CORK were clapped off the pitch by the home support after the final whistle confirmed Kerry’s narrow win on Saturday, but there are only so many times you can nearly beat your arch rivals.
I wrote in last week's article that if Cork got close and delivered a performance in this All-Ireland senior football championship Group 1 derby, I’d be happy. But Kerry at a balmy Páirc Uí Chaoimh were there for the taking and Cork just didn’t take the opportunity.
Cork were passive in their play and sloppy in attack in the first half. It was the opposite in the second half, as John Cleary’s side was ultra aggressive and tore into Kerry from the throw-in – and look what happened. The major decision that ended up deciding the match went against Cork but the question has to be asked, where was that aggression in the first half?
The home crowd saw that war-like mentality coming to the fore after half time and a Cork football team with the Cork crowd behind them is incredibly dangerous. There was nothing between the sides in this two-point Kerry victory, 1-14 to 0-15, apart from the penalty. The fact is that Kerry had more better kickers, both in general play and up front on the field until Eoghan McSweeney and Steven Sherlock came in off the bench in the second half.
Kerry will be happy they improved a little from the Mayo game while this will be seen as another step in the right direction for John Cleary and his squad. Kerry will also be expected to go on and beat Louth in their final group game on June 17th to secure second spot and a home preliminary quarter-final but after watching Louth frustrate Mayo last weekend, the opportunity to get that big result against one of the top six is really there for this Cork outfit.
The first half on Saturday was poor. Both teams played with two inside and everybody else fought it out between the two 45s. Kerry led 0-9 to 0-4 at half time because their conversion rate from chances created was double that of Cork. Sean O’Shea and Paul Geaney started inside for Kerry while Brian Hurley and Chris Óg Jones were furthest forward for Cork. David Cliffford started on the 40 with Daniel O’Mahony for company. Sean Powter retreated into a sweeping role, leaving the dangerous Tom O’Sullivan as the Kerry free man.
Kerry pushed out the field on Cork knowing that the Rebels would run the ball, leaving an acre of ground in front of Hurley but trusting that Jason Foley would beat the Cork captain in a foot race into space unless the delivery was of good quality. More often than not the delivery didn’t come or it was too high or on the wrong side. The turnovers came, Kerry broke quicker and delivered the quality foot pass to finishers of the quality of Sean O’Shea and the Clifford brothers. Daniel O’Mahony did have a fine game and did his best on one of the greatest of all time; David Clifford’s point with zero back-lift from well outside the 45 in that first half was worth the entry fee alone.
Cork's Sean Powter races away from Kerry's Paudie Clifford and Jack Barry.
There was frustration among the large Cork following in the 14,000 patrons at half time. The worry was if Kerry tagged on the first few scores after the break that it could be damage limitation. But Cork were out early. The attitude, body language and aggression levels skyrocketed, and the Kerry lead was cut to one point with scores from Hurley, Powter and Killian O’Hanlon. Cork put the high press on Kerry goalkeeper Shane Ryan’s kickout with three banks of four and ran hard at the Kerry rearguard.
It was 0-10 to 0-9 on 45 minutes when Powter, soloing laterally, was dispossessed and Kerry had a two-on-two with Tom O’Sullivan putting Paul Geaney in on goal over the top in the number 15 channel. Powter, being the player that he is, obviously felt he had to make up for his mistake and was back to confront Geaney as he cut through. Geaney, seeing a smaller body, knew what he was doing and ran at Powter who collided with the Dingle man for what turned out to be the decisive score. Instantly, Geaney was up and into referee David Gough’s ear, a goal-scoring opportunity, setting the seed in the ref’s mind. Gough consulted with his umpires: penalty and black card for Powter.
If you’re on the losing side you were arguing it’s a yellow card and free in, as the foul was clearly outside the box with what looked like Daniel O’Mahony and Brian O’Driscoll in covering positions but a little behind the play. Either Geaney would have opened his body and tried to slide it past Cork goalkeeper Micheál Aodh Martin or he would have parted to Paudie Clifford who was free attacking the far post. If you’re on the winning side you are quoting the rule – clear goalscoring opportunity inside the 20-metre line and a black card. Of course most of us in the stand had forgotten this rule as we haven’t seen it in action in quite a while. Either way the big decision at the key moment went against Cork.
By the time Powter returned Kerry were five clear. Hurley missed a few frees but Sherlock and McSweeney showed how it’s done from distance. Instantly when Sherlock came on the pitch Tom O’Sullivan went to pick him up and got up the field for the insurance score to put Kerry three up in injury time. It is a very fine margin for inter-county managers in the modern game, trying to find the balance between defensively-minded forwards and out-and-out shooters.
In summary, Kerry were worried about Cork and Cork should have gone at them from the start.
