Champions to keep winning streak going
IF you’re prepared to look past the usual traffic issues and the lack of parking near the stadium and the hour and fifteen minutes between the minor and senior games and the very late homecoming to Kerry, then Saturday’s Munster Senior Football Final has much to recommend itself. For one, you’ll probably be able to slip into your seat in Páirc Uí Chaoimh without having to take your wallet, phone and keys out of your trouser pockets, and you’ll be able to leave that seat and go the toilets without feeling like you’re crossing the street in Adare on a Bank Holiday Friday afternoon.
For another, there’s the prospect of the best Munster Final in quite a few years, and one that could deliver Cork their first provincial final win over Kerry in a decade. Yes, it’s hard to believe that it’s 2008 since a Cork team last got the better of Kerry on Munster Final day – an afternoon when the three Ó Sé brothers were playing, alongside Tom O’Sullivan, Seamus Scanlon, Padraig Reidy and a young Kieran Donaghy featured in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
Needless to say there are very few survivors from either team ten years on, with only Donaghy, Killian Young, Donnchadh Walsh and Darran O’Sullivan still on the Kerry panel, while Paul Kerrigan and Donncha O’Connor – who both saw action that day – still part of the present Cork squad. If David Clifford or Seán O’Shea or Gavin White were at that game they were young boys, probably in thrall to the wizardry of Colm Cooper, then in his prime. Next Saturday the Kerry supporters will pour over the county bounds in thrall to what Clifford and O’Shea can do in the recently redeveloped Páirc as a new generation – the next generation – of Kerry footballers look to start their careers with a first Munster title. It is, of course, not beyond what will be a young and relatively inexperienced Kerry team: a team in name, if not personnel, looking to win a sixth successive provincial title.
Of course, the longer sequences go unbroken then, logically, the closer it gets to those sequences being broken. Ten years since Kerry lost a Munster Final to Cork. Thirteen games unbeaten against Cork in Championship football for Eamonn Fitzmaurice as manager. You’d be right in thinking those runs have to end sometime and you’d be excused for thinking that next Saturday could be the day.
Why not? Cork manager Ronan McCarthy certainly isn’t just turning up for another Kerry coronation.
“We’ve been giving the guys the message since we started that you have to go out and perform every time you play, and this applies here. We want to go out against what is a top team and we want to go out and meet them head and see if we can give a performance,” McCarthy said. “I’ve said it many times but I think there is huge quality in our group. Just look at our bench against Tipperary. In theory, that will be even stronger again when we play Kerry.
“I believe there is real intent in the team, they are very serious in their training. They want to be successful. But we have to go out and deliver a performance. You can never guarantee a result, but you can go out and give a performance and see where that takes us.”
Of course, his counterpart Eamonn Fitzmaurice is of a similar mind – that if Kerry aren’t fully on their game they will be beaten, but if they produce to near their optimum level they’ll be very hard to beat on Saturday.
Apart from Shane Enright who’s definitely ruled out through injury, and Mikey Geaney who is touch and go to be fit, Kerry are full strength and can be expected to name the same starting team that faced Clare two and a half weeks ago. On the evidence of all the individual performances that day there’s no apparent reason for anyone to be dropped (except for a dramatic dip in training form since) so we can expect Clifford, O’Shea, White, Burns et al to be handed some of the responsibility of defending this Munster title. Needless to say that notwithstanding the talents of those young players, this final could well be decided by the contributions of the older brigade, namely Peter Crowley (played at full-back against Clare), David Moran, Paul Geaney and James O’Donoghue. The latter two will certainly occupy the Cork defenders collective minds, and might create enough of a diversion for Clifford and Burns to mine vital scores.
From Cork’s perspective the likely involvement of Paul Kerrigan and Brian Hurley will be a big boost to them, but the doubt over Colm O’Neill’s availability after a minor operation three weeks ago is a set-back, as is the definite loss of Sean Powter, who may well have been the man to keep Sean O’Shea honest.
This game should, in its simplest distillation, come down to how each set of forwards do against two defences that still have several question marks over them. Kerry’s defensive frailties through the League have been well documented and there was nothing in the Clare win to alleviate that.
The power of Ruairí Deane, Luke Connolly – and O’Neill, Hurley and Kerrigan if they play – will ask serious questions of Jason Foley, Ronan Shanahan and White.
Likewise, Geaney, O’Brien, O’Donoghue, Clifford and O’Shea will be a handful for good but not great defenders like Kevin Crowley, Kevin Flahive, Stephen Cronin and Seán White to keep shackles on all evening.
Everything else being equal there’s a fascinating midfield battle in store between, we assume, David Moran and Jack Barry on one side against Ian Maguire and Aidan Walsh on the other.
Walsh is a tremendous natural talent but also infuriating if you’re a Cork supporter: the Kanturk man is surely the Paul Pogba of Gaelic football, laden with talent but lackadaisical and inconsistent. A full 70 minutes from him and Cork could be on their way to something special.
We’re loathe to give several reasons why Cork can win this game and then come down on the side of a Kerry victory, so we’ll skip the first part and go straight to the second. A Kerry win by five to eight points depending on whether or not they finally find the net.
Verdict: Kerry
Munster SFC Final arrangements
THE Kerry Senior football team will face Cork in the Munster Final next Saturday in Pairc Uí Chaoimh. The game is preceded by the Minor Final between Kerry and Clare at 4.30pm.
Tickets are now on sale at the following prices-Adult Stand Pre-Purchase: €35, Adult Terrace Pre-Purchase: €25, Juvenile Stand & Terrace: €5, Student/Senior’s will receive €10 concession with valid ID at the designated stile prior to entry. Adult prices increase by €5 at midnight of June 22.
* The strong advice for patrons is to arrive early, avail of the many parking offers available in Cork City Centre and near Páirc Uí Chaoimh. It is also advised to use the various public transport options to get to the stadium.
* There will be no parking at the stadium and its environs. Tow away will be in operation.
* Blackrock Hurling Club on Church Road, Cork Camogie Grounds on Castle Road and Cork Constitution Rugby Club next to Páirc Uí Rinn are all providing parking for match patrons. All three are just a short walk from the stadium.
* Bus Éireann will operate a shuttle bus service from Lapp’s Quay to Monahan Road. The shuttle bus service will operate with a ten-minute frequency, commencing from Lapp’s Quay at 3:30pm and final departure at 7pm. The shuttle bus does not operate post-match.
* Spectators will be subject to a bag search. Please do not bring backpacks or large bags.