Classy Cork signal intent

CORK won their eighth successive Munster Ladies’ SFC title on Saturday, with a nine-point win over Kerry in Dr Crokes, Killarney.

In front of 1,200 spectators, the Rebels outscored a mediocre Kerry outfit 2-15 to 0-12 and signalled their intent to win back the Brendan Martin Cup.

“It was a tough game and I certainly wouldn’t like to be meeting Kerry in the back door or in the quarter-final because they’re definitely a force to be reckoned with,” said Cork’s Amy O’Shea.

“There was so much that could have gone wrong for us with players just coming back from injury and Briege [Corkery] missing, but the girls that came in did brilliant and everything gelled together.

“We’ll take a break for a week and look after a few knocks and bruises, and come back fresh to prepare for the All-Ireland quarter-final in August.”

Eamonn Ryan’s charges out-classed the home side with brilliant displays from player of the match Bríd Stack, Geraldine O’Flynn, Áine Sheehan, Rhona Ní Bhuachalla and Valerie Mulcahy.

Despite playing against the wind in the first-half and losing Máiread Kelly to the sin-bin in the 10th minute, Cork dominated through Juliet Murphy and Annie Walsh and never looked like they were a woman down.

A minute later, Walsh made a superb assist to Ní Bhuachalla, who finished to the net to put Cork in front, 1-4 to 0-1 .

Kerry were struggling following the loss of wing-back Breda Lane to a knee injury and they could only manage three points from frees in the opening half, courtesy of Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh.

For Cork, Murphy and Mulcahy slung over five placed balls between them to lead at the turnaround 1-7 to 0-3.

With just 40 seconds gone after the restart, Mulcahy raised Cork’s second green flag to add to her 1-7 tally. Kerry subs Sarah Houlihan, who kicked three frees, and Patrice Dennehy, along with goalkeeper Edel Murphy and Louise Galvin spurred on the Kingdom, but it wasn’t enough as Cork skipper Amy O’Shea collected the cup to add to the Rebels’ National League win.

Scorers for Cork: V Mulcahy 1-7 (0-4f); R Ní Bhuachalla 1-2; J Murphy (2f), A O’Shea 0-2 each; N Cleary, O Farmer 0-1 each.

Scorers for Kerry: L Ní Mhuircheartaigh 0-5 (5f); S Houlihan 0-3 (3f); L Galvin 0-2; P Dennehy, L Cronin 0-1 each.

CORK: E Harte; AM Walsh, Angela Walsh, D O’Reilly; A Sheehan, B Stack, G O’Flynn; Annie Walsh, J Murphy; N Cleary, M Kelly, G Kearney; V Mulcahy, R Ní Bhuachalla, A O’Shea.

Subs: L MacMahon for G Kearney (45), O Farmer for R Ní Bhuachalla (49), Rena Buckley for Annie Walsh (53), N Kelly for M Kelly (57).

KERRY: E Murphy; B Lane, A Leonard, A Lyons; C Kelly, A Desmond, G Crowley; L Cronin, B Breen; M O’Donoghue, D Corridan, L Galvin; S Corkery, L Scanlon, L Ní Mhuircheartaigh.

Subs: D Hallissey for Lane (11), SJ Joy for Crowley (30), S Houlihan for M O’Donoghue, L O’Sullivan for A Desmond (both ht), P Dennehy for S Corkery (41).

Referee: M Duffy (Tipperary).