Cork coast it against Kerry
Such was his Kerry’s uncharacteristic lack of verve. Such, essentially, was Cork’s dominance.
The game was up on the All-Ireland champions long before a couple of Fitzmaurice’s players shied out of committing to a couple of 50-50 challenges. But that lack of heart will be particularly grating when he comes to review the footage.
For Brian Cuthbert and his charges, this scenario is familiar but just as suspicious.
And yet what could they do only go out and win the game? That they did so in a style just as convincing as 11 months ago in Tralee won’t fill them with optimism given what followed last summer.
But time has moved on. Cork aren’t as naive as they once were. They don’t have to hold their punches to prove that.
Here in the first half they slugged it out with their keenest rivals where in recent matches they’ve operated a more considerate defensive system. Sure, they utilised James Loughrey as a sweeper, freeing up Jamie O’Sullivan who impressed having been relieved of the role he filled last week. But their half-forwards weren’t as mindful here of their rearguard duties as they were so vehemently against Monaghan and Donegal. The record will show Kerry added just three second half scores but they also posted nine wides.
It wasn’t until the hour mark that Cork themselves registered their first wide after half-time. By that stage, they had struck nine second-half points to Kerry’s two as the visitors were compelled to move Kieran Donaghy from full-forward after his supply had dried up.
Losing Anthony Maher to a head injury at half-time went some way to blunting Kerry but there was little evidence they wanted the game more than Cork. From the outset, it was the men in red who looked inspired. Pouncing on a Jack Sherwood error, Fintan Goold looked good for goal in the second minute and while his rifling shot struck woodwork Colm O’Neill capitalised on the rebound.
A nice combination involving Mark Collins and O’Sullivan then laid on the first of John O’Rourke’s goals in the seventh minute. However, it was quickly cancelled out by Donaghy’s effort at the other end when Ken O’Halloran fumbled a Maher delivery.
Either side of Paul Murphy’s second black card in two games, O’Neill was twice denied a second goal: first by a Brendan Kealy save in the ninth minute followed by Mark Griffin’s goal-line intervention five minutes later.
Kerry were reeling and much of the pressure was coming through the middle. Brian Hurley’s surging run in the 17th minute was the impetus for O’Rourke’s second goal, which gave them an eight-point cushion.
Sherwood and Bryan Sheehan, two of the best against Dublin in Killarney, were the first to be sacrificed. “It was just a bad day at the office, this happens, we’re not going to be doing anything just because of a poor 20, 25 minutes,” said Fitzmaurice. “When you’re in the management, you feel you have to make a change just to arrest what’s going on. Jack and Bryan Sheehan were the two fellas unlucky to be taken off early today. The way it was going, you could have taken off three or four more fellas.”
With Peter Crowley and Tommy Walsh introduced, Kerry recovered with a series of points before Maher won a free and from it Donaghy collected to set up his former twin tower partner Walsh for a goal.
That preceded a melee, which saw both sides pick up a brace of yellow cards. After 14 minutes without a score, Cork were able to dust themselves off to string together three points to lead 3-7 to 2-5 at half-time.
O’Neill and Hurley, so poorly served in Donegal the previous weekend, were major benefactors here and between them notched Cork’s first four scores of the second half. When Colm O’Driscoll claimed a made-to-measure pass from O’Rourke to find his range in the 47th minute, Cork were eight up and out of sight. The arrival of a sharp Donncha O’Connor for the final 20 minutes where he fired over four points gaped Kerry’s wounds.
Cork did struggle on a number of occasions retaining their own kick-out but then that was equalised by how competent they were when Kealy was restarting.
“When you are conceding such size it is a huge problem,” said Cuthbert, “but I would have felt to be honest only for the 10-minute spell where Kerry had the bit of dominance a lot of it caused by them winning primary possession, only for that I thought in the second half we mixed it up quite well and did quite well on their kick-out. We got a bit of joy off them.”
“A bit” being the operative words. Cork will enjoy this for nothing more than it was: a third spring win.
Scorers for Cork: C O’Neill (1-6, 0-5 frees); J O’Rourke (2-0); D O’Connor (0-4, 2 frees); K O’Driscoll (0-3); B Hurley (0-2); C O’Driscoll, C Dorman (0-1 each).
Scorers for Kerry: BJ Keane (0-5, 2 frees); K Donaghy, T Walsh (1-0 each); A Fitzgerald (0-2); S O’Brien, P Crowley (0-1 each) Subs for Cork: D O’Connor for J O’Rourke (49); C Dorman for Tomás Clancy (52); P Kerrigan for C O’Driscoll (57); J Hayes for C O’Neill, D Goulding for B Hurley (both 63); N Galvin for Tom Clancy (65).
Subs for Kerry: K Young for P Murphy (black, 12); K Young for J Sherwood, T Walsh for B Sheehan (both 20); A Fitzgerald for A Maher (inj, h-t); S Enright for F Fitzgerald (42); P O’Donoghue for D Moran (63).
Referee: A Nolan (Wicklow) CORK: K O’Halloran; Tom Clancy, J O’Donoghue, J Loughrey; J O’Sullivan, M Shields, Tomás Clancy; E Cadogan, F Goold; K O’Driscoll, M Collins, C O’Driscoll; C O’Neill, J O’Rourke, B Hurley. KERRY: B Kealy; F Fitzgerald, P Kilkenny, M Griffin; J Lyne, J Sherwood, P Murphy; A Maher, D Moran; M Geaney, B Sheehan, J Buckley; S O’Brien, K Donaghy, BJ Keane.
Cork were already four points to the good when they added another four between the 41st and 47th minutes to put the game out of Kerry's reach.
Can we really believe what we saw unfold here considering the 22-point reversal between these counties' league and championship encounters?
At a time where we can rightly bemoan a drop in the rate of goals in Gaelic football, we were spoiled with five in the first half.
A lot of standout Cork performers but Mark Collins had the most impressive afternoon. Michael Shields gave a commendable performance manning centre-back.
Paul Murphy picked up his second in the space of seven days. Pa Kilkenny was fortunate not to join him on the sideline for a trip.
It wasn't that Eamonn Fitzmaurice didn't try but he wasn't giving too much away here. Cork played more offensively than recent games and it worked although they may have let Kerry clear the defensive lines too easy at times.
Anthony Nolan may have take sterner action than dishing out yellow cards for the couple of melees that broke out between the players.
A repeat of last year's All-Ireland final in Tralee on Sunday. The same day Cork head north once more to take on Tyrone.
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