Cooper's masterclass too much for valiant Cork

FOOTBALL ANALYST: WELL, WE have the two best teams in the country competing in the All-Ireland final. That's for sure.

We saw two sides of Kerry, once more, yesterday. They displayed a worrying vulnerability when the pride of Cork football was brought to the fore but the response when the game was levelled up epitomised the benefit of experience of such tight scrapes. They have produced the goods so often in Croke Park that they always seem to start well too.

Cork will, nevertheless, rue their early wides. To beat this Kerry team the easy chances cannot be spurned. Early points are as important as those that come down the home straight. Cork's defence and midfield must have been hugely frustrated to see their early, flowing combinations end in nothing.

In contrast, the economy of effort from the Kerry attack in score-gathering merely illustrated the gulf in class between the two forward lines.

Colm Cooper's performance can only be described as inspired. If it wasn't his ball-winning it was his decision-making or clinical finishing in front of the posts. It was a masterclass.

That Tommy Walsh gets a mention in the same breath as Cooper is a credit to the young footballer. Not much was expected from him in his first year as a starter but he has made an immediate impact and looks like a seasoned regular in Croke Park. He feeds off the confidence of Cooper and Kieran Donaghy - and Donaghy's presence takes some of the attention off him; it means he has to handle only one marker.

Diarmuid Duggan was the wrong option. Walsh simply had too much power for Duggan. This is the fault of the Cork management. Link-ups should be like with like. Walsh brings an extra dimension to the Kerry forward line and when he runs in straight lines it takes a man of equal stature to contain him. Michael Shields was brought in long after the damage was done.

I thought Cork would dominate the midfield but Nicholas Murphy, in particular, was very poor in the first half. It is not enough to raise your game only when staring into a heavy defeat. He did come strong in the second half but credit must go to Micheál Quirke for the cover job he did in the absence of Darragh Ó Sé.

Quirke may not start for Kerry again but he can be satisfied with the contribution he made to get his team to this juncture. If he eventually does collect an All-Ireland medal he can wear it with pride. Darragh will certainly be grateful to him and Séamus Scanlon for ensuring he departs the game he has served with distinction for so many years on the highest stage. It is a great opportunity for Darragh to personally thank his team-mates and I have no doubt he will.

Another aspect of this encounter that will disappoint Cork was their inability to compete for the breaking ball.

Their forward line did increase the work-rate after half-time, again motivated by pride - it's already a given that Cork teams refuse to lie down without a fight - but they needed more than that to win here.

When they did throw off the shackles and Pearse O'Neill got his goal the big question was asked of Kerry. They had been sluggish in defence for long periods but when it came to the crunch their character stood out.

The management can also take a bow for trusting in a young player like David Moran, who played a significant role in Cooper's goal.

The sign of a great team is the ability to take the right options under pressure. The sign of great individual footballers is to be able to think on their feet. This was the most notable difference between the teams.

The Cork manager, Conor Counihan, is still learning his trade at this level. He doesn't seem to know his best 15 yet as each substitution seemed to lift the standards. For example, what is Michael Cussen's role in the team? The full-forward role didn't work and when he moved out the field it gave Tommy Griffin latitude to get into the action.

Still, with Fintan Goold and a ball player like James Masters in reserve the future looks bright.

It initially looked like Wexford were suffering from similar nerves to what they'd experienced in the Leinster final against Dublin. This time, at least, they recovered to give Tyrone a serious examination.

Tyrone's constant movement and how they attack as a single unit with intelligence and precise passing left a massive gulf between the teams. They will provide Kerry with a genuine challenge right from the outset. Practically man for man they had the pace on Wexford. They wholly believe in the system Mickey Harte has created and it proved too much for Wexford to contain.

Colm McCullagh deserves a particular mention for his playmaking. He's a small man but what a player - his ability to hold up the ball and offload to an onrushing attacker (normally an overlapping defender) is so difficult to counteract and usually it resulted in a score.

It took Wexford a long time to settle. Jason Ryan clearly got a hold of them at half-time and, much like Cork, they threw off the shackles. They began to run at the Tyrone defence and holes inevitably appeared. They died on their feet, and they can be proud of that. If they can build on that second-half performance there is no reason they cannot win a Leinster title next season or, more important, return to this stage.

There is a concern about Seán Cavanagh's fitness after he was on the receiving end of a full frontal challenge. In football things always have a habit of coming full circle. I remember being incensed by a similar challenge by Cavanagh on Ciarán Whelan in the last round. When the opponent is unaware and hit while exposed it can lead to an early exit or, in Whelan's case, completely disorientate the player for a prolonged period. It is very dangerous.

Still, Cavanagh is Tyrone's most important player, a fine footballer in any position, and the All-Ireland final would be the poorer for his absence.

One thing the arrival of Kerry and Tyrone to this juncture confirms is the irrelevancy of peaking for the provincial championship. These are the two most successful teams this century and both put less stock on winning their provincial crowns. Who really cares about them any more?

"Tyrone's constant movement and how they attack as a single unit with intelligence and precise passing left a massive gulf between the teams.

They will provide Kerry with a genuine challenge right from the outset