Tony Leen: Kerry and Cork tend to different sorts of wounds

David Clifford of Kerry celebrates after scoring his side's first goal. Photo by Paul Phelan/Sportsfile

THERE are good reasons John Cleary, the manager, is widely regarded in inter-county boot rooms as the best fit for the laboured rebuild of Cork football. He greets triumph and despair evenly, rarely rabble-rouses and seeks common sense as a first refuge. With his reflections on Sunday’s Munster final loss in Killarney, he bundled the differences in short order.

One, his side didn’t really show up. Cleary didn’t say that but he knows that beyond an early surge that built a five-point lead, Cork didn’t test Kerry’s chin – as vulnerable as it has been in quite a while.

Statistics can be manipulated to defy anything a near-33,000 spectators watched with their own eyes in Fitzgerald Stadium, but Cork accumulated three scores in the second half, lost the last six scores of the game and worryingly, started looking rudderless and uncertain, like of old.

It’s an easy rub to throw at a performance from the cheap seats but Cork weren’t just six points down short of the hour (1-17 to 0-14). They were fumbling around for a compass and a navigator. Or three. Brian O’Driscoll eventually slalomed in from the stand side to roof a superb goal, and David Buckley reduced the gap to only two points in the 59th minute. But the sense of purpose and urgency, the forward threat, was missing. Possession was recycled into poor pockets, basic errors were made with handling. Steven Sherlock couldn’t get a decent shot off.

By which point, Kerry were running out of subs. Centre back Mike Breen went off and had to come back on. They had already lost Paudie Clifford and Armin Heinrich at half time on top of Paul Geaney beforehand and the well-advertised list of other unavailable starters. In his considerations afterwards, Cleary used the same word three times to describe where Kerry excelled – efficiency. But he may also reflect that his players didn't look like an outfit who properly believed the performance would be there when they needed it.

The Kingdom don’t often need to resort to squeezing the best from stretched resources. Getting lemonade from lemons isn’t their thing, but it’s something this group is having to master. Their substitutions delivered a whopping eight points and, conveniently overlooking the fact that David Clifford again affected a big game in a way that’s extraordinary in its frequency, all of Kerry’s stand-up and standout displays were once - or are still - unheralded.

Mark O’Shea, Sean O’Brien and Keith Evans take the podium in that regard but Tadhg Morley, Jason Foley and Diarmuid O’Connor were the personification of good decision-making in stressful moments. Cleary insisted that the next Kerry player in is the same as the one lost, but that’s hardly the case. Jack O’Connor felt they’d be put to the pin of their collar to register a sixth straight Munster title but he thought the problem would be caused by the opposition and not their own stretched options.

In preparing his side for the anticipated Cork gut-check, O’Connor might have employed a bit of inverted game logic – play the occasion. The argument is well-made that neither Kerry or Cork would be disadvantaged by a loss here in All-Ireland terms but as former manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice explained in these pages Saturday, nobody snorts at this sort of provincial winners’ medal. A Munster final under the sun in Killarney with thirty odd thousand creating the din is one thing. A resurgent Cork looking to take away the first presentation of Paidi Ó Sé’s new cup is the sort of history that no Kerry player wants to create. Paul Galvin explained all that in the dressing room in Croke Park almost twenty years ago.

Steven Sherlock of Cork in action against Micheál Burns of Kerry during the Munster GAA Football Senior Championship final match between Kerry and Cork at Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney, Kerry. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Jack O’Connor swooned watching midfielder Sean O’Brien soar for high fetches in an empty stadium last Tuesday night. Imagine his sideline reaction as the Beaufort man, his hamstring already stretched, took ownership of the skies at a pivotal stage of the final on Sunday. He ended up ass over kettle and wounded for his trojan efforts. Alongside him, Mark O’Shea showed the sort of authority, positioning and common sense at key moments that he ought not have in only his second campaign as a Kerry midfielder. Keith Evans had a breakthrough afternoon (a ‘revelation’ said his manager) and Tony Brosnan’s five-point haul in the second half, was to quote O’Connor, “massive.

“Even the likes of Eddie Healy came on there and looked right at home, came out with one ball like Séamus Moynihan used to of old, like a knife through butter, so delighted with the lads who are standing up. Keith Evans was a revelation. He’s come an awful long way in twelve months. They’re the lads that I’m happiest for. Tomás Kennedy got a good outing there, 50 minutes, they’re the future of Kerry football. We need to keep renewing and refreshing the Kerry panel.” 

As they walked down Lewis Road to join the downtown Killarney revelry, there were smiles from O’Connor and his players with good reason, but the road to July only starts now. His indications were that they might still need the glue and stitches for the visit of Donegal in a fortnight, but for the All-Ireland Championship game thereafter, a share of Kerry frontliners might be ready. Had the provincial final been directly linked to their summer journey, they may have risked one or two against Cork, but in winning without half a dozen All-Stars, Kerry have put a useful cornerstone in place.

“It’s rough enough going at the moment,” O’Connor shrugged. “It is hard to pinpoint the cause of it, only just the intensity of the inter-county season, on top of a very intense club season down. That has to be the reason. It is not like we are dogging the players or training too hard.” 

John Cleary knows Cork are better than Sunday. “Wrong options” were a problem for sure, and trickier still, their best man marker Daniel O’Mahony never got to grips with David Clifford. That will also be a must. The Kerry sorcerer dummy-hopped his way to 1-6, with a stunning goal and a two pointer from Lewis Road to add to a bulging canon.

Cork's work to disentangle this disappointing episode from their All-Ireland ambitions starts Monday. The manner of the defeat will sow doubts. "We probably made it easier for Meath," reflected Cleary. "They had a good look at us here and they have three, four, maybe five weeks to be fully prepared for that game. We'll just look at the Meath game now from tomorrow."