Munster SFC S-Final Replay – Kerry 1-15 Cork 1-14

Kerry defeated Cork by 1-15 to 1-14 in the Munster Senior Football Championship Semi-Final Replay on Sunday after extra time in Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

Kingdom edge out Cork after extra time

From the Setanta web site

For the second time in seven days 70 minutes could not separate Kerry and Cork, but it is the Kingdom who advance to the Munster SFC final after an extra-time win. The Sam Maguire holders will go on to meet Limerick in the provincial decider after a 1-15 to 1-14 success over their great rivals at Pairc Ui Chaoimh, the men in green and gold having the greater legs in the latter stages and kicking four points to Cork’s three in the additional twenty minutes.

Colm Cooper was punished for a poor early wide as Cork took a lead of two thanks to frees from Daniel Goulding and Donncha O’Connor, a set-piece from Bryan Sheehan getting the Kingdom off the mark after a cautious opening. Kerry goalkeeper Brendan Kealy has been pinpointed as a weak link by some because of his perceived uncertainty under the high ball and Goulding almost profited when he rose above him to get a hand to the ball but the danger was cleared. A few minutes later, however, the same Cork man did raise the green flag after the Kerry number one caught another high one but then lost it on the ground as the forward whipped it away and found the net. Kerry dragged the gap back to one with a point from Cooper and a nice one from range for Donaghy just after he had been off target with a similar effort.

Goulding then sent another goal chance across the goalkeeper but it was deflected behind for a ’45 which the forward kicked over. A score from O’Connor and a fine individual point from defender Michael Shields then saw the Rebels stretch their lead to five points, necessitating the introduction of Paul Galvin from the bench from Jack O’Connor after Declan O’Sullivan had trimmed the gap by one. Derek Kavanagh and Graham Canty found themselves booked after an ugly scuffle that saw Cooper grabbed by the throat, but Cork put those breaches behind them as Ciaran Sheehan rifled over his first Championship point, though he was probably gong for goal with his left foot. Kerry’s own Sheehan kicked over his second point before Donaghy rose above Canty and set up Cooper whose effort at goal from straight in front went desperately wide, the All-Ireland champions trailing by 1-6 to 0-5 at the interval.

But they started the second half with gusto and goaled almost immediately. Donaghy was the man who got it as he towered above Canty again to collect a hand-pass from Cooper and finished coolly beyond Alan Quirke. Donncha O’Connor responded with a couple of scores, one from a free, with Sheehan’s third point keeping the Kerry scoring ticking over. Next was a sublime point from Patrick Kelly who curled the ball over from the right flank before points were traded between O’Sullivan and Goulding, Cooper’s second score of the day leaving the gap at two. The Rebels really should have extended that lead but an admittedly difficult free from sub Colm O’Neill was sent wide at the far post before Alan O’Connor blazed wide during a spell of Cork possession. Cooper punished them with two frees to level the game, the second coming after a foul by Canty on the Dr Crokes ace, one which saw the Cork captain receive a second yellow card and resulting red.

Cork full forward Sheehan managed to reinstate his side’s lead after pointing when he collected a Donncha O’Connor free, but Kerry responded with a super score from Marc O Se who bypassed all challengers on the left to fire over a score and take the game to an extra 20 minutes. The first score of the extras was sent over by Cork’s Fintan Goold, but Cooper kicked a softly-awarded free and two very well-taken scores from Barry John Keane had the Kingdom 1-14 to 1-12 ahead at half-time in extra-time. A rare point was kicked over with composure by Cork’s Noel O’Leary to drop the Kerry lead back to one again but a foul by Eoin Cadogan on Donaghy gave Cooper the chance to tuck over the decisive free, a later effort from the Leesiders’ John Hayes not enough for Conor Counihan’s charges who must now take the long road of the qualifiers.