Kerry's fortunes continue to soar

Kerry 0-16 Cork 0-10: There was a strong sense of the predestined about yesterday's Bank of Ireland All-Ireland semi-final at Croke Park.

Before the fixture there had been a consensus that since the counties met twice in Munster just over a month previously, Kerry had found an added dimension whereas Cork had been dealt a wicked hand by fate in the form both of their opponents' reinvention and of the injury picked up by their most influential player, Graham Canty.

Then a few days before the match, manager Billy Morgan had a sideline suspension upheld and had to view proceedings from the stand.

Although the Munster champions put on a battling display and kept the difference to a mildly flattering six points, the counties' respective trajectories maintained their course.

Cork sustained further misfortune, talented wing back Michael Shields picking up an injury and having to be replaced in the first half, whereas Kerry's rehabilitation continued and manager Jack O'Connor looked pretty content as he looked forward to his team's third successive All-Ireland final.

The story of Kerry's victory doesn't have a vast number of chapter headings but in all of the critical areas they achieved what they set out to do. Once again Kieran Donaghy was unstoppable at full forward.

The let's-wait-and-see chin-stroking that accompanied his three outings on the edge of the square since switching from centrefield has surely given way to belief, as once again the big Tralee forward was the key figure in Kerry's attack, the looming presence inviting early ball and his basketball craft enabling him to make secure catches and recycle the ball effectively.

The supply that came his way was partly thanks to a reasonable return from centrefield, where Darragh Ó Sé, if not quite winning the battle, did better than in Munster against Nicholas Murphy. It was also based on a huge improvement compared to July in the appetite and drive of the Kerry half lines.

Séamus Moynihan had his best match of the season, snapping up the breaks and using his strength to lock the possession and surge free of opponents. His vigilance cut out what would have been Cork's best goal chance - an aborted one-two between Conor McCarthy and Kevin O'Sullivan in the 38th minute - which would have levelled the match.

Combativeness on the breaks was one symptom of a big improvement by Kerry's defence. Afterwards O'Connor said they had targeted an improvement at the back as being important and the concession of 10 points was around the mark they had set themselves. In the 54th minute Aidan O'Mahony's block on O'Sullivan demonstrated there was nothing going cheap.

That tighter security took its toll on Cork. Their dependence on James Masters has haunted them this championship, with opponents cottoning on to how hard it is for the team to score if he's subdued. Yesterday Masters shot a point from play and although his forward colleagues were willing and hard-working there was little penetration.

Individually and collectively they seemed to need too much space to open up Kerry for goals. The man on the end of their build-up always found himself confronted by a swarm defence and was lucky if able to manoeuvre room for a crack at a point.

At the other end the menace was more evident. Derek Kavanagh did what he could to constrain Donaghy but such was his opponent's facility with high ball that short of a complete shut-out, eliminating the damage would be impossible.

As early as the fifth minute when Donaghy went high, came down, beat Kavanagh and drew a vital save from Alan Quirke, it was obvious the revival of this classic tactic would run for another few weeks.

High ball into Donaghy accounted for six of Kerry's scores, and so dominant had his threat become in the second half that Kieran O'Connor deserted Colm Cooper with a clear conscience to chase across goal. Imagine that happening 12 months ago.

Cooper's season continues to be subdued but Mike Frank Russell enjoyed an improved outing, which will boost his recently ragged confidence. But more importantly, they are free to play as corner forwards with the focus of attacks now predominantly to the edge of the square.

Nonetheless, it still took Kerry nearly half an hour to take the lead. Cork had plugged away, taking their chances, whereas their opponents were wasteful.

It also took Kerry until the 18th minute to earn a free but when they eventually caught up on the scoreboard, a pre-interval push sent them in three points clear, 0-8 to 0-5, and there can't have been many in the 58,703 crowd who believed Cork could get back into the match.

For nearly all of the third quarter, the margin hovered over the same area - three or four points - but with Cork struggling to impact on Kerry's defence it was hard to believe in a radical change of direction for the match.

If Darragh Ó Sé had been coming off slightly the worse in his dealings with Murphy, he still played a major role as the match wound down. Twice with hopeful ball tumbling down on the Kerry square, the veteran centrefielder plucked it out of the air and lifted the siege.

The final quarter simply saw Kerry stretch their legs on the back straight, expanding the margin to its broadest and further building the momentum that takes them confidently within 70 minutes of a 34th All-Ireland.

KERRY: 1. D Murphy; 3. M McCarthy, 7. A O'Mahony, 4. T O'Sullivan; 5. T Ó Sé (0-1), 2. M Ó Sé, 6. S Moynihan; 8. D Ó Sé, 9. T Griffin; 10. S O'Sullivan (0-2, one sideline), 11. E Brosnan, 12. P Galvin (0-1); 13. C Cooper (0-4, three frees), 14. K Donaghy (0-1), 15. MF Russell (0-6, three frees). Subs: 17. Declan O'Sullivan (0-1) for Brosnan (44 mins), 18. Darren O'Sullivan for S O'Sullivan (59 mins). Yellow cards: D Ó Sé (24 mins), E Brosnan (43 mins), Darren O'Sullivan (63 mins), P Galvin (67 mins).

CORK: 1. A Quirke; 2. M Prout, 3. D Kavanagh, 4. K O'Connor; 5. M Shields, 6. G Spillane, 7. A Lynch; 8. N Murphy, 9. P O'Neill; 10. S O'Brien (0-1), 11. C McCarthy (0-1), 12. K McMahon; 13. J Masters (0-5, four frees), 14. D O'Connor (0-2), 15. J Hayes. Subs: 17. G Murphy for Shields (27 mins), 18. N O'Leary for Prout (half-time), 25. K O'Sullivan (0-1) for Hayes (half-time), 29. D Niblock for McCarthy (49 mins), 24. F Goold for O'Neill (59 mins). Yellow cards: J Masters (38 mins), G Spillane (43 mins), C McCarthy (44 mins), D Kavanagh (45 mins), S O'Brien (67 mins), N O'Leary (72 mins).

Referee: J Bannon (Longford)