The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Women footballers beat Cork to qualify for Munster Final
TG4 MUNSTER LADIES SFC ROUND 3 Kerry 2-15 Cork 2-13
TWO goals in the final five minutes helped Kerry to victory over Cork and propel them into a Munster Final with Waterford on July 8, the first time in 14 years Cork won’t contest the Munster SFC Final.
With Waterford having beaten both these teams in the group phase, Saturday’s protagonists knew what they needed to do in order to face the Deise women in three weeks: Cork had to win but a draw would have been good enough for Kerry.
Time will tell how significant it is that this will be the first year since 2003 that Cork won contest the provincial final, and whether or not this result signifies a changing of the guard in Munster and beyond, but anyone pre-empting the Rebels demise should be warned: Cork may be out of Munster but they are still in the All-Ireland Championship.
That Ephie Fitzgerald’s charges face into the fairly unfamiliar territory of the Qualifiers is for another day. Now Kerry must prepare for a rematch with a Waterford team that caused somewhat of an upset in beating Kerry four weeks ago, but backed up that victory up with another against Cork, which will surely make them favourites to claim the county’s first Munster title since 2002.
Kerry won provincial titles in 2013 and 2015, and if they can reproduce the better segments of Saturday’s win over Cork they can be confident of reversing last month’s defeat to the Deise, something Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh is well aware of. “Another crack at (Waterford) in a couple of weeks. They beat Cork as well and they’re a fantastic team and have been coming for the past few years. We’ll have to knuckle down, fix up the mistakes we made today and try and improve on them before three weeks’ time,” the Kerry full forward said after Saturday’s win.
The Corca Dhuibhne woman played her part in this win as she always does - two first points from play and three second half frees converted - but Kerry had match-winners throughout, not least Sarah Houlihan and Anna Galvin who scored those all-important goals in the 57th and 58th minutes respectively. Laura Rogers, too, was sensational at corner-forward, her four points from play simply underpinning a tour de force of inside forward play.
Defensively Kerry were excellent in the first half, shunting Cork down cul-de-sacs and into roadblocks and turning over attack after attack with great skill and discipline. Alas, the home defence was considerably more porous and loose for most of the second period when they conceded 2-8 in contrast to the five points given up in the first half.
Early points from Houlihan and Rogers helped settle Kerry and they held a 0-5 to 0-2 lead after 12 minutes. Leading 0-6 to 0-4 by the 24th minute Anna Galvin soloed through three Cork tackles and cracked a shot over the crossbar, before Houlihan and Ní Mhuircheartaigh stretched Kerry’s lead to five points.
Ní Mhuircheartaigh showed super vision and accuracy to pick out Lorraine Scanlon with a defence-splitting pass but the Castleisland Desmonds player couldn’t beat Martina O’Brien in the Cork goal from close range, though Scanlon made some amends moments later with a point to leave Kerry 0-10 to 0-5 ahead at the break.
Ní Mhuircheartaigh’s early converted free extended Kerry’s lead to six points but Cork’s response was swift and the stuff of champions. Orla Finn pointed and then started a move involving midfielder Niamh Cotter and Jessica O’Shea, which ended with Aine O’Sullivan slipping the ball past Laura Fitzgerald for a goal. Another Finn point made it a one-point game.
Three of the next four points were Kerry’s but then Finn set up Cotter for another goal to level the game, 2-8 to 0-11, and when O’Brien saved brilliantly from Anna Galvin the contest had well and truly turned in Cork’s favour.
Finn combined with Walsh to give Cork the lead for the first time in the 47th minute, and when Finn and then Eimear Scally pointed to complete a nine-point swing, 2-11 to 0-4, Kerry’s interest in the Championship looked all but over.
A Ní Mhuircheartaigh free brought the home side to within two points before Galvin and Ní Mhuircheartaigh combined to put Houlihan through and her shot beat O’Brien in off the post. Cork barely had time to process that score when Galvin broke the defensive cover to raise another green flag and despite a couple of late points from Walsh and Scally, Cork couldn’t find that third goal they needed for victory and a place in a 14th consecutive Munster final.
KERRY: Laura Fitzgerald; Eilish Lynch, Aislinn Desmond, Aisling Leonard; Ciara Murphy, Emma Sherwood, Sarah Leahy; Lorraine Scanlon (0-2), Denise Hallissey; Amanda Brosnan, Anna Galvin (1-1), Caroline Kelly; Sarah Houlihan (1-3), Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh (0-5, 3f), Laura Rogers (0-4). Sub: Eilish O’Leary for Brosnan (52 mins).
CORK: Martina O’Brien; Marie Ambrose, Brid Stack, Melissa Duggan; Eimear Meaney, Roisin Phelan, Shauna Kelly; Niamh Cotter (1-0), Jessica O’Shea; Maire O’Callaghan, Brid O’Sullivan, Annie Walsh (0-2); Eimear Scally (0-3), Aine O’Sullivan (1-0), Orla Finn (0-8, 4f). Subs: Libby Coppinger for O’Callaghan (ht), Aishling Hutchings for Kelly (ht), Orlagh Farmer for A O’Sullivan (57 mins).
REFEREE: Jason Mullins (Limerick)