically perhaps, they had the better spread of scorers (nine as opposed to Cork’s six), accrued more points from play and were economically clinical with their scoring chances in the first-half to lead by a point at the break, 0-11 to 0-10.

But that yawning gap between Donnchadh Walsh’s 39th minute score and substitute Geaney’s 63rd minute goal was their downfall. In that time, while the likes of the aforementioned Walsh were dreadfully off-target, Cork — lording midfield — pointed four times.

Kerry recovered briefly and actually led with six minutes left before Darran O’Sullivan was rather harshly pulled up in injury-time for challenging Pearse O’Neill. Donncha O’Connor, despite slipping, converted the free.

Almost straight from Brendan Kealy’s restart, Kerry were fire-fighting again and were adjudged by referee Michael Duffy to have overstepped the mark again seconds after the equaliser.Goulding, after striking two immaculate 45s earlier in the half, didn’t need to be prompted from a similar distance.

Admittedly, losing Aidan O’Mahony to a hand injury in the 45th minute had deprived Kerry of some nous at the back. The Ó Sé brothers, captain Tomás and Marc, provided a solid spine but around them there were issues. Corner-back Padraig O’Connor was called ashore just before half-time after haemorrhaging scores and picking up a yellow card on the half-hour mark.

Indeed, Cork were finding a lot of reward from pumping ball into their full-forward line in the first-half. All but one of their scores came from their inside line in that time-span.

By the 26th minute, they were three points in arrears when Kieran Donaghy — a terrific target figure for Kerry in the opening 35 minutes — fed Donnchadh Walsh. But they outscored Kerry three points to one for the remainder of the half, all their successful efforts coming from O’Connor in open play.

It was a half of gaelic football to enjoy and a departure from previous league encounters which in recent years had offered some wealth of notorious posturing. Toothgate in Páirc Uí Rinn last year, BryanSheehan and Noel O’Leary sent to the line here in Tralee in 2007... frightful Februarys.

Not this one. It appeared both teams benched that belief in a game pockmarked by Duffy’s whistle but lacking any of the ugliness seen in previous encounters. On a trying surface, the referee might have considered it more of a mitigating factor in differentiating between tackles and fouls. He did play a lot ofadvantage but the hefty free count wasn’t justified.

What Barry John Keane and Noel O’Leary did to merit their straight red cards isn’t certain as both were admonished for separate off-the-ball incidents, although the Kerryman’s 55th minute dismissal involved an entangling with O’Leary after Duffy consulted his linesman.

Much to the delight of the crowd, the Kilnamartyra man followed Keane two minutes later after an umpire brought something to the referee’s attention but his departure hardly affected Cork.

Goulding punted over a 45 soon after the incident when Marc Ó Sé stretched to clear Kerry’s lines and added a second in the 62nd minute following a deflection. Kerry were now trailing by three points and hadn’t scored since Donnchadh Walsh’s 39th minute point when Darran O’Sullivan broke through the middle. His darting run had Cork on the back-foot but his delivery to Paul Geaney was just as good and the replacement’s shot beat KenO’Halloran.

Kieran O’Leary swung over a free seconds after and it appeared Kerry had arrested Cork’s momentum.

They hadn’t. Cork pressed on and, according to Duffy, forced Kerry into committing fouls, which O’Connor and then Goulding expertly punished.

Scorers for Cork: D Goulding 0-7 (four frees, three 45s); D O’Connor 0-6 (three frees); F Goold, C O’Neill, C O’Driscoll, P Kelly 0-1 each.

Scorers for Kerry: D Geaney 0-4 (one free); P Geaney 1-0; K Donaghy, D Walsh 0-2 each, D Moran, D O’Sullivan, BJ Walsh (one free), BJ Keane, K O’Leary (one free) 0-1 each.

Subs for Cork: P O’Flynn for Spillane (17); C Sheehan for Hayes (44); N Murphy for Walsh (53); D Goold for C O’Neill (66); Denis O’Sullivan for O’Driscoll (69). Red card: N O’Leary (57)

Subs for Kerry: K O’Leary for BJ Walsh (28); S Enright for O’Connor (34); P Crowley for O’Mahony (45); S Scanlon for Maher (53); P Geaney for D Geaney (61).

Referee: Michael Duffy (Sligo)

Cork display champion poise

AS phoney wars go, this was a compelling one. Ultimately, a victorious one for Cork — and a particularly sweet win for the All-Irelandchampions with Daniel Goulding’s late free deciding matters on Kerry’s home patch — but an intriguing bout for a plethora of reasons.

Forget the two red and six yellow cards — this was no grudge match. On a sodden Austin Stack Park pitch, both defences were on their best behaviour and the playersendeavoured to give the 4,100-sized audience an entertaining game if one lacking in quality.

Given it was the second month of the year, that was hardly surprising but the affair was riveting. The teams were level on seven occasions and looked set to share the spoils before Goulding arrowed a long-range free to grab the two points for Cork.

Taking into account how dominant they were in possession, the visitors just about deserved it. Kerry may have kicked eight wides after the break but their barren spell in the third quarter couldn’t go unpunished. Ironically perhaps, they had the better spread of scorers (nine as opposed to Cork’s six), accrued more points from play and were economically clinical with their scoring chances in the first-half to lead by a point at the break, 0-11 to 0-10.

But that yawning gap between Donnchadh Walsh’s 39th minute score and substitute Geaney’s 63rd minute goal was their downfall. In that time, while the likes of the aforementioned Walsh were dreadfully off-target, Cork — lording midfield — pointed four times.

Kerry recovered briefly and actually led with six minutes left before Darran O’Sullivan was rather harshly pulled up in injury-time for challenging Pearse O’Neill. Donncha O’Connor, despite slipping, converted the free.

Almost straight from Brendan Kealy’s restart, Kerry were fire-fighting again and were adjudged by referee Michael Duffy to have overstepped the mark again seconds after the equaliser.Goulding, after striking two immaculate 45s earlier in the half, didn’t need to be prompted from a similar distance.

Admittedly, losing Aidan O’Mahony to a hand injury in the 45th minute had deprived Kerry of some nous at the back. The Ó Sé brothers, captain Tomás and Marc, provided a solid spine but around them there were issues. Corner-back Padraig O’Connor was called ashore just before half-time after haemorrhaging scores and picking up a yellow card on the half-hour mark.

Indeed, Cork were finding a lot of reward from pumping ball into their full-forward line in the first-half. All but one of their scores came from their inside line in that time-span.

By the 26th minute, they were three points in arrears when Kieran Donaghy — a terrific target figure for Kerry in the opening 35 minutes — fed Donnchadh Walsh. But they outscored Kerry three points to one for the remainder of the half, all their successful efforts coming from O’Connor in open play.

It was a half of gaelic football to enjoy and a departure from previous league encounters which in recent years had offered some wealth of notorious posturing. Toothgate in Páirc Uí Rinn last year, BryanSheehan and Noel O’Leary sent to the line here in Tralee in 2007... frightful Februarys.

Not this one. It appeared both teams benched that belief in a game pockmarked by Duffy’s whistle but lacking any of the ugliness seen in previous encounters. On a trying surface, the referee might have considered it more of a mitigating factor in differentiating between tackles and fouls. He did play a lot ofadvantage but the hefty free count wasn’t justified.

What Barry John Keane and Noel O’Leary did to merit their straight red cards isn’t certain as both were admonished for separate off-the-ball incidents, although the Kerryman’s 55th minute dismissal involved an entangling with O’Leary after Duffy consulted his linesman.

Much to the delight of the crowd, the Kilnamartyra man followed Keane two minutes later after an umpire brought something to the referee’s attention but his departure hardly affected Cork.

Goulding punted over a 45 soon after the incident when Marc Ó Sé stretched to clear Kerry’s lines and added a second in the 62nd minute following a deflection. Kerry were now trailing by three points and hadn’t scored since Donnchadh Walsh’s 39th minute point when Darran O’Sullivan broke through the middle. His darting run had Cork on the back-foot but his delivery to Paul Geaney was just as good and the replacement’s shot beat KenO’Halloran.

Kieran O’Leary swung over a free seconds after and it appeared Kerry had arrested Cork’s momentum.

They hadn’t. Cork pressed on and, according to Duffy, forced Kerry into committing fouls, which O’Connor and then Goulding expertly punished.

Scorers for Cork: D Goulding 0-7 (four frees, three 45s); D O’Connor 0-6 (three frees); F Goold, C O’Neill, C O’Driscoll, P Kelly 0-1 each.

Scorers for Kerry: D Geaney 0-4 (one free); P Geaney 1-0; K Donaghy, D Walsh 0-2 each, D Moran, D O’Sullivan, BJ Walsh (one free), BJ Keane, K O’Leary (one free) 0-1 each.

KERRY: B Kealy; P Reidy, M Ó Sé, P O'Connor; A O'Mahony, T Ó Sé (capt), J Lyne; A Maher, D Moran; BJ Keane, Darran O'Sullivan, D Walsh; BJ Walsh, K Donaghy, D Geaney.

Subs used: K O'Leary for BJ Walsh, S Enright for O'Connor, P Crowley for O'Mahony, S Scanlon for Maher, P Geaney for D Geaney.

CORK: K O'Halloran; R Carey, J O'Sullivan, E Cadogan; C O'Driscoll, G Spillane, N O'Leary (capt); A Walsh, F Goold; P Kelly, P O'Neill, J Hayes; D Goulding, D O'Connor, C O'Neill.

Subs used: P O'Flynn for Spillane, C Sheehan for Hayes, N Murphy for Walsh, D Goold for C O'Neill.

Referee: Michael Duffy (Sligo).