Football flashback: Walsh and O'Connor should have hit the net to bury Kerry

Cork 0-15 Kerry 0-15

CORK lost a great opportunity of ending their 15-year wait for a championship win in Killarney when Kerry came from four points down to draw the 2010 Munster semi-final and send the teams back to Páirc Uí Chaoimh for the replay.

There were 15 minutes of normal time remaining for the Kingdom to preserve their record against the visitors, who started slowly but settled to dominate for long spells in front of a crowd of 35,782.

Manager Jack O’Connor’s decision to throw Paul Galvin into the melting point after 55 minutes helped Kerry pick up loose ball around the middle and release Cork’s grip in that crucial area.

On top of that, Tomás Ó Sé, appearing in his 71st championship outing, became even more influential, scoring a rousing point to get Kerry going once more.

And, yet, Cork missed two great goal-scoring chances to bury Kerry.

Save...

Just after the hour keeper Brendan Kealy denied Alan O’Connor with a fabulous save and moments later his midfield partner Aidan Walsh scuffed a shot along the ground and wide of the target.

Other Kerry substitutes, Barry John Keane and Anthony Maher pointed to restore parity for the first time since the 24th minute, but Cork came again with a lead point from Colm O’Neill.

In the second minute of injury-time, Colm Cooper stood over a difficult free on the right and nailed it to force a second meeting, the fifth championship draw between the neighbours since 2002.

Despite conceding the opening three points, Cork began to exert control in the key areas with O’Connor and Walsh winning a lot of possession in the middle.

Behind them, the half-back line of Paudie Kissane, Michael Shields, and Noel O’Leary put up the barriers to prevent much ball going into the dangerous Kerry inside line of Cooper, Kieran Donaghy, and Bryan Sheehan.

Up front, Paul Kerrigan’s pace burned Marc Ó Sé regularly while Pearse O’Neill and Daniel Goulding were also prominent.

Cork’s tactic of running at the Kerry defence and taking on their defender worked well as they turned around 0-8 to 0-6 in front at the break.

They had a left off just before the whistle for half-time when Donaghy dragged his shot wide of goal, though a Sheehan free kept Cork within sight.

Galvin’s introduction was the catalyst for Kerry’s revival and Jack O’Connor reckoned his side would have gone on to win the match had referee Padraig Hughes from Armagh played more than three minutes of added-on time.

Cork manager Conor Counihan admitted the qualifying route looked a possibility as Limerick waited in the final.

“It could have gone from us in the end, so, on balance, we’re happy,” he said.

Scorers for Kerry: B Sheehan 0-6 (0-5 f), C Cooper 0-4 (0-3 f), T Ó Sé 0-2, Declan O’Sullivan, BJ Keane, A Maher 0-1 each.

Cork: P Kerrigan and P Kissane 0-3 each, D Goulding 0-3 (0-2 f), D O’Connor 0-2f, P Kelly, P O’Neill, A O’Connor, C O’Neill 0-1 each.

KERRY: B Kealy; M Ó Sé, T Griffin, T O’Sullivan; T Ó Sé, M McCarthy, K Young; S Scanlon, M Quirke; Darran O’Sullivan, Declan O’Sullivan, D Walsh; C Cooper, K Donaghy, B Sheehan.

Subs: A Maher for Quirke, D Moran for Scanlon, P Galvin for Darran O’Sullivan, BJ Keane for Walsh, P Reidy for Young.

CORK: A Quirke; R Carey, G Canty, J O’Sullivan; P Kissane, M Shields, N O’Leary; A O’Connor, A Walsh; P O’Neill, D O’Connor, P Kelly; D Goulding, C Sheehan, P Kerrigan.

Subs: J Miskella for O’Leary, F Goold for D O’Connor, C O’Neill for Goulding, D Kavanagh for A O’Connor.

Referee: P Hughes (Armagh