In fact, a scoreline of 1-17 to 0-12 – Kerry’s heaviest defeat in a provincial game for 19 years – probably wasn’t a fair reflection of Cork’s overall dominance. They did let their old rivals back into the game for a spell at the start of the second half, however, Donncha O’Connor’s successful penalty put them back on the right track.
The winners were mobile, athletic and powerful as time and again they surged through the Kerry defense. By pushing their midfielders out towards the flanks, Cork were able to pump high balls into Pearse O’Neill who emphatically got the better of Aidan O’Mahony.
Daniel Goulding and O’Connor were particularly sharp, Paul Kerrigan and Patrick Kelly troubled Kerry on the wings, while the excellent John Miskella and Michael Shields burst forward from the defense at every opportunity.
Although Kerry lost Paul Galvin to a straight red card during the first half, his departure was offset by Noel O’Leary’s dismissal in the same incident. With Kieran Donaghy still on the sidelines and Darragh O Se some way from peak fitness, the losers’ cause wasn’t helped when the injured Marc O Se wasn’t able to come out for the second half.
Their disappointing performance was compounded by Colm Cooper’s failure to score from play. Clearly missing his strike partner, Donaghy, Cooper was brilliantly shut out by Anthony Lynch, and Tadgh Kennelly and Declan O’Sullivan were the only forwards to make any impact.
“Cork are a driven team. The level of athleticism has certainly gone up since I was last involved,” said Kerry manager, Jack O’Connor. “We just couldn’t match them in the middle third of the pitch and in the last 15, they were just running through us.”
O’Connor’s caveat that the All Ireland isn’t played in June wasn’t lost on his opposite number Conor Counihan. “We’ve a lot of work to do. We let Kerry back into a game we were dominating, and that’s been a feature for us. We’ve above the radar now, but we have to learn to cope with that. In the drawn game, we had three or four goal chances but couldn’t take them. Maybe we needed to cross this line fairly convincingly once and for all.”
Leading by 0-9 to 0-4 at the break, Cork were pegged back as Kerry had their most profitable period with Darren O’Sullivan causing problems with his pace. But when Padraig Reidy pulled Goulding down, O’Connor tucked the penalty away and the winners never looked back.
“The penalty was an important moment, but I thought we were the better team throughout,” added Counihan. Cork move onwards and upwards into the final on 5 July where they’ll meet Limerick, while Kerry head for the qualifiers. “I suppose you’ll be writing our obituary,” O’Connor asked the assembled journalists.
No obituaries though for the footballers of Antrim who shocked Donegal with a 1-10 to 0-12 victory in the Ulster quarter-final at Ballybofey. Confident and full of spirit, this result was no fluke for coach Liam Bradley and his players.
They were well-organised and disciplined from the moment that their outstanding midfielder, Aodhan Gallagher, lofted over the opening point until Tomas McCann’s critical goal in the 56th minute. If they had a few slices of luck in the closing quarter as Donegal tried desperately to rescue the game, Antrim deserved it.
Only two journalists had turned up to Antrim’s pre-championship press night, but after this first win over Donegal since 1970, Bradley mischievously wondered why he was suddenly the center of attention. “There are a lot of microphones in front of my face now, but there weren’t many at the press night. We weren’t good enough, but look who’s laughing now. People thought Antrim football was in the doldrums.”
If Donegal didn’t quite self-destruct, a total of 18 wides in a championship game was unforgivable. “We squandered too many chances, and we didn’t start playing until we were four points down,” said manager John Joe Doherty. “You have to be man enough to come back and face the qualifiers. We had a chat and the vibes are positive, but at the moment, it’s very tough.”
Antrim trailed by 0-6 to 0-5 at the interval, but by the time McCann side-footed home his shot for the game’s only goal, they had moved four points clear. At last sparked into life, Donegal reduced the gap with two frees from Colm McFadden and a Christy Toye point, but it wasn’t enough to spoil Antrim’s day. The winners now meet Cavan in the semi-final.
Meanwhile, in Leinster, it appears that Kildare are fast emerging as the main challengers to Dublin’s supremacy following their convincing 2-12 to 0-11 quarter-final success over Wexford at Dr Cullen Park.
Even if Wexford were a pale shadow of the team that reach last year’s All Ireland semi-final, this was a fine performance by the Lilywhites. Alan Smith and the impressive James Kavanagh scored the goals, and all their points came from play.
With Dermot Earley leading the way from midfield in the second half, Wexford coach, Jason Ryan, accepted the inevitable. “Kildare are very strong physically. Tackling technique, everything was just on the edge of the rules, and credit to them for that. They worked really hard for eachother.”
Kildare now go on to meet Laois, 1-15 to 1-11 winners over Louth at Parnell Park, in the semi-final. Enigmatic and slightly infuriating as ever, Laois went into the last 20 minutes armed with an 11-point lead and almost blew what should have been a routine passage to the next round.
In front by 1-9 to 0-4 at the changeover thanks in the main to Padraic Clancy’s lobbed goal and a series of MJ Tierney frees, they surged further in front, only to suddenly take their collective feet off the pedal. Aaron Hoey had a goal for Louth who were also denied a penalty by referee Marty Duffy, and it was all too close for comfort in the end.
Westmeath also made it through to a semi-final meeting with Dublin by virtue of a 0-16 to 1-10 extra-time victory over Wicklow in Tullamore, but this was a bloodless coup. Poor, undistinguished fare, and too much of it after the teams were level 0-11 to 1-8 at the end of normal time.
Wicklow could have wrapped it up – Tony Hannon missed a penalty and there were too many wides – before the extra periods, but then strangely, they faded out as Westmeath’s superior fitness and experience told.
On the hurling front, all roads led to Semple Stadium last Sunday and the eagerly awaited Munster semi-final clash of Limerick and Waterford, but the 25,000 or so who made the pilgrimage spent a wasted afternoon as the rivals played out a dreary 1-8 to 0-11 draw.
This just might have been one of the worst championship games in history. Admittedly, the teams had to contend with heavy rain which reduced the skill levels dramatically, but Waterford will still be wondering how they managed to lead by six points at the interval, and could only then manage two frees in the entire second half.
Their coach, Davy Fitzgerald, was angry enough after his son Colm had been physically restrained from joining him on the pitch before the start of the match, but he now has other matters on his mind as he prepares for Saturday’s replay in Thurles.
Describing the standard of hurling as “absolutely cat”, he was glad to have been given another chance. “If I knew what happened in the second half, I’d be a happy man. Limerick should have won the game in the end. That’s being honest. No excuses, Limerick should have won the game. Fair play, they’re a good team. We know we’re in a battle on Saturday.”
Former Waterford boss, Justin McCarthy, now in charge of Limerick, must have got his message across at the interval as sub David Breen fired in a goal early in the second half. As Waterford struggled, Andrew O’Shaughness eventually hit the equalising point with six minutes left, and at that stage, Limerick seemed to be on their way to victory.
But Eoin Kelly pointed a free to put Waterford back in front, and it took a James Ryan point to level matters for Limerick. “For us, it was about fighting our way back,” said McCarthy. “We’re there for another day, and we got a draw having been six points down and not having played very well. Hopefully, it’ll bring us on.”
In Ulster, Down got the better of Derry by 2-17 to 1-15 at Casement Park to book their place in the final against Antrim. James Coyle and Gareth Johnston scored the goals while Paul Braniff added 0-5.