FIVE in a row and counting. Try though they might, Cork couldn’t live with Kerry at Fitzgerald Stadium this afternoon as Eamonn Fitzmaurice led his charges to a fifth crown in five years in emphatic fashion.
The 1-23 to 0-14 victory just about summed up Kerry’s superiority and at no stage did Cork seriously trouble or threaten the home side who led from the outset when David Moran burst forward from the throw-in to feed Paul Geaney for the first score of his 1-5 tally.
With Moran and Anthony Maher dominant around the middle, Kerry soon raced into a 0-6 to 0-1 advantage with the aforementioned Geaney and James O’Donoghue in great form and Kieran Donaghy keeping full back Jamie O’Sullivan extra busy.
Cork rallied somewhat and tagged on six points before the break but Kerry were finding the target themselves and never really looked vulnerable, leading 0-11 to 0-7 at the break.
They started the second half as they did the first, knocking over four points in quick succession with speed merchant substitute Stephen O’Brien accounting for two of them.
This Kerry victory was really fashioned from the back with Paul Murphy the standout performer on the day, Mark Griffin playing a blinder, Peter Crowley, Shane Enright and Tadhg Morley all delivering the goods and Fionn Fitzgerald playing a captain’s part until he had to leave the field after taking a heavy knock on the head in an accidental collision with a team-mate.
The game was held up for 10 minutes as medics treated the Dr Crokes defender on the field before he was stretchered off but he recovered in double quick time and was back in the stand in plenty of time to accept the cup with Johnny Buckley.
For long periods of the second half the game turned into the O’Donoghue and Geaney show as they tagged on the points before Geaney pounced for the only goal of the game which was scrambled to the net despite the best efforts of Ken O’Halloran in the Cork goal.
That drew the loudest cheer of the day from the audience of 31,836 which wasn’t capacity and, in fact, there were dozens of empty seats in the O’Sullivan Stand which was reportedly sold out earlier in the week.
Kerry scorers: Paul Geaney 1-5 (0-1 free), James O’Donoghue 0-7 (0-4 frees), Stephen O’Brien 0-3, Mikey Geaney 0-2 (0-1 45), Shane Enright 0-1, Paul Murphy 0-1, David Moran 0-1, Anthony Maher 0-1, Kieran Donaghy 0-1, Barry John Keane 0-1.
Cork scorers: Donncha O’Connor 0-6 (0-4 frees), Mark Collins 0-2 (0-1 free), Luke Connolly 0-2 (0-1 free), Niall Coakley 0-2 (f)rees Tomas Clancy 0-1, Ian Maguire 0-1, Paul Kerrigan 0-1.
Kerry: Brian Kelly, Fionn Fitzgerald, Mark Griffin, Shane Enright, Peter Crowley, Tadhg Morley, Paul Murphy, David Moran, Anthony Maher, Michael Geaney, Kevin McCarthy, Donnchadh Walsh, Paul Geaney, Kieran Donaghy, James O’Donoghue.
Subs: Stephen O’Brien for Walsh, Johnny Buckley for McCarthy,Killian Young for F Fitzgerald (inj), Jack Barry for Maher, Barry John Keane for O’Donoghue, Darran O’Sullivan for Donaghy, Jonathan Lyne for M Geaney.
Cork: Ken O’Halloran, James Loughrey, Jamie O’Sullivan, Sean Powter, Tomas Clancy, Michael Shields, Kevin Crowley, Aidan Walsh, Ian Maguire, Ruairi Deane, Mark Collins, Kevin O’Driscoll, Niall Coakley, Luke Connolly, Paul Kerrigan.
Subs: Donncha O’Connor for N Coakley, Alan O’Connor for R Deane, Colm O’Driscoll for M Shields, Michael Hurley for K O’Driscoll, Eoin Cadogan for J O’Sullivan, Stephen Cronin for Loughrey (inj).
Referee: Paddy Neilan (Roscommon)
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