Official Aras Mumhan Website

  • This event has passed.

2025 Munster Senior Football Championship Semi-Final – Kerry 3-21 Cork 1-25

April 19 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Kerry defeated Cork by 3-21 to 1-25 after extra time in the Munster Senior Football Championship Semi-Final on Saturday April 19th at Supervalu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Match Highlights

Rain, reds and an extra-time rollercoaster as Kerry outlast Cork in a chaotic classic

Report by Eoghan Cormican courtesy of the Irish Examiner newspaper

Munster SFC semi-final: Cork 1-25 Kerry 3-21 (AET; 1-20 to 2-17 at 70mins)

Cork sought a two-point equaliser beyond the hooter to bring this sensational Munster semi-final to penalties. No joy. Orange flags had been their sustenance on this evening of comebacks and setbacks. Kerry’s diet was green. That flag and their flag won out.

Kerry’s on-field celebrations were somewhat muted. Maybe they were too exhausted to be swept up in any emotion befitting their survival of this epic. Maybe it was because they had survived rather than put away their opponents.

Kerry took four shots in extra-time. All four stuck. Not a single wide. Cork had nine extra-time wides. You couldn’t attempt to distil this Munster semi-final into one winning and losing area. But if you were that way inclined, it was the respective conversion rates in extra-time that decided the outcome.

Cork had four wides chalked up in the opening four minutes of extra-time before Kerry even chalked up a shot. In the fifth minute, we had the latest in a never-ending, whiplash-inducing series of swings. Seán Brady dismissed on a straight red card for his challenge on Joe O’Connor. A harsh dismissal. Cork’s numerical advantage, stemming from Paudie Clifford’s red in the 59th minute of regulation time, gone.

David Clifford nailed the consequent free. He then nailed their sole two-pointer of the match and their first in four matches. 2-20 to 1-20 to the Kingdom.

A Chris Óg Jones pair either side of the quick turnaround, followed by an Eoghan McSweeney orange, Cork’s sixth, squeezed the hosts 1-24 to 2-20 in front. Killian Spillane and Conor Cahalane traded points. Cork still with their noses clear.

The currency of green carries more value than orange. Joe O’Connor gave truth to such on 85 minutes. Cork almost struck back with green of their own. Cahalane pulled his shot across the face of goal and wide. One of three Cork wides on the run in. Their ninth and final wide was O’Mahony’s equalising attempt from beyond the arc.

What we first have to say about the second-half is that it was the world of fun. How could you not be entertained? Entertained, of course, while simultaneously being susceptible to a stroke depending on whether you were on the side of Cork’s horrendous handling or Kerry’s ill-discipline and inability to cope with only 10 going backwards.

The second half swung seismically on Clifford’s 59th minute red. A needless high challenge on his shadow for the evening, Mattie Taylor. Kerry had goaled in the play previous. The first goal Cork conceded in four games. Paul Geaney’s goal shoved Kerry’s lead out to seven – 1-17 to 0-13 – for the third time in proceedings. And then Clifford goes and engages in a moment of daftness.

That moment of daftness resurrected Cork on this Easter weekend. The resurrection began with a two-pointer from sub Cathail O’Mahony on the hour mark. Seán McDonell rose his own orange flag a minute later.

Another minute further on – it was all happening at double-speed by this point – Cork were level. Gavin White’s handling betrayed him. A rare second-half instance of a handling error that didn’t belong to a red shirt. Cathail O’Mahony stole in. The pass to Chris Óg Jones. Anyone who followed Cork’s opening three League games knew the outcome. Goal Cork. 1-17 apiece.

Ruairí Deane’s 63rd minute point put Cork in front for the first time in this Munster semi-final. 1-5 they’d now registered without riposte.

The riposte came from the returning Seán O’Shea. Introduced at half-time for his first involvement since February 15, he burrowed past the defenders in closest proximity to bury a second Kerry goal on 65 minutes. A bubble-bursting score. It did not contain sufficient oxygen, though, to bring Kerry to the finish in front. Drama was outlasting the lot on this night of treats down the Páirc.

Mark Cronin (free) and Eoghan McSweeney brought stalemate. Shane Murphy restarted after the latter score with three seconds remaining on the clock. David Clifford thought he’d won it. Referee Barry Tiernan had already called for a Kerry free. They played keep ball until Tony Brosnan attempted to write his name into the headlines. Wide, and with that we went to extra-time.

The 0-11 to 0-9 half-time scoreline could scarcely have been envisaged after 12 opening minutes of quick and quality ball to the green and gold’s inside three. Head-up football every time.

In those opening 12 minutes, Kerry had nine attacks and nine shots. Seven of the nine were on target. David Clifford kicked three of the seven. Paudie assisted two of the seven and kicked one himself. Ruairí Murphy, Dylan Casey, and O’Connor made up the remainder.

Even Kerry restarts didn’t hang about. The focus for deliveries into the middle and final thirds was to go early and avoid the traffic.

It was Kerry’s 11th attack on 14 minutes where they failed for the first time going forward to get off a shot. The greasy conditions prevented Clifford from holding the threaded ball into him. Cork seized on their first turnover. The play finished with Brian O’Driscoll kicking his ninth two-pointer of the year to take a 0-7 to 0-2 scoreline and completely rewrite it.

The other problem area for Cork early doors was their kickout. At one stage, they lost four in succession. It meant they had lost five of their opening nine. Kerry feasted on such.

The early five-point gap swelled to seven with Paul Geaney’s second on 24 minutes. It proved Kerry’s last of the half.

How an 0-11 to 0-4 potential devouring reduced to a 0-11 to 0-9 one-score difference at the break had a couple of tributaries. Kerry’s wides tally finished at eight. So while there were only two Kerry attacks out of 20 in the entire half that didn’t result in a visiting player taking aim, their poor conversion wasn’t reflecting the space they were engineering.

An injury to goalkeeper Shane Ryan on 23 minutes hurt them as much as their wastefulness. The restarts of replacement Shane Murphy were nowhere near as prompt or lasered.

To Cork. Their point-taking found direction late in the half. This came after a 10-minute period between the 15th and 25th minutes where six consecutive attacks yielded neither a white, orange, nor green flag. Brian Hurley was twice wide. His Castlehaven clubmate Rory Maguire was short. Shane Ryan saved a half goal chance in the incident that led to his departure.

Ian Maguire ended the wait. His midfield teammate Colm O’Callaghan won the resulting kickout and O’Driscoll pointed. Then O’Driscoll landed his second two-pointer. Such effortless kicking from distance on the South Stand side. Dylan Casey’s turning over ended with a converted Mark Cronin ‘45. The red in the crowd of 14,358 had reason to believe where none had existed for so much of the opening half.

That belief did not bring their desired outcome. Kerry have now won 11 of their last 13 championship meetings with Cork. One of the odd two out was the 2015 Munster final draw. Cork, for the first time since 1934, will be absent from the Munster final for the fourth consecutive year.

All that entertainment to land at the same outcome for a third successive year – a one score Kerry victory over the neighbours. Kerry, shaken, move onto the Munster final on May 4.

Scorers for Kerry: D Clifford (0-9, tp, 0-1 free); P Geaney (1-3); S O’Shea, J O’Connor (1-1 each); D Geaney, P Clifford (0-2 each); BD O’Sullivan, K Spillane, R Murphy (0-1 each).

Scorers for Cork: B O’Driscoll (0-5, 2 tp); C Ó Jones (1-2, 0-1 free); B Hurley (0-3, tpf), S McDonnell (0-3, tp), E McSweeney (0-3, tp), M Cronin (0-3, 0-1 free, 0-1 ‘45); C O’Mahony (0-2, tp); R Deane, I Maguire, C Cahalane (0-1 each).

KERRY: S Ryan; D Casey, J Foley, P Murphy; B Ó Beaglaoich, T Morley, G White; J O’Connor, BD O’Sullivan; R Murphy, P Clifford, G O’Sullivan; D Geaney, D Clifford, P Geaney.
SUBS: S O’Brien for BD O’Sullivan (12-14 mins, temporary); A Heinrich for White (14-22 mins, temporary); S Murphy for Ryan (23); D Bourke for P Murphy, S O’Shea for R Murphy (both HT); T Brosnan for P Geaney (60); S O’Brien for BD O’Sullivan (66); KSpillane for D Geaney (74); M Burns for G O’Sullivan (77); A Heinrich for Ó Beaglaoich (ET HT).

CORK: MA Martin; T Walsh, D O’Mahony, S Brady; B O’Driscoll, M Taylor, R Maguire; I Maguire, C O’Callaghan; P Walsh, S Powter, S McDonnell; C Óg Jones, B Hurley, M Cronin.
SUBS: M Shanley for T Walsh (13 mins); R Deane for Powter (47); E McSweeney for P Walsh (52); C O’Mahony for Hurley (58); N Lordan for Shanley (65); S Walsh for I Maguire (75); C Cahalane for McDonnell (77); H O’Connor for Cronin (ET HT): R Deane for Cashman (82, temporary).

REFEREE: B Tiernan (Dublin).

Second Half Goal by Kerry’s Paul Geaney

Second Half Goal by Cork’s Chris Óg Jones

Joe O’Connor Goal for Kerry in Extra Time

Fixture Details

Saturday April 19th
2025 Munster Senior Football Championship Semi-Final
Cork v Kerry
Venue: Supervalu Páirc Uí Chaoimh at 7pm
Referee: Barry Tiernan (Dublin)
Extra time if necessary (Result on the Day)
Live on GAA+

Ticket Information

General Admission: €20
Under 16’s: €5

Tickets are available from participating Centra and Supervalu outlets or online via the link below.

Click here to buy tickets

Team News

KERRY: Shane Ryan; Paul Murphy, Jason Foley, Dylan Casey; Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Gavin White, Tom O’Sullivan; Joe O’Connor, Barry Dan O’Sullivan; Ruairi Murphy, Paudie Clifford, Graham O’Sullivan; David Clifford, Paul Geaney, Dylan Geaney.
Subs: Shane Murphy, Tadhg Morley, Micheál Burns, Seán O’Shea, Tony Brosnan, Seán O’Brien, Damien Bourke, Mark O’Shea, Killian Spillane, Armin Heinrich, Evan Looney, Conor Geaney, Tom Leo O’Sullivan.

CORK: Míchéal Aodh Martin; Seán Brady, Daniel O’Mahony, Neil Lordan; Brian O’Driscoll, Rory Maguire, Matty Taylor; Ian Maguire, Colm O’Callaghan; Paul Walsh, Eoghan McSweeney, Sean McDonnell; Mark Cronin, Brian Hurley, Chris Óg Jones.
Subs: Patrick Doyle, Briain Murphy, Tommy Walsh, Maurice Shanley, Darragh Cashman, Seán Powter, Conor Cahalane, Seán Walsh, Ruairi Deane, Cathail O’Mahony, Hugh O’Connor.

Details

Date:
April 19
Time:
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Venue

Supervalu Páirc Uí Chaoimh

GAA Units

Clare GAA
Cork GAA
Kerry GAA
Limerick GAA
Tipperary GAA
Waterford GAA
US GAA