Christy O'Connor: Cork have failed to win in Killarney 14 times since 1995, something has to give...

With 15 minutes remaining in the 2021 Munster football final in Killarney, Cork supporters were streaming out of the ground in their droves, unwilling to witness any more of the bloodletting.

The hurt from the previous year’s championship loss to Cork had cut so deep in Kerry that they were firmly intent on unleashing the most painful form of payback possible.

Once Kerry got ahead in the second quarter of that match, every score was like another lash on Cork’s exposed back. By the end, Cork’s skin was ripped and torn and bleeding badly from the kind of flogging Cork thought they were incapable of suffering again against Kerry.

A 22-point beating and Cork’s biggest defeat to Kerry in a Munster final was bound to leave a deep cut, but Kerry’s underlying intention was for that wound to leave much more than just a visible scar. The biggest fear for the players and supporters at that time was the long-term psychological trauma it could potentially leave.

“The bad news for Cork is that this is a young Kerry team and they’re going to be around for quite a while,” said Kevin McStay on ‘The Sunday Game’ that night. “Wins like today will give Kerry lots of oxygen and, at the same time, dampen whatever hope and expectation is in Cork.” 

AVENGED

Kerry’s attitude to Cork that afternoon in Killarney was brimming with malice; they didn’t want to just win - they wanted to set Cork back years. The natural reaction is that Kerry did - they returned Cork supporters to that mindset of fear and trepidation any time they met Kerry again in the following years.

Then again, the psychological fallout was never going to be as damaging as some of those supporters feared it might be. It was only three years since Cork were in a similar position after the 2018 Munster final annihilation, but they turned it around within 12 months.

Everything gets catastrophized by a runaway train defeat, but even more so in a knockout championship – which that 2021 season was. Still, there was no denying what was likely to happen when Kerry looked on a different level to Cork that afternoon in both football and strength and conditioning terms. A young side was getting stronger and fitter and were ideally placed to take over in Munster, which is what has since happened.

Cork haven’t beaten Kerry in their last six championship games but they have been incrementally getting closer, none more so than last year’s Munster semi-final, which Kerry edged after extra-time.

When the sides met in the previous year’s provincial semi-final in 2024, Kerry won but they were pushed hard by a Cork side loaded with intent and ambition, showing none of the hesitation that had crippled them so often in the past in games against Kerry in Killarney.

Cork did drop off and go more zonal in the second half but it still took Kerry until the 50th minute to get ahead. Even when they did, and were expected to drive on, Cork continued to dig in and make Kerry grind hard for every score.

Kerry still did enough to preserve their 29-year unbeaten record against Cork in Killarney that afternoon. For Cork now, it’s their longest stretch without a win there by a considerable distance. 

Cork did go 45 years without a win in Killarney a century ago but that doesn’t really qualify because Cork and Kerry only played there once during that period.

Since Cork last defeated Kerry in Fitzgerald Stadium in the 1995 Munster final, the counties have clashed at the venue in championship on 14 occasions. For Cork, those matches have yielded nine defeats and five draws.

HEARTBREAK

There were a handful of times when Cork could have won some of those games. But they still didn’t. Kerry always found a way to break Cork hearts.

Even when Cork had their greatest team since winning successive All-Irelands in 1989-’90, they had plenty of chances to end that famine around the time they won the 2010 All-Ireland. But they still couldn’t.

With 15 minutes remaining in 2009, Cork led by five points but Kerry reeled them in for a draw. 

A year later, Cork led by four points midway through the second half and missed a couple of glorious goal chances with 10 minutes left to seal a place in the Munster final against Limerick. Colm Cooper levelled the match and ensured a replay when he curled the ball over the bar with a free deep in additional time.

It took Cork another five years again to get that close. 

They looked set to break a 20-year gap in 2015 when cracking three goals that brought Kerry to the brink until Fionn Fitzgerald kicked a sensational score from distance with the last play to scramble another draw. Cork had to return to Killarney again for the replay 13 days later but they were empty before falling apart in a qualifier against Kildare the following week.

Cork did beat Kerry in three replays in Cork after drawing with their neighbours and great rivals in Killarney, but the wait has been more agonising than ever across the last decade because there were times when Cork never looked as far away from breaking the cycle. As well as that 2021 hammering, Kerry whacked Cork by 11 points in the 2017 Munster final.

Cork were a lot closer in their last meeting in Killarney two years ago, but they still came up short. Again.

Most Cork players have been reared on the eternal possibility of beating Kerry, but that goal of beating them in Killarney has become the golden target now. So can Cork finally end the 31-year wait?

Doing so would absolutely confirm how far this Cork team have travelled since the humiliation in Killarney five years ago.