All-Ireland SEC Quarter Finals: The question now is how much have Cork improved from the Munster final? Kerry will have an obvious psychological advantage over them, but they did have Jack O'Connor's men on the ropes for a short time that day until players like Tomás Ó Sé and Declan O'Sullivan turned the screw.
Billy Morgan has done a great job so far and since the last meeting with Kerry their forwards have become a more cohesive unit.
They certainly have the quality, although several weaknesses remain. Kevin O'Dwyer will be very critical of himself for not cutting out the first Micheál Meehan goal yesterday, while both corner backs, Niall Geary and Gary Murphy, were exposed at times.
Experience won it for Cork in the end. I suppose the telling statistic was they had one of the under-21 team that met Galway earlier in the year in John Hayes, while Galway had six with Seán Armstrong coming in for Derek Savage.
In the first half Galway shot out of the traps. Defensively they were on song with Joe Bergin and Matthew Clancy working back from the half-forward line to good effect to deny Cork any space. Barry Cullinane had a superb match from midfield. He dominated the middle as Nicholas Murphy and Derek Kavanagh surprisingly struggled to win any early ball.
Micheál Meehan ensured people can no longer say he has yet to explode on the big stage. His two goals showed natural poaching instincts and he could have had two more only he was pulled down at crucial moments.
Even the penalty for Cork in the first half was against the run of play. The wind was a factor and Galway still made use of it. As did Cork in the second half.
The Cork half-back line has been the main building block for scores this year, but they were too preoccupied in the opening half hour to make an impression in attack. When Anthony Lynch and Noel O'Leary re-established the dominance they have shown all year, the occasion swung Cork's way.
Galway did get some early points but when Lynch and O'Leary started taking responsibility there was only going to be one winner.
Galway faded after the break, but players like Murphy also came into it more around the middle third. Part of the problem may have been down to the injuries that have disrupted the season for Padraig Joyce, Bergin and Michael Donnellan. They seemed to lack match fitness and it led to the supply lines eventually drying up.
Brendan Jer O'Sullivan also came into the game, scoring a strong contender for goal of the year, while Kevin McMahon and Philip Clifford made things happen for other players. It was between Lynch's strong running or O'Sullivan 1-3 for the man-of-the-match award.
From Jack O'Connor's point of view Kerry's victory over Mayo ended ideally as conceding 18 points, albeit five late on, means he has plenty to concentrate on. Credit to Mayo here, but this is a hugely disappointing statistic. Also, Kerry lost midfield.
Ronan McGarrity and Shane Fitzmaurice were ably helped here by others, especially the accurate kick-outs of David Clarke.
Mayo certainly put it up to them and silenced much of the criticism they received since the Cavan game. Dropping from 19 wides to six against tougher opposition tells its own story.
The turning point came with the Darragh Ó Sé goal early in the second half. Ó Sé had not been a serious contributor in the game up to that, but like O'Dwyer for Cork, James Nallen will be desperately disappointed even though he may have been pushed in the back. From a Mayo perspective, it was a killer blow as they had worked so hard to stay with the game's pace.
Kerry then reasserted themselves in the half-back line with Aidan O'Mahony and Séamus Moynihan beginning to run from deep. O'Mahony even came forward to clip over a point and when Mike Frank Russell added two more scores the game was effectively won.
Mayo did improve in the areas that saw them wiped out in the All-Ireland final last year: midfield and the physical stakes. Dermot Geraghty even did a great job shadowing Colm Cooper so there were plenty of positives, but they are out of the championship so it will not really matter until next year.
Kerry were out-thought in many respects, but the true sign of champions came out. The physical presence of Ciarán McDonald and Austin O'Malley was as good a test as any especially considering what lies ahead.
Looking back to Saturday, many would have bet the mortgage on Derry at half-time against Laois, but again when Noel Garvan and Padraig Clancy got to grips with the midfield battle they were able to reel Derry in.
The margin of victory by Tyrone didn't accurately reflect the performance produced by Monaghan where Tomás Freeman excelled for a second time in Croke Park this year, while it could have been a different contest if Rory Woods' goal chance had found the net. However, Stephen O'Neill is by some distance the leading contender for player of the year. Again, he made the difference.
