Late drama sees Cork shock Kerry to reach Munster final
Sean Powter, left, celebrates with Mark Collins of Cork following the late drama. Picture: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
On a dog of a day, Cork’s dog days are over. The ghost of Tadhg Murphy’s famous goal 37 years ago came back to haunt Kerry as Mark Keane’s last-gasp score kicked them out of the Championship and Ronan McCarthy’s side into a Munster final.
Kerry, who never led by more than two points throughout, were up by one when Luke Connolly kicked towards the goal and hoped.
Unlike his beautiful free which made it a one-point game four minutes earlier, Connolly’s effort drifted short and to the right but into the hands of Keane who dismissed the intentions of AFL man Tommy Walsh and finished gloriously.
Derek O’Mahoney’s final whistle shortly followed and the result was confirmed: the Division 3 winners had downed a team 16 places above the in the National League. After seven Championship defeats and a draw since 2012, Cork couldn’t have dreamed of a better way to end that misery.
In a game of sheer drudgery, their discipline and resolve won them this game. Discipline in keeping their shape, keeping the ball, keeping their foul count down close to their own goal and unlike Kerry keeping their players on the field. Resolve in never letting their opponents put too much daylight between them and refusing to panic in additional time in both normal and extra time to fashion an equaliser and later a winner.
On a rotten afternoon in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, the maturity of the three 2019 All-Ireland winning U20s making their senior championship debuts was just as eye-catching, particularly those displays by Maurice Shanley and Seán Meehan at the back.
“I thought Seán had some debut at right half-back and he was outstanding,” said Ronan McCarthy.
“It's great that they're coming in on the back of their success and making such an impact straight away in a big game. We didn't see it as us coming in under the radar and ambushing anyone. All you had to do was look at our subs.”
Having the luxury of holding Connolly, Seán White and Paul Kerrigan sure said a lot about the confidence McCarthy had in the duo and Colm O’Callaghan. It might have been misplaced last year in five players making their Munster final bows against Kerry last year but the faith was fully repaid here.
Aside from claim a mark which was overruled for a push, Keane hadn’t done much but the 20-year-old’s cameo will live forever. And how it will gnaw at Kerry for a long time to come. This was supposed to be the first step towards at eventually getting back at Dublin.
And they can blame nobody but themselves.
In the first half of normal time, their shooting was atrocious. By the 11th minute, Seán O’Shea and Tony Brosnan each had three scoring opportunities and failed to raise a white flag.
The lack of awareness for support runners was appalling and despite their dominance in territory and possession they found themselves 0-6 to 0-5 down as Cork, emboldened by the visitors’ hesitancy, scored the last three points of the half.
The appearance of Killian Spillane in the 50th minute offered something to the Kerry attack so sorely lacking beforehand.
Two points in the second half, the first a fisted effort which should have been an option taken by others before him, and another brace in extra-time, he stood out as his team’s best performer.
Some of his team-mates had an unflattering ability to follow the ridiculous with the sublime. Ronan Buckley was making so many hard yards only to then spoil them and his black card in the 52nd minute was testament to that. David Clifford’s point four minutes into extra-time was of a quality few if any can match.
Seconds later, though, and he followed it up with a miss from a free closer to goal and at a better angle, the second of two frees he kicked wide that you would usually bank on him to convert.
David Moran, who picked up a black card in the 69th minute for tripping Ruairí Deane when Kerry were a point to the good, will rue his two low percentage attempts at points in the second half of extra-time, the latter one surrendering possession to Cork for what eventually finished with Keane’s goal.
An absence of leadership was something Peter Keane appeared to point to afterwards.
“We had plenty of opportunities and just didn't put them away. Ball-retention and maybe a little bit of game-management towards the end. That is just something we have to go and learn from. We were two up and had chances to go further up, if not mind the ball."
Moran had earlier made contributions, though, as did O’Shea after a rocky first half with a couple of second half points including a monster free.
Others will wonder why their league form disappeared. Gavin White, a player of the month nominee for October after two splendid games against Monaghan and Donegal, was poor, conceding two second-half frees which were pointed and often looking unstable on the wet surface. A double challenge on him in the first half may have set him back a bit.
To suggest the greasy conditions levelled the playing field would do Cork a disservice. The same conditions that militated against Clifford also hurt Brian Hurley who found it difficult to make the ball stick inside. Mark Collins too would have fancied a drier day but he was content to slog it out and offer himself as a link player.
He so often provided Cork’s patient rhythm, which saw them cultivate scores such as his 59th minute free to go ahead and the one to force the game into extra-time, won by Seán Powter when he was fouled by White.
A lack of panic was also evident in the build-up to Connolly’s free just as it seemed Kerry were pushing towards victory when Spillane kicked his fourth point.
Cork never switched off, though.
Never caved.
And from Down Under, their saviour arrived.
Mark Keane’s timing to collect that ball just outside the square and then his coolness to dispatch it to the Kerry net for the winning goal. If Cork haven’t already paid for his plane ticket home, they should.
This was Cork’s day, they were the dogs that didn’t let go, but Kerry won’t need to do much homework to realise where they lost this game and this All-Ireland. The David Clifford wides, those six early scoring attempts that came to nothing, those two late up-and-unders by David Moran.
Many years of hurt dissipated with that kick of Keane’s. Cork had been patronised and written off in the build-up to this game. The unbridled joy that greeted the full-time was a long time coming.
Those niggling doubts about Kerry’s leaderships surfaced here. Their composure went AWOL at such crucial times. Not going more than two points ahead at any time during the 100 minutes of football was their undoing.
Cork should have the likes of Cathail O’Mahony and Cian Kiely available for the provincial final. Cramp seemed the biggest complaint for both teams towards the end.
The late changes didn’t alter things too much - Paul White's presence did given Cork more of a physical edge around the middle - although there were switches that raised eyebrows. Seán Powter was asked to hold at centre-back more than dart forward. It was brave for Cork to stay with Maurice Shanley on David Clifford but it didn’t backfire.
Outside of Keane, Adrian Spillane had the biggest impact on the game with four points from play after coming on in the 50th minute. Other than Paul Kerrigan, Mark Collins would have been on the end of more Kerry defeats than anyone else in the Cork panel and he was a leader here. Ruairí Deane drove into the game after a slow first half. So many defenders ran themselves into the ground.
A lot of whistling by Derek O’Mahoney and he seemed to be sold a lot of frees by both sets of players. The same consideration has to be given to him as well as the players given the conditions but some of the decisions were confusing.
For the first time since 2002, Cork face Tipperary in a Munster final. The game takes place in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday week at 1.30pm.
M Collins (0-4, 3 frees); L Connolly (0-3, 2 frees); M Keane (1-0); K O’Hanlon (0-2, 1 45, 1 free); B Hurley (mark), S Powter, K O’Donovan (0-1 each).
D Clifford (1 free), K Spillane (0-4 each): S O’Shea (0-2, 1 free); R Buckley, D Moynihan, T Brosnan (0-1 each).
M Martin; K O’Donovan, M Shanley, K Flahive; S Meehan, S Powter, M Taylor; I Maguire (c), P Walsh; J O’Rourke, K O’Hanlon, R Deane; M Collins, C O’Callaghan, B Hurley.
M Keane for C O’Callaghan (44); L Connolly for J O’Rourke (45); M Hurley for P Walsh (54); P Kerrigan for B Hurley (62); S White for K O’Donovan (70); P Ring for K Flahive (e-t); T Crowley for S Powter (74); K O’Driscoll for K Maguire (77); D Gore for K O’Hanlon (e-t h-t).
S Ryan; T Morley, J Foley, T O’Sullivan; P Murphy, P Crowley, G White; D Moran, D O’Connor; B Ó Beaglaoich, S O’Shea, R Buckley; T Brosnan, D Clifford (c), D Moynihan.
S O’Brien for D Moynihan (47); K Spillane for T Brosnan (50); J Barry for B Ó Beaglaoich (55); J Sherwood for R Buckley (63); G Crowley for G White (e-t); B Ó Beaglaoich for T O’Sullivan (e-t h-t); T Walsh for J Foley (85); P Clifford for D O’Connor (89).
R Buckley (52), D Moran (69).
D O’Mahoney (Tipperary).
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