Slick first-half wins it for Cork

Cork 3-12 Kerry 2-10

It was the sixth time in 12 months Cork and Kerry have met, but on Saturday at Páirc Uí Rinn the Rebels made it three wins each, in this the second round of the 2014 provincial championship.

The win, however, won’t count for much as Eamonn Ryan and William O’Sullivan’s teams must do it all over again on Saturday, July 12 in Rathmore, when they vie for the Dairygold Cup.

For the opening half it looked like Cork were streets ahead of the Kingdom and led comfortably by seven points at the turnaround — 2-8 to 1-4 — as Emma Farmer and Grace Kearney netted for the home side, Louise Ní Mhuirceartaigh for the visitors. Angela Walsh, Deirdre O’Reilly and Annie Walsh did well, while for Kerry Sarah Houlihan up front was the spark for the Kingdom.

Upon the restart, O’Sullivan made four changes, and it paid off as Kerry went on to score 1-6 without reply as the hosts fell asleep.

It was Ní Mhuirceartaigh again who capitalised on a Cork error and when Maria Quirke equalised in the 45th minute from a ‘45, it gave the Kingdom impetus. Houlihan put Kerry in front for the first time with 13 minutes remaining, but it would be the last time as Cork managed to go on and score 1-3 without reply — 1-1 courtesy of sub Eimear Scally.

Kerry will be hoping they can get a win over Clare on Wednesday night, before they face Cork again in two weeks’ time.

Scorers for Cork: E Farmer (1-2), G Kearney, E Scally (1-1 each), A Walsh (0-2), G O’Flynn, D O’Reilly, R Buckley, B Corkery, O Farmer, V Mulcahy (f) (0-1 each).

Scorers for Kerry: L Níhuirceartaigh (2-3, 0-1f), S Houlihan (0-5, 2fs), L Scanlon (f), M Quirke (45) (0-1 each).

CORK: M O’Brien; R Phelan, Angela walsh, B Stack; V Foley, D O’Reilly, G O’Flynn; R Buckley, B Corkery; Annie Walsh, C O’Sullivan, O Farmer; V Mulcahy, G Kearney, E Farmer.

Subs: E Scally for V Mulcahy (45), O Finn for G Kearney, A Barrett for V Foley and AM Walsh for R Phelan (54), N Cleary for Annie Walsh (57).

KERRY: A Brosnan; A Lyons, A Leonard, C Kelly; A Desmond, C Lynch, D Hallissey; E Sherwood, B Breen; SJ Joy, D Corridon, L Ní Mhuirceartaigh; S Houlihan, L Scanlon, L Galvin.

Subs: M Quirke for A Desmond; P Dennehy for D Corridon, M O’Connell for L Scanlon and G Crowley for C Lynch (ht), C Buckley for SJ Joy (57; inj).

Referee: M Duffy (Tipperary).