Munster SFC Final/Kerry 1-11 Cork 0-11: One of those odd but not uncharming days by the Lee. There wasn't a breath of air to be had in the dusty old bowl and Cork's young side threw in some attitude and some appetite for the occasion. Kerry emerged with their crown intact but wondering if they could still find the extra gear any time they were asked to.
It's a long summer, though, and a win by three points in the Munster final is of as much value as a win by any other amount.
With Armagh and Tyrone slugging it out in Croke Park and being asked to do so again, Jack O'Connor will note to himself there are only so many big championship performances in any team's reserve account.
To get out of Munster knowing there is better in yourself is just fine.
Cork went away with the disappointed look of men who had planned an ambush but got the weaponry a little wrong. Billy Morgan gambled on a youthful full-forward line and played a good tactical game, pulling his half forwards back deep to deliver long ball to the top third of the field.
The supply was more than adequate, its quality often fine, but the inside line struggled under the stern ministrations of a tough Kerry full-back crew.
The early chess moves were plentiful. Cork juggled their forwards around liberally and the Kerry defenders, each of whom had a specific man-marking assignment, followed dutifully.
At the other end the short-straw draw for who would ride shotgun on Colm Cooper was won (or lost) by Niall Geary, who shifted across the Cork full-back line to take up his duty.
Whatever about providing a shadow for Cooper he certainly provided an irritant, and the Kerryman managed to get booked long before he managed to score.
The entry of the young maestro's name into the referee's book seemed to inhibit him slightly. He finished with just two points and will hardly be entering the game into any scrapbooks at home.
Still, as O'Connor said afterwards, "it doesn't matter if he doesn't score, so long as we win."
For a while it looked as if Morgan's roll of the dice was going to leave him in clover. There are times when you get so many young players into a room they forget to be nervous or intimidated. Cork clipped a point from Conor McCarthy after about 15 seconds yesterday and the questions about whether the kids were good enough didn't arise for a good while after that.
The opening passages were tentative, with Cork edging matters by virtue of their tactics, which were basically to crowd the middle third of the field.
The chances came like cheques in the post but were never cashed in. John Hayes should have flicked outside to Micheál Ó Cróinín after just two minutes for a goal chance. He pointed instead.
Fintan Goold was profligate with another goal chance just seven minutes later when a sublime ball from James Masters set him up.
Yet Cork managed to edge the half and, despite conceding two points late on, went in to enjoy their sports drink with a one-point lead to think about.
Kerry players will have faced each other at half-time and observed they had better in them. That's always sufficient consolation.
Cork scored the first point of the second half but their sprightliness diminished after that.
Darragh Ó Sé registered a point at the end of a fine necklace of passes and then just six minutes into the half, Anthony Lynch stumbled, Declan O'Sullivan profited and scooted in from the right wing. He had Dara Ó Cinnéide screaming his availability on the edge of the square but used him merely as decoy, opting instead to send a daisy-cutter to the net from a tight angle.
Softly the bells tolled for Cork. They scored just twice more in the game as the crowd of 32,000 resigned themselves to the inevitability of it all.
You could almost sense the exquisite frustration of Morgan and the Cork bench. They had thought everything out perfectly, they had gambled more wisely than might have seemed apparent, yet the execution was a fraction off and the pace needed a little adjustment.
You could see the football in Cork and you could see the brain underpinning it; it all just needed to be raised a notch.
As the minutes ticked by Morgan yanked off forward after forward. No player from number 12 to 15 survived the cull.
Again it almost worked, Phillip Clifford, in particular, won some fine ball in the left corner but Kerry were always able to funnel back and smother Cork.
At the other end, you know the story. The game effectively finished when the man of the match, Tomás Ó Sé, burst forward and just popped over one of those points which finished an end-to-end sequence of play and which visibly winded Cork. A fine score and part of a huge contribution from the brothers.
Cork had as much possession in the last quarter as they could have hoped for. Nicholas Murphy did well at midfield, marking Darragh Ó Sé after the break and duking it out in fine fashion.
The dead air and the lethal Kerry counterattacks seemed to sap the life from Cork legs, however, and every time a player would look up to place a pass there would be no red jersey sprinting into space.
It finished, as was right, with another Tomás Ó Sé point.
So Kerry won their 70th Munster title by the width of a goal. It didn't look elegant but there was hidden promise in it.
Cork could claim the same. Morgan's young team showed some class and some hunger and they left the place with a lesson learned. Both teams could yet look back on yesterday as a turning point.
CORK: K O'Dwyer; N Geary, G Canty, G Murphy; N O'Leary (0-1), A Lynch, E Sexton (capt); D Kavanagh, N Murphy; J Masters (0-3, three frees), C McCarthy (0-1), K McMahon; J Hayes (0-2), F Goold (0-1), M Ó Cróinín (0-2, frees). Subs: K O' Connor for Geary (half-time), P Clifford (0-1) for Ó Cróinín (46 mins), BJ O'Sullivan for Goold (46 mins), K O'Sullivan for Hayes (64 mins), A Cronin for K McMahon (65 mins)
KERRY: D Murphy; A O'Mahony, M McCarthy, T O'Sullivan; T Ó Sé (0-2), S Moynihan, M Ó Sé (0-1); D Ó Sé (0-1), E Brosnan (0-1); P Galvin, D O'Sullivan (1-0, capt), L Hassett (0-1); C Cooper (0-2), D Ó Cinnéide (0-1), MF Russell (0-2, one free). Subs: W Kirby for Galvin (52 mins), E Fitzmaurice for D Ó Sé (57 mins), B Sheehan for D O'Sullivan (59 mins), K Donaghy for Hassett (62 mins), R O'Connor for Brosnan (67 mins)
Referee: D Coldrick (Meath)
Attendance: 32,000.
