Kerry make full use of elements

Kerry 0-11 Cork 0-9 Kerry handed new manager Jack O'Connor his first win after this bruising encounter at Austin Stack Park, Tralee, on Saturday night.

Kerry blitzed Cork with a powerful second-half display that saw them score nine points while Cork only managed two late frees from Micheál Ó Croinín in the second period and only one Rebel forward scored from play over the 70 minutes.

The game overheated on a number of occasions and referee Michael Ryan issued first-half red cards to Cork's Pádraig Griffin and Séamus Scanlon of Kerry as both sides struggled to master the difficult conditions.

While Kerry dominated the second half, Cork had controlled proceedings before the interval, but overall it was wind that dictated the affair. Martin Cronin gave Cork the lead in the third minute with a superb 60-metre effort. Dara Ó Cinnéide levelled with a free against the wind two minutes later.

Conor McCarthy got Cork's final point from play in the sixth minute but Declan O'Sullivan levelled after a searing run through the heart of the Cork defence.

At that stage, Kerry were overdoing the passing game out of defence and this led to a number of turnovers and Ó Croinín gave Cork a 0-5 to 0-2 lead by the 24th minute with three free kicks. He converted another free in first-half injury time to give his side a 0-7 to 0-2 lead at the break but, considering the windy conditions, this never looked like it was going to be enough.

It took Kerry only 12 minutes of the second half to draw level, with Ó Cinnéide converting three placed balls and William Kirby and Tommy Griffin scoring from play.

Two more Ó Cinnéide points were followed by points from Liam Hassett and Eoin Brosnan and the Kingdom led by four. Although a late Cork rally saw Ó Croinín score two points, Kerry held out for the win.

KERRY: D Murphy; B Guiney, M McCarthy, A O'Mahony; S Moynihan, E Fitzmaurice, T Griffin (0-1); W Kirby (0-1), S Scanlon; P Galvin, D O'Sullivan (0-1), E Brosnan (0-1); M F Russell, D Ó Cinnéide (0-6, five frees, one 45), R O'Connor. Subs: L Hassett (0-1) for MF Russell, S O'Sullivan for R O'Connor, J Sheehan for W Kirby, D Quill for P Galvin.

CORK: K O'Dwyer; S O'Brien, G Canty, A Lynch; N O'Leary, E Sexton, M Cronin (0-1); D Hurley, N Murphy; A Cronin, M Ó Croinín (0-7, all frees), C McCarthy (0-1); C Crowley, B Collins, P Griffin. Subs: C O'Sullivan for N Murphy, G Murphy for B Collins, J O'Donoghue for A Cronin.

Referee: M Ryan ( Limerick).