O’Sullivan ready for another tilt at taking Cork title

Kerry coach William O’Sullivan will be hoping it’s third time lucky against Cork in today’s TG4 Munster SLFC final.

The showdown will be the Killarney Legion head coach’s third consecutive attempt to try and wrestle the Munster Dairygold Cup from Cork’s grip.

Last year they lost 0-12 to 2-15 in Killarney as the All-Ireland champions lifted their eighth successive provincial crown.

“We weren’t right that day, and nor are we using that as an excuse. We’d prepared as well as we could, but it just didn’t happen,” admitted O’Sullivan.

Ten minutes in they lost defender Breda Lane to a knee cruciate injury, and unfortunately the injury woes continued over the subsequent months with Gina Crowley breaking her leg and former Munster Young Player of the Year Denise Hallissey dislocating her shoulder — and emigrating to the States — while more recently midfielder Lorraine Scanlon suffered a shoulder injury and is a doubt for today’s clash.

Cork coach Eamonn Ryan, however, has injury worries too, with captain Rena Buckley out with a broken toe, while Nollaig Cleary, who hit 0-3 in Cork’s 1-19 to 0-11 win over Clare two weeks ago, is out with a hamstring strain.

Kerry denied the Banner 3-12 to 1-14 to secure their place in today’s final.

“We did okay against a reasonably good Clare side but we had a difficult enough hour, whereas Cork seemed to breeze through it,” said O’Sullivan. “We’re looking forward to the final now, but there’d be something wrong with you if you weren’t,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Munster intermediate final between Waterford and Tipperary takes place at 2pm.

Predicted Cork team: E Harte; AM Walsh, B Stack, A Sheehan; B Corkery, D O’Reilly, G O’Flynn; J Murphy, N Kelly; O Farmer, C O’Sullivan, A Walsh; G Kearney, V Mulcahy, R Ní Bhuachalla.

Predicted Kerry team: E Murphy; C Lynch, A Leonard, A Lyons; E Sherwood, A Desmond, C Kelly; L Scanlon; B Breen; SJ Joy, L Galvin, S Houlihan; L Ní Mhuircheartaigh, D Corridan, P Dennehy.