What we learned from Cork's loss in Kerry: Rebels must move ball with more pace

Cork came up short in Killarney on Sunday in the Munster final as their wait to regain the provincial title, and for the first win at Fitzgerald Stadium since 1995, goes on.

The writing was on the wall at half-time. Cork had demonstrated the strength of the wind with three brilliant two-pointers through Brian O’Driscoll, Chris Óg Jones and Sean McDonnell, so a three-point lead was never going to be enough. Kerry won the second half by 1-13 to 1-2 and were comfortable by the end.

It was frustrating Kerry had managed 10 points in the opening half, nine from play, as you suspected that Cork were going to struggle to match that.

Kerry defended very deeply after the change of ends as they were confident that Cork would not be able to kick from distance. This approach demonstrated where Cork went wrong in the first half, as Kerry had too much space in front of the posts.

Kerry’s 10 first-half scores versus Cork’s three second-half scores tells you how those approaches worked out.

Cork were guilty of forcing it far too much in the opening minutes of the second half. Paul Walsh and Steven Sherlock kicked poor wides. 

With the wind in Kerry’s favour, the Rebels should have been content to play keep ball around the arc for as long as they wanted until Kerry came out and engaged them. 

Instead, they played into Kerry’s hands, meaning they could persist with their deep set-up.

FALSE DAWN

The game had started so positively too, as Cork raced into 0-6 to 0-1 lead after just six minutes, only for a pair of David Clifford points to settle the home side and slow down Cork’s blistering start.

McDonnell landed a superb two-pointer after 10 minutes but it was to be the last of Cork’s orange flags when they needed a few more before the break. They only registered a Mark Cronin tap-over free between the 10:25 mark and the 25:08 mark when Jones scored. 

Considering the favourable conditions this was an extremely damaging spell.

Kick-outs are always going to play a major role and Cork really struggled for long periods, at both ends.

Kerry only lost one of their restarts in the second half, and only five in total, whereas in a key segment of the second half, Cork lost five out of seven long Patrick Doyle restarts, with Kerry midfielder Sean O’Brien cleaning up on Doyle's right flank.

The impressive Brian O’Driscoll scored a rasper of a goal in the 59th minute to give a brief modicum of hope. It was a big moment but Cork needed a few more to follow quickly. 

Instead, Sherlock completely miscued a left-footed effort in the 64th minute with Kerry breaking downfield for a Dylan Geaney score. From the resultant kick-out, Sean Walsh couldn't hold possession and Tony Brosnan duly slotted his fifth point to seal it. 

That wasn't bad going considering he was only introduced at the break.

David Clifford’s goal was a killer blow earlier in the second half. It meant Kerry led with over a half-hour to go. Daniel O’Mahony would have felt he'd the situation under control but Clifford accelerated ferociously. The Fossa forward was not going to pass up a second sight of Cork’s goal, after Doyle had foiled him in the 17th minute.

Cork created just the one goal-scoring opportunity in the first half when Ruairí Deane had fed Chris Óg Jones with a nice pass but the Iveleary man’s goal-bound effort was deflected out for a 45. 

For Cork to have any chance, it needed to go in.