Cork have ended an eight-year wait for a Championship win over Kerry with Mark Keane’s last-gasp goal in Páirc Uí Chaoimh this evening. In doing so, they have knocked their neighbours out of the competition and will face Tipperary in a Munster final at this same venue on Sunday week.
In incredibly dramatic circumstances, Luke Connolly’s hit and hope was gathered by the Mitchelstown AFL player, who was drafted late into the panel, and he kicked it past Shane Ryan.
Kerry, who never led Cork by more than two points and led 0-12 to 0-11 at half-time in extra-time, had their lead cut to one when Connolly booted over a splendid long-range free in the seventh minute of the second half of extra-time.
However, a risky attempt at a point by David Moran was collected by Cork and they slowly but surely worked their way up the field for a score that resembled Tadhg Murphy’s famous goal 37 years ago.
Kerry had also led in additional time of normal time. Forcing Gavin White to foul him, Seán Powter won the free that Mark Collins converted to force extra-time. With three scores on the bounce, two of them from Seán O’Shea including a massive free in the 63rd minute, Kerry had gone two up in the 67th minute.
When many around him were floundering, Killian Spillane was a life buoy for Kerry and kicked two points after he came on in the 50th minute. However, Kerry’s play was laboursome and they weren’t helped by deserved black cards for Ronan Buckley and Moran in the 52nd and 69th minutes respectively.
Conditions weren’t great but they couldn’t excuse some of the poor football played. Up to the 19th minute, there were just three points scored. By the 11th minute, both Tony Brosnan and O’Shea had failed with three scoring opportunities.
For all their good running through the middle particularly from Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Kerry’s end product was sorely lacking. The two-point lead they cobbled together by the 27th minute was the largest amount of daylight they put between themselves and Cork.
Too often Kerry players were dawdling on the ball and not realising the support runners around them.
Cork, meanwhile, bided their time as if they were conserving energy. The likes of Ruairí Deane might have been bystanders for the majority of the half but Ian Maguire and Killian O’Hanlon lorded the period after the first water break.
Their purple patch in the closing 10 minutes of the half gave them a one-point lead at the turnaround, 0-6 to 0-5. Placed ball points by Collins and Killian O’Hanlon were followed by a Kevin O’Donovan score.
M Collins (0-4, 3 frees); L Connolly (0-3, 2 frees); M Keane (1-0); K O’Hanlon (0-2, 1 45, 1 free); B Hurley (mark), S Powter, K O’Donovan (0-1 each).
D Clifford (1 free), K Spillane (0-4 each): S O’Shea (0-2, 1 free); R Buckley, D Moynihan, T Brosnan (0-1 each).
M Martin; K O’Donovan, M Shanley, K Flahive; S Meehan, S Powter, M Taylor; I Maguire (c), P Walsh; J O’Rourke, K O’Hanlon, R Deane; M Collins, C O’Callaghan, B Hurley.
M Keane for C O’Callaghan (44); L Connolly for J O’Rourke (45); M Hurley for P Walsh (54); P Kerrigan for B Hurley (62); S White for K O’Donovan (70); P Ring for K Flahive (e-t); T Crowley for S Powter (74); K O’Driscoll for K Maguire (77); D Gore for K O’Hanlon (e-t h-t).
S Ryan; T Morley, J Foley, T O’Sullivan; P Murphy, P Crowley, G White; D Moran, D O’Connor; B Ó Beaglaoich, S O’Shea, R Buckley; T Brosnan, D Clifford (c), D Moynihan.
S O’Brien for D Moynihan (47); K Spillane for T Brosnan (50); J Barry for B Ó Beaglaoich (55); J Sherwood for R Buckley (63); G Crowley for G White (e-t); B Ó Beaglaoich for T O’Sullivan (e-t h-t); T Walsh for J Foley (85); P Clifford for D O’Connor (89).
R Buckley (52), D Moran (69).
D O’Mahoney (Tipperary).
