Sean Hayes hails red hot Cork

Cork 1-12 Kerry 1-09: Last September’s All-Ireland minor football final win, from which seven players featured yesterday evening, restored power to the Kingdom circuit lines and roused a large travelling contingent onto the N40 in expectation of a first Munster U21 championship win since 2012.

By 9pm, the county’s underage factory lay in darkness, another spring malfunction materialising.

“The difference between this week and last week is phenomenal,” said Cork manager Sean Hayes.