Pressure turns to Cork minor footballers to break the current rut and beat Kerry in the championship

Last Monday, Kerry took their first step towards a potential clean sweep of Munster football titles by claiming the U20 crown. 

Step two awaits at Fitzgerald Stadium on Sunday when their seniors tackle Clare.

On Monday, Cork attentions will turn to the minors, led by Keith Ricken, who delivered an U20 All-Ireland in 2019. 

That game, against Kerry at Páirc Uí Rinn, will provide an early signpost of whether they can loosen their neighbours’ stranglehold on the Munster silverware cabinet.

It didn’t go to plan for the U20s on home turf as they fell eight points short of Tomás Ó Sé’s side, having trailed by 15 approaching the final whistle.

It was the second time in nine days that All-Ireland favourites from across the county bounds had been welcomed to Leeside but the 20s couldn’t provide the same test that John Cleary’s seniors delivered.

That was the same cohort that had clinched Cork’s last provincial football trophy at minor level in 2022. 

They did it by summoning a remarkable 25-point turnaround against Kerry just 20 days after falling to a Tralee thumping.

Of those starting teams, five from either side have held their positions three years down the line. In that time, a chasm in experience has developed between the two groups.

Eleven of the Kerry squad played in the 2024 All-Ireland U20 final, including nine starters.

The same number have fielded in Corn Uí Mhuirí finals in the past three seasons, including eight on the Mercy Mounthawk breakthrough team that reached the 2024 Hogan Cup final.

Plenty of those have already collected bucket loads of experience at a high level of adult football.

Eddie Healy, at 19, made his debut for Kerry in the National League this spring. A year earlier, he was a linchpin defender for Munster Junior champions and All-Ireland runners-up Listowel Emmets.

Dr Crokes corner-back Maidhcí Lynch was man of the match in their Munster Senior football final success last December.

Three of their Austin Stacks contingent, Michael Tansley, Daniel Kirby, and Paddy Lane, pocketed Kerry and Munster Intermediate titles as regular starters.

That trio were joined on the St Brendan’s divisional side that contested a Kerry Senior semi-final against Crokes by Tomás Kennedy, scorer of 1-3 in the U20 final, and Odhran Ferris.

The best of the Stacks men might yet prove to be Ben Murphy, who was still playing in the minor ranks last year.

Cork were beset by injuries to Ed Myers, Dara Sheedy, and Mark Óg O’Sullivan, who accounted for the majority of their returning starters. 

Kerry, it should be noted, were also without last year’s top scorer, Cormac Dillon.

None of this is to write off Cork football. Full-back Colin Molloy had his hands full with Kennedy but made a couple of goal-saving interventions. Colm Clifford was a standout performer at wing-back and capped his night with a goal. 

His brother, Darragh, has been impressive around midfield. Aaron O’Sullivan showed his kicking range with three placed balls from outside the arc.

These things can come in cycles, too. Kerry completed their first Munster four-in-a-row since manager Tomás Ó Sé was playing the grade in the late nineties. Cork had twice achieved that feat since then, from 2004-07 and 2011-14.

When this run began, these old rivals were tied on 28 titles apiece. Now, the Kingdom have jumped ahead to their 32nd.

What has become clear, though, is that Cork must take action across all levels of club, schools, and county squads to recapture those heights.

The famous five-year plan of 2019 identified “disengagement of stakeholders”, “apathy”, and a lack of “direction and support” among the primary challenges.

The mass exodus ahead of the footballers’ League clash with Roscommon underlined the lack of interest from many fans in the big-ball code.

Munster finals in Cork or Killarney were always the big-ticket draw but it’s been four years since the Rebels were last there and that was during Covid. 

The Blood and Bandage haven’t gone so long without a Munster final appearance since the early 1930s.

The last Old Firm Munster final in front of a regular crowd was in 2019. 

The 18,265 that turned out was half the number that passed through the turnstiles four years previous.

The senior thriller with Kerry, played in front of a 14,358 attendance, was a rallying call, even in defeat. 

But that momentum needs to travel down the grades, too.

A revisited strategic plan would help. A positive minor performance on Monday would do no harm. 

A couple of senior scalps would do plenty to relight the fire.