Cork lay down a marker with emphatic win over Kerry in Tralee

Kerry 1-11 Cork 2-18

You would have lost money guessing blind at which of these sides had something to play for yesterday. Cork, with their semi-final place safely tucked away since last Sunday, put in an afternoon of vim and purpose. Kerry, with their slim hopes of another game or two to fill the next 11 weeks dependent on at least posting a win, were tepid with the first-half wind behind them and half-hearted playing into it. Neither state ideal in any normal game, both unacceptable against Cork.

It would be unusual for an indifferent league to cause much consternation in Kerry. Kerry will go off and tend to their wounds – Darran O’Sullivan pulled up with an obviously bad hamstring problem early in the second half – safe in the knowledge that it will be three months before they have to be at full pelt.

But they will know too that there is much ground to be made up. Kerry have issues at full-back, where Mark Griffin got a torching from Brian Hurley (eight points, seven from play), and in the forwards generally, where James O’Donoghue was the only one of the players on show here whose name is etched in summer stone.

In patches
Of the rest, Donnchadh Walsh was withdrawn before half-time, Stephen O'Brien was bright in patches but anonymous in others, Daithí Casey, Paul Geaney and Kieran O'Leary too often bit-part players. Declan O'Sullivan will walk back into the team, maybe Bryan Sheehan and Kieran Donaghy too. But in a year with no Gooch, Eamonn Fitzmaurice could badly have done with a few more of the cavalry suiting up for infantry duty.

They faded from view in the 20 minutes after half-time. Having gone in a point behind despite the backing of a stiff breeze, they were outscored 1-8 to 0-1 in the third quarter.

Hurley and Paul Kerrigan picked off points as and when they pleased and when Kerrigan fed Colm O’Neill for Cork’s second goal on 51 minutes, the day was done. Fitzmaurice could only shake his head afterwards.

Never materialised
"I think even the first half wasn't great to be honest," he said. "The goal we got before half-time probably kept us in the game. Even though we'd been playing with the breeze, from the outset we were poor today, second to every ball. We looked dead on our feet, we just didn't seem to have any life or energy about our performance. I think we were probably lucky at half-time to go in just a point down.

“The pattern in the last couple of games has been that we’ve played well in the second half against Tyrone, Kildare and Westmeath and we hoped for something similar today. But it never materialised. We just didn’t get enough primary possession around the middle. Cork were a good bit better than us, simple as that. We’ve a lot to work on.”

Brian Cuthbert’s smart young side is shaping well. They had 10 points to spare at the end here but it could have been much more. They were without Aidan Walsh (the midfielder took a slice off his finger while making a hurley during the week) but will have him back for the semi-final.

They played Paddy Kelly at centre-back and though he did fine, it's hard to envisage that role as his summer job. If filling the Cork forward line still smacks a little of trying to fit a quart in a pint pot, Cuthbert will surely find room for Kelly in it somewhere. When we asked him afterwards if he'd put out a more settled-looking 15 for the Dublin game, he smiled his reply.

“Is it definitely Dublin?”

It is.

“Then you’ll see a more settled side, yeah.”

It could be a cracker. Cork have beaten them once already this spring and Cuthbert is clearly presiding over one of a handful of teams in the country whose graph is definitely pointing upwards.
KERRY : 1 B Kelly; 2 P Murphy, 3 M Griffin, 4 S Enright; 5 P Crowley (0-1), 6 F Fitzgerald, 7 M Ó Sé; A Maher, 9 D Moran (0-1); 10 D Walsh, 11 D Casey (0-1), 12 K O'Leary; 13 S O'Brien (0-1), 14 P Geaney (1-2, 0-2 frees), 15 J O'Donoghue (0-4, 0-2 frees). Subs: 19 Darran O'Sullivan for Walsh ( 30 mins), J Buckley for Maher, (half-time), 17 B Sheehan (0-1, free) for O'Sullivan, (38 mins), 22 J Sherwood for Ó Sé, (45 mins), 21 A O'Mahony for Griffin ( 54 mins), 23 BJ Keane for Geaney (59 mins).
CORK: 1 K O'Halloran; 2 M Shields, 3 J O'Sullivan, 4 Tom Clancy; 7 D Cahalane (0-1), 6 P Kelly, 5 J Loughrey; 8 F Goold (0-1), 9 A O'Sullivan; 10 C O'Driscoll (0-1), 11 M Collins; 24 P Kerrigan (1-2); 13 B O'Driscoll, 14 B Hurley (0-8, 0-1 free), 15 J Hayes (0-2). Subs: 26 C O'Neill (1-1) for Hayes (50 mins), 25 D O'Connor (0-1) for A O'Sullivan ( 52 mins), 23 D Goulding (0-1) for C O'Driscoll (56 mins), 20 Tomás Clancy for Shields (60 mins), 22 M Ó Laoire for B O'Driscoll (64 mins), 21 R O'Sullivan for Kelly ( 66 mins).
Referee: E Kinsella (Laois)