Canty says Rebels failed to compete in first-half

JEKYLL and Hyde was more or less Graham Canty’s take on Cork’s performance.

Lacklustre in the first-half, revived in the second, he was left with much to ponder as the All-Ireland champions failed to beat Kerry in the championship for the fourth time. Unlike the league final win over Dublin, they found an eight-point half-time deficit left them with too much to do.

“We failed to compete and couldn’t get our hand on the ball,” he said. “Kerry seemed to move the ball from back to front very easily. They kicked some good scores, Kerry moved it swift and we couldn’t get a tackle in.

“The second-half was the opposite when we got some tackles in and made some good turnovers. We put a lot of pressure on the man kicking the ball. At times, the man didn’t even get the ball into our full-back line because the pressure was so ferocious. That was the good and the bad.”

Canty insisted Cork were prepared for Declan O’Sullivan and Kieran Donaghy’s switch between full-forward and midfield.

“We knew they were going to do it. They’ve done it the last few years. They rotate Kieran Donaghy in and out with Declan O’Sullivan. They switch corners but they’ve done it a lot. It just keeps you thinking, really.”

Cork’s reaction to it was to keep their players in the positions they were named.

“It changes depending on the way the game is going. Sometimes you try and hold what you have, other times you’re chasing so it can change.”

Canty had expected chances to come Cork’s way as Kerry played keep-ball football.

“We had a couple of chances, we played well in the second-half but Kerry were always going to sit back and protect a bit of the lead as well.”

While missing out on Munster for the second year running disappoints him, he maintained Cork will move on from the disappointment quickly.

“We knew (once) the Munster series was over and were going to be preparing for an All-Ireland series no matter what. Ideally, we’d go through the front door but we went the backdoor last year and it worked out alright.”