Jack O’Connor admits Kerry ‘have a bit of work to do’ as they see off Clare

Munster SFC final: Clare 1-13 Kerry 0-23

It wasn’t swashbuckling or majestic by Kerry, but nonetheless it was enough for the Kingdom to win by seven points and collect a fourth successive Munster senior football title.

It is their 13th senior provincial triumph in 15 years and the county’s 85th in total, and though Clare pushed them all the way in this contest at a sunny Cusack Park, Kerry never looked like losing a match in which they did not trail at any stage.

“I know we won by seven at the end and kicked 23 points but for large periods there you’d have to say that Clare played very well, so as regards our own display you would say we have a bit of work to do,” said Jack O’Connor.

Kerry led 0-11 to 0-7 at half-time and threatened to pull away as the second half progressed, stretching the gap to nine points on the hour mark.

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However, Ikem Ugwueru’s 63rd-minute goal, after playing advantage having been awarded a free following another trademark strong run by the Clare defender, reduced the deficit to five and gave renewed hope of an upset to the majority of the 12,059 in attendance.

But the shock never really threatened to materialise. Clare needed the next score after that goal, but instead David Clifford went through the gears and cut through the Banner defence, his purposeful run eventually drawing a foul, with Seán O’Shea popping over the resulting free.

O’Shea added another from play moments later as Kerry took the sting out of Clare’s goal. Barry Dan O’Sullivan palmed a goal chance off the Clare crossbar in injury-time when Kerry appeared to overcomplicate the opportunity. But in the context of the result it had no impact other than the home side maintaining a clean sheet.

Given they had been on the wrong side of a 5-14 t 0-15 result in last year’s final, that in itself was a positive for Clare, but they should take a lot more than just avoiding green flags from this game after delivering a strong performance.

“It [the goal] probably came a bit too late,” said Clare manager, and Kerry native, Mark Fitzgerald.

“You just felt we were going to need one or two goals because Kerry were tapping on points. Relatively happy with the performance while still acknowledging we made some silly turnovers in the first half and we made the wrong decision at times, but I think that happens when you’re playing a team of Kerry’s calibre.”

The challenge facing Clare was considerable considering the turnover of players since last year’s Munster decider – only seven of the starting team from the 12 months ago were on the field from the off on Sunday.

But in what was the first Munster SFC in Ennis since 1919, Clare ensured this was a far more competitive game than what transpired at the Gaelic Grounds last May.

Ugwueru moved over to centre back to pick up Paudie Clifford at the throw-in, and it soon emerged the Clare defender’s detail for the afternoon was to tail the Kerry captain all over the pitch.

Manus Doherty was given the man-marking job on David Clifford while Cillian Brennan tracked O’Shea.

With Kerry pushing up on the Clare kick-outs, Banner goalkeeper Stephen Ryan went long with all of his early restarts, but the home side lost three of their first four.

Kick-out retention overall didn’t help Clare – during the course of the game Kerry lost only one of their 20 restarts and got their hands on all of Shane Murphy’s second-half kicks. Kerry were able to get their kick-outs away quickly while Clare’s were more laboured, allowing the Kingdom to initiate a press.

With their first four kick-outs of the second half Clare went long over the press, but in the contests around the middle they came away with possession only once.

Kerry will be concerned by the goal chances Clare created though – Murphy pulled off a good save from Dermot Coughlan before the interval and then was called upon immediately after the restart when he produced an even better stop, this time after Brian McNamara’s brilliant surge forward immediately from the resumption of play.

“That often happens from a throw-in. There was a similar enough situation in an All-Ireland final a few years ago where [Eoin] Murchan got a goal from a throw-in in the second half because everyone is going with their man right after half-time,” added O’Connor.

“The middle opened a bit and your man just got a run on it, the Red Sea opened, as the fella said, and Shane Murphy certainly bailed us out.”

O’Connor’s selection of Murphy, for his first championship appearance since 2018, ahead of Shane Ryan creates an interesting selection for Kerry now in the All-Ireland group stages, where they will be facing Monaghan, Meath and the Leinster final losers.

Tony Brosnan also repaid O’Connor’s faith by scoring three points in an impressive display. Jason Foley came through unscathed in his first game back from an ankle injury, though Gavin White was forced off because of a head injury during the second half.

“He just got a bit of a belt and was just taken off under the HIA protocols, so we’ll see how he is,” stated O’Connor.

In another milestone for the Clifford family, Paudie raised the Munster trophy 12 months after David had done so, but it was also a poignant afternoon for the brothers on the one-year anniversary of the passing of their mother, Ellen.

“It’s obviously always in the back of my mind and David’s too, but it’s nice to get the win,” said Paudie.

Clare progress to an All-Ireland group involving Cork, Tyrone and the Ulster winner. Next up for Kerry is a home fixture against Monaghan.

“The real championship starts now, like,” added O’Connor.

It feels like the summer is finally about to start heating up.

CLARE: Stephen Ryan; Ronan Lanigan, Cillian Brennan, Manus Doherty; Alan Sweeney, Ikem Ugwueru (1-0), Cillian Rouine; Darragh Bohannon, Brian McNamara; Gavin Murray (0-1), Dermot Coughlan (0-1), Daniel Walsh (0-1); Aaron Griffin (0-2), Emmet McMahon (0-5, 4f), Ciarán Downes (0-2, 1f, 1 45).

Subs: Joe McGann for Murray (54 mins); Micheál Garry for Sweeney (56); Cormac Murray for Downes (61); Mark McInerney (0-1) for Coughlan (68); Darren Nagle for Ugwueru (74).

KERRY: Shane Murphy; Paul Murphy, Jason Foley (0-1), Tom O’Sullivan (0-1); Brian Ó Beaglaoich (0-1), Tadhg Morley, Gavin White; Diarmuid O’Connor, Joe O’Connor; Tony Brosnan (0-3), Paudie Clifford (0-2), Cillian Burke; David Clifford (0-4, 1f, 1m), Seán O’Shea (0-9, 5f, 1 45), Dara Moynihan (0-1).

Subs: Mike Breen for White (50 mins); Paul Geaney (0-1) for Moynihan, Stephen O’Brien for Burke (both 57); Barry Dan O’Sullivan for J O’Connor (59); Dylan Casey for Ó Beaglaoich (62); Killian Spillane for Brosnan (67)

Referee: Fergal Kelly (Longford).