Kerry put down Croke Park marker

IN THE way of these GAA things, Killarney’s street corners and snugs were more concerned with the repercussions of defeat more than the rewards of victory.

The long road. Psychological damage. Old wounds reopened.

In fact, Cork’s handicap for defeat to Kerry in an absorbing Munster final may not be an impediment at all — one ride on the Big Dipper is all stands between them and an August quarter-final, for which they’ll arguably be better prepared than their Kingdom conquerors.

However there were subliminal implications attaching to yesterday’s 1-15 to 1-12 victory for Kerry at Fitzgerald Stadium, and not because it gave the hosts back-to-back provincial successes.

Jack O’Connor and his management team outsmarted their Cork counterparts with the match-ups in the visitors back-line and that winless streak in Killarney will stretch to at least 17 years now.

It isn’t just the loss to their great rivals that will check Cork’s surging confidence; it was the manner in which the All-Ireland champions were undressed in a stellar opening half by Kerry’s movement, their pace and their thought speed. And all this on a day when Colm Cooper was reassuringly mortal.

The Croke Park dynamic has shifted again.

Conor Counihan will hardly work himself into a lather over this and will take solace from the second half recovery ignited by midfielders Alan O’Connor and Pearse O’Neill. They trailed by nine points in the opening moments of the second period and were a post away from leading via John Miskella’s effort with four minutes remaining.

Where they were outmanoeuvred in the first period, a myriad of second half switches and introductions — plus a more conservative mindset from Kerry — brought about a radical transformation to this Munster final, played out in front of almost 41,000 spectators.

Little of it though came from Cork’s attack — and that must be a concern. With the exception of three-point Paul Kerrigan, the other forwards managed only one second-half point from play.

Graham Canty had a torrid first period but the captain waded into the uphill task with relish after the break. In the first period he was tormented by Kieran Donaghy and exposed by Declan O’Sullivan, who finished the half with four points.

“We just didn’t think that the marking arrangements would suit (Cork),” explained Kerry coach Jack O’Connor afterwards. “Miskella wouldn’t see himself as a full-back and I suppose (Declan’s) the type of full-forward that wouldn’t suit Canty either so we thought that would give them a bit of bother.”

A bit of bother indeed. Kerry’s first-half display was their most fluid and free-flowing since they turned around that early deficit to Cork in the 2009 All-Ireland final. Not only that, they had a work ethic to match and for that, the role of coaches Donie Buckley and Alan O’Sullivan should not be underestimated.

Kieran O’Leary spoiled some of his excellent work with two wides — Kerry had seven before the interval — but that won’t have made Jamie O’Sullivan have felt much better. Darran O’Sullivan embossed a sparkling first half with a blistering 15th-minute goal that was teed up by O’Leary and came straight off Buckley’s training manual.

Meanwhile Bryan Sheehan and Anthony Maher were doing everything their play-sheet instructed them — assisted, admittedly, by Cork’s odd short kick-out strategy in the first period (On that matter, has the GAA abandoned the 20m exclusion zone for kick-outs? At least three of Cork’s in the first half failed to make it outside their 20m line, but Dave Coldrick didn’t appear too bothered).

With Donaghy, Sheehan and Declan O’Sullivan performing a three-hand reel in the first period, Kerry enjoyed leads of six points after 16 minutes and eight points at the break (1-10 to 0-5).

Lost in Cork’s second-half revival was the knee injury suffered by Ciarán Sheehan after less than five minutes. It had an unpalatable look about it as he was stretchered off, and while he was being treated, Donncha O’Connor drove an important free wide. Kerry responded with Walsh and Sheehan points. Momentum checked, though not stopped. Fifteen minutes from time, Marc Ó Sé handled the ball on ground to prevent a certain goal and O’Connor exacted the full sanction from the spot. With Kerry in reverse and their momentum gone, Cork scented blood at 1-13 to 1-10. Little wonder. Kerry failed to score for 27 second-half minutes, but tellingly from a Cork point of view, so did they in the crucial last 10 minutes.

What did we learn? That Kerry have become masters of making lemonade out of lemons. Their deep-well resources are dwindling but their innovative ways are multiplying. Allegedly they’ve no midfield, a creaking defence and no options off the bench. But Tomás Ó Sé and Paul Galvin will give them squad depth for the quarter-final and they’ll hit the ground in Croke Park running this time.

“We played two rounds of club matches last year and four or five fellas came back with knocks and we just didn’t get our training right going into the quarter-final,” admitted the coach afterwards. “We only had a week of proper training and that was even when fellas had knocks. Some fellas had trained for close to a month going into that quarter-final. We just can’t have that preparation again because it just doesn’t work. When you hit Croke Park, it’s a massive pitch and you have to have legs there and you have to be right. If that’s a lesson to be learned, it’s a critical one.”

After they’d destroyed Galway in the league in March, O’Connor mused about keeping Cooper in cold storage for autumn. He might consider something similar for Declan O’Sullivan, the complete footballer.

Conor Counihan will look at the qualifier scenario and tease it out for what it is — three weeks to prepare for knockout football. “One of the challenges has always been to fill the gap (between games). We’ll come out of today and scrutinise the situation more. You could get a good draw but you could get a hell of a draw as well. We’ve three weeks and we intend to work hard over those three weeks.”

He has plenty to be getting on with.