Kingdom coming again after walk in Páirc
IN August 1938, at the Clonakilty Sportsfield, the Munster football final between Cork and Kerry was played out. The historical backdrop is relevant for a reason: the one-sided scoreline of Kerry 4-14 Cork 0-6, a winning margin of 20 points, has only ever been outmatched by the landslide of the previous year when Kerry romped home on a 6-7 to 0-4 scoreline, a winning margin of 21.
That puts a bit of context on the ransacking of Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday when, metaphorically speaking, Kerry razed Cork’s shiny new fortress to the ground in front of 27,764 stunned spectators. The gap between the sides at the end hadn’t been seen in Championship in 80 years.
Midway through the second half, some of those were already leaving their seats high up in the main stand and heading for the exit. Despite Ruairi Deane cleverly setting up two early goals — the same player was harshly blackcarded before half-time — and Cork benefitting from a dream start, the subsequent collapse had reporters thumbing through the record books.
That a Luke Connolly free was the home side’s only score between the same player’s outside of the left boot finish in the 10th minute and substitute Peter Kelleher firing over in the 65th minute said it all about the calamitous nature of this trouncing.
Kerry’s talent, pace, class and energy, though, had so much to do with it as well, with Paul Geaney tormentor in chief with 2-5, David Clifford stroking over a couple of points and showing he is well equipped for senior by levelling Stephen Cronin with a shoulder at one stage, and Kieran Donaghy’s cameo in the second half just for good measure.
‘To be fair to them, they’re probably a bit shell-shocked,’ said Cork manager Ronan McCarthy. ‘No-one was saying that we expected to come out and win by 10 points like we did against Tipp but we felt we would be competitive. They felt that.
‘I felt at half-time we could still get ourselves back into the game. Kerry got a goal and a couple of points very quickly. After that, it’s damage limitation because you’re trying to chase the game and you’re wide open at the back.
‘We have to turn around very quickly. We have a choice here: we can lie down and die now or we can turn around and get ready for two weeks’ time. Hopefully, we will get another opportunity later in the year.’
Picking Cork up for the qualifiers will be no easy task.
Given the round-robin format, the All-Ireland quarter-finals look likely to act as a hot-house for this talented young Kerry team, and they’ll be talked up as serious AllIreland contenders after this one. Connacht champions Galway, already in that same group, have been well warned.
It wasn’t so much about the big name inside trio of Clifford, Paul Geaney and James O’Donoghue — though all three contributed
handsomely to this victory — but the devastating nature of Kerry’s team play. Éamonn Fitzmaurice has rebuilt a team with pace suited to the open expanses of Croke Park, even if Cork showed up some old defensive frailties early on.
Nine Kerry points in a row removed the sting from a large home crowd and a Geaney goal just after the restart removed any false hope of a comeback.
A gracious McCarthy would hear no talk about Cork being in transition or his own long-term plan and was honest in his appraisal of the Munster champions.
‘They are no different to any Kerry team that I have played against coming up. They have always had quality men up front,’ McCarthy said.
‘They are the type of team, if they get a run on you, get away from you, they can hurt you. They are able to play with abandon, with freedom, and fair play to them, they were ruthless to the end.’
The ease with which Ruairi Deane got in behind twice to flick the ball across the square for Jamie O’Sullivan and then Mark Collins to score goals is one of the few concerns Fitzmaurice will have as his team bridged a gap to the Golden Years generation by winning a sixth consecutive Munster crown for the first time since 1975-80.
‘No, we haven’t been thinking about records,’ Fitzmaurice insisted.
The way this team is going with such promising young talent, that may change in the weeks and months and years ahead. Dublin’s coronation as four-in-a-row champions doesn’t look quite so uncomplicated now.
KERRY: S Murphy; J Foley (M Griffin 54), P Crowley, B Ó Beaglaoich; P Murphy, T Morley (K Young 64), G White; D Moran, J Barry; M Burns (D O’Sullivan h-t), S O’Shea, S O’Brien (K McCarthy 26); D Clifford (K Donaghy 56), P Geaney, J O’Donoghue (BJ Keane 59).
Scorers: P Geaney 2-5, S O’Shea 0-4 (1f, 2 ’45), J O’Donoghue 0-3 (1f), S O’Brien 1-0, D Clifford, P Murphy 0-2, G White, BJ Keane 0-1. Black card: S O’Brien 25
Yellow card: J Barry 26, J Foley 51. CORK: M White; S Ryan (J Loughrey 21), J O’Sullivan (B O’Driscoll 4-6), K Flahive; K Crowley, S Cronin (B O’Driscoll 58), T Clancy; A Walsh (C O’Neill 59), I Maguire; K O’Driscoll (B Hurley h-t), S White, R Deane (P Kerrigan 36); J O’Rourke (P Kelleher h-t), M Collins, L Connolly.
Scorers: M Collins 1-1, J O’Sullivan 1-0, L Connolly 0-2, P Kelleher 0-1. Black cards: S Ryan 19, R Deane 32. Yellow card: M Collins 51. Referee: C Branagan (Down).
Attendance: 27,764.