Limp Kerry look to have most room to improve

GAA Analyst: This was one of those classic championship matches where on the day neither team really deserved to win, or lose. So a draw was a fair result and both teams will head for Páirc Uí Chaoimh next Sunday believing they can still win.

It was a strange sort of game though, with Cork on top for a long time. It was surprising to see Kerry stuck in that lower tempo like we'd seen against Waterford and Tipperary, with no disrespect to those two teams. But they just didn't seem to be prepared for the pace and tempo Cork presented them with, and in ways they were lucky to survive.

It was obvious from very early on that all the Cork players had decided they were going to go for it; they ran at the Kerry players with great determination. They went with the wind in the first half, and that set them up for an early lead, but they were clever with their preparation as well: they kept everything very low-key, and Billy Morgan introduced a lot of new players, which seemed to catch Kerry by surprise.

While all that did catch them unawares, it's a long while since I have seen a Kerry team as flat for the first 20 minutes of a game. It was almost incredible they could register only one point in the opening half hour or so. For a while there it looked as if Cork were certain winners if they could just maintain that pressure.

The big turning point, however, was the sending off of Anthony Lynch. Kerry tagged a couple of quick points and suddenly Cork's stride was broken. Lynch had been one of Cork's inspiring players so to lose him was obviously a major blow.

Still, even down a man, Cork were well able to match the Kerry players all over the field. The Kerry attack looked stagnant and well short of ideas; they certainly didn't show much to upset the Cork defence.

It's hard to explain why Kerry were so slow getting into the game. It was as if they just couldn't lift their game, and they may want to look closer at their preparations.

Maybe the intensity wasn't what it should have been. They just couldn't live with the early pace of the Cork game, and it was only when they had the extra man that they started to take any control on the game.

Most of Kerry's movement and passing tended to be cross-field, because there was no obvious target inside. In fairness, Graham Canty had Colm Cooper well marshalled, and most of the possession Cooper ended up getting was out the field, forcing him to recycle - which of course goes down as good defending by Cork. So there were very few clear options for the Kerry forwards.

Bryan Sheehan had a decidedly mixed day, which didn't help, but Paul Galvin, at least, came into the game at wing forward, and Darren O'Sullivan showed a bit of danger and ran at his man. Apart from that, the Kerry forward line were well beaten.

Cork impressed me in many ways, most of all with their attitude. They played for each other with great spirit and reminded me a little bit of the way Laois beat Tyrone on Saturday evening. They believed in one another and passed with great confidence. Unfortunately for them they lacked a little bit of depth in the final third of the field, especially in the second half, and once the Kerry full-back line settled down in the second half it was hard to see where Cork scores would come from.

And Cork were found wanting in that area near the end. So they need to work on their inside game to be the finished article.

They had that great chance to win it at the end, but to me that shot definitely looked wide. Still, they showed great confidence throughout the game, and that surprised me, and certainly Kerry.

The obvious question going into the replay is who can improve more, and I feel the extra game will do Kerry no harm at all. They needed a high-intensity game like that to find out about themselves, and I expect they'll be better at midfield the next day. Cork played well with the new players they had, however, and they certainly won't fear playing Kerry again, and on home soil this time.

The other big talking point about Kerry's game is the limited input of Cooper, but I feel his class will show in the end. But it's up to the players around him, the likes of Eoin Brosnan and Declan O'Sullivan, to step up their game. If Kerry can manage that the next day then obviously they have a great chance.