Must deliver

I mentioned in my preview to the game whether or not Ronan McCarthy would be brave enough to attack Kerry where they are weakest and credit to him they did just that.

Éamonn Fitzmaurice and co will be concerned again with they way our defence looked all at sea early on and allowed Cork to slip in for two early goals. It’s a recurring theme and you wonder if we had been playing more ruthless opposition what could and would have happened.

The problem for Cork was that to play that type of game and trouble Kerry you need the ball and for the next fifty minutes of the game they saw very little of it.

Kerry just went to town on them. They pressed up on the Cork kick out forcing it long and if David Moran, who was superb, didn’t field it clean we were picking up the scraps through our half-backs and half-forwards.

Our full-forward line will get a lot of attention and plaudits this summer and they look in the groove but our best line on Saturday for me was our half backs. I really like the look of these three guys playing in unison.

Gavin White (my man of the match), Tadhg Morley and the irrepressible Paul Murphy all possess the importance qualities that are needed for that department of the pitch.

First and foremost they are damn good defenders. They are excellent in the tackle and have no problem with the physical side of the game. All three have pace which is vital.

Morley is your typical centre-back who tends to stay at home and protect those behind him. Murphy and White will launch attacks whenever given the opportunity. White was particularly impressive. He has a burst of speed, which I didn’t think was in his locker, and he could turn into the find of the summer yet.

Up front it was shooting practice. Paul Geaney is in the type of form that forwards just pray for. He has the incredible knack of being in the right place at the right time but that doesn’t happen by chance.

He has become a real leader on this team and you can see how the rest of the forwards play off him. James O’Donoghue was lively and creative even if he didn’t score a whole pile but that will come.

Our young guns did fine although David Clifford will be unhappy with some of his shot selection in the second half. Stephen O’Brien was moving well until he had a rush of blood to the head and got black carded.

I like Stephen and his direct play, but that was silly. The Cork player was going nowhere deep in his own half and there was no need to drag him to the ground. Stephen needs to curb this over zealous part of his game. He is too valuable to be sitting down after fifteen minutes.

Kerry will be happy in the sense that they are into the Super 8s with plenty to work on. It’s Galway first up and it’s a great test. Kerry need it.

Football needs it.

Let’s hope that they look at the dinosaur the provincials have become and revamp the whole thing