Kerry 2-18
Cork 1-6
TOM LYONS REPORTS
FROM the euphoria of SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday night to the depths of despair in Páirc Uí Rinn on Monday night. Such is Cork GAA at present.
Hopes were high that the Cork minor footballers would make a bold bid for Munster honours having run Kerry to two points in the qualifying round in Tralee less than two weeks ago. What transpired in this Munster final in perfect conditions was not merely a hammering from Kerry but a lesson as to how Gaelic football should be played. From start to finish, Kerry were the vastly superior outfit. Strength, size, aggression, skills, talent, Kerry had them in abundance while Cork were found badly wanting in every department.
‘We couldn’t have seen that coming,’ shell-shocked Cork minor manager Micheál O’Sullivan said.
‘We thought we were in a better place than that and that we’d shown the form in Tralee to come here and put in a decent performance.
‘We didn’t start, especially with the levels of aggression and intensity that we wanted. It’s hard to say what happened, there were so many of them playing badly together, they just didn’t put in the kind of performance that we know they are capable of. They are better than that.
‘We’re still in the All-Ireland quarter-final the first weekend in June, it’s Connacht v Munster. How to lift these fellas again is the question. It depends now on what kind of reaction we get and how they respond.’
Cork defender Oisin Harrington races up the pitch against Kerry.
It was hard to explain this no-show by Cork but it must be remembered that these players are only youngsters and it is understandable that they should freeze in their first-ever Munster final. Cork tried but the more they tried the more Kerry seemed to brush aside their challenge. It was 0-11 to 0-3 after a totally one-sided first half and could have been much worse if Kerry had availed of their goal opportunities.
Cork were more competitive in the second half as Kerry emptied their bench but this chastening experience for these young Cork players again drew into the limelight the wisdom of reducing the minor grade from U18 to U17.
In the opening seven minutes, Kerry’s four shots at goal went sailing between the posts while at the other end, Cork’s two efforts sailed wide. The tone was set, the rout was underway and for the remainder of the half, the ball rarely passed the halfway line so dominant were Kerry all over the pitch. In particular, as in Tralee, Cork struggled to win their own kickouts, Kerry applying the full pressure game. During the following 12 minutes Kerry doubled their total while Cork managed just two points. At that stage the Kingdom had already missed two clear goal chances.
By half-time Kerry’s haul amounted to 0-11, with Cork adding only one more to reach a mere three. Chief antagonist for Cork in that half was mercurial winger Gearóid White, whose cultured left boot gave him five points from play, while classy full forward Ronan Carroll won a lot of ball, pointing two frees. Jack Joy, Michael Horan, centre back Aodhna Ó Beaglaoich and dominant midfielder Ben Murphy all raised white flags. Danny Miskella, Ben O’Shea and Seán Whelton replied for Cork.
Trailing by eight points at the break, Cork supporters hoped for some sort of revival in the second period but it was not to be as Kerry resumed where they left off, converting two point chances in quick succession. Lady Luck also decided to desert Cork at that stage and in the space of two minutes they were dealt a double blow as Cian Cooney saw his point-blank shot being blocked by Kerry goalkeeper Kacper Robak, and his rebound shot coming back off the butt of the upright. Within a minute, Cork wing forward Seán Whelton, one of the few Cork players showing any signs of his true form, received a black card. Cork’s hopeless case was going from bad to worse.
The inevitable Kerry goal arrived in the 37th minute when strong Ben Murphy cut through the centre of the Cork defence to billow the net. 1-14 to 0-3, it was all academic after that as Kerry emptied their bench and Cork finally got some foothold in the game. Danny Miskella and the lively Dylan O’Neill showed they were capable of causing problems for the Kerry defence but the supply of ball to the attack was almost non-existent. Cork’s best, if short, spell came at the beginning of the final quarter when Miskella kicked a point and then converted his penalty rebound after the Kerry goalkeeper was penalised. The Cork goal was nullified in the 53rd minute when Ronan Carroll was fouled in the Cork square and he expertly converted the penalty himself.
Miskella and O’Neill (free) added late points to improve Cork’s score before O’Neill was harshly black-carded in the dying minutes, to end a contest that is best forgotten by all Cork football followers.
‘You can’t argue after tonight that there’s a gap developing between Cork and Kerry and we can’t solve that here now,’ Micheál O’Sullivan added.
‘I suppose we’ll have to look at the schools. They have their Corn Uí Mhuirí schools while our talent is much more spread out. We’ll have to go back to the drawing board ourselves and see if we can make any impression on the All-Ireland series. I’ve spoken to the lads here already and now we’ll circle the wagons and see what we can do. We just can’t put it down to one of those nights, we’ll have to look at it and analyse it and ask ourselves why.’
Scorers - Kerry: Gearóid White 0-8 (2f); Ronan Carroll 1-5 (3f, 1 pen); Ben Murphy 1-1; Aodhna Beaglaoich, Seán Ó Cuinn, Jack Joy, Michael Horan 0-1 each. Cork: Danny Miskella 1-3; Ben O’Shea, Seán Whelton, Dylan O’Neill (1f) 0-1 each.
Kerry: Kacper Robak, Fionnán Ryan, Michael Lynch, Ruadhán Donovan, Seán Ó Cuinn, Aodhna Ó Beaglaoich, Gavin O’Keeffe, Ben Murphy, Killian Dennehy, Gearóid White, Joey McCarthy, Jack Joy, Ruairí O’Connell, Ronan Carroll Michael Horan. Subs: Éanna Murphy for R O’Connell (43), Cian MacGearailt for M Horan (43), Eoin O’Flaherty for F Ryan (47), Oisín Fleming for J Joy (52), Ned Ryan for K Dennehy (54).
Cork: James O’Flaherty (Douglas), Oisín Harrington (Kilmeen), Aaron Keane (Kinsale), Joe Mouret (Douglas), Cathal McCarthy (St. Colum’s), Cian O’Connor (Ballincollig), Niall O’Shea (Urhan), Harry Cogan (Glanmire), Jack Trench (Ballinora), Danny Miskella (Ballincollig), Ben O’Shea (Mallow), Seán Whelton (St. James), Humphrey Canty (Newcestown), Cian Cooney (Clyda Rovers), Dylan O’Neill (Carbery Rangers). Subs: Billy Ryan (Glenville) for C. O’Connor (ht), Danny O’Donovan (Castlehaven) for B. O’Shea (ht), Ben Delaney (Carrigaline) for J. Trench (38), Fin O’Dwyer (Cullen) for H. Canty (43), Cian Ahern (Ballincollig) for O. Harrington (53).
Referee: Donnacha O’Callaghan (Limerick).
