Cork land in danger zone as Kerry get campaign back on track
Monday February 12 2007
Cork 2-2
NFL Division 1A
CORK were plunged into the Division 1A danger zone on Saturday night as Pat O'Shea's Kerry got their league ambitions back on track under lights at Austin Stack Park, Tralee.
Ironically, it took a stunning save from Diarmuid Murphy to deny the visitors a share of the points after he turned a snapshot from Ger Spillane around the post in the dying seconds.
However, it would have been something of a travesty if this wasteful Cork side had taken anything from this game as they were woeful up front.
And Cork boss Billy Morgan was a worried man afterwards as his side are now pointless after two outings and look to be in trouble.
The Cork forwards were wasteful in the extreme and shot 12 wides over the 70-minutes plus and did not score until the 23rd minute of the opening half.
It took a minute longer in the second half before they got their solitary score of the second half, an opportunist goal after James Masters' free was spilled by Darragh Ó Sé and Donnacha O'Connor fired to the net.
Opportunist
Kerry looked very solid at the back with Killian Young really catching the eye along with fellow newcomer Brendan Guiney at wing-back.
Last season's Player of the Year Kieran Donaghy lined out at full-forward after his late reprieve from suspension, while Tommy Griffin returned to midfield alongside Ó Sé.
However, Kerry won this game because of some outstanding defensive play and the accuracy of Declan Quill who was the only Kingdom player to score from play.
The understanding between Quill and Donaghy was also a crucial factor in Kerry's victory though Donaghy did not get enough good ball played over his head.
Captain Bryan Sheehan was William Tell-like in his accuracy as he drilled two long-range frees between the posts and Kerry led 0-5 to 0-0 as Cork failed to score in the opening 20 minutes.
Cork eventually opened their account in the 23rd minute when Donnacha O'Connor set up Masters, and he kicked a right-footed point as Cork started to come more into the game at midfield.
Masters added another point before Kerry were rocked just before half-time when Daniel Goulding got inside the Kerry defence and blasted the ball to the Kerry net to level what was now a very competitive contest.
Then in added time, Donaghy fed Quill who scored his third point from play.
Despite their strong start, Kerry led by 0-6 to 1-2 at the interval with the game balanced on a knife-edge.
The second half opened with Donaghy setting up Quill who doubled Kerry's lead to two points while Cork were guilty of over-elaboration as they kicked their eighth wide.
Nerve-wracking
Cork struggled once again as they had in the early stages of the first half and the visitors didn't manage to score for another 24 minutes as Sheehan converted his fifth free before O'Connor's goal made it a nerve-wracking finish for Kerry.
It was a two-point game as Sheehan was red-carded for second yellow as tempers became frayed. Cork then lost Noel O'Leary but Kerry deserved the win even if they too will need Cooper, Brosnan, Galvin and O'Sullivan back for the summer campaign.
SCORERS - Kerry: D Quill 0-6 (2f), B Sheehan 0-5 (4f, 1 '45). Cork: D Goulding and D O'Connor 1-0 each J Masters 0-2 KERRY - D Murphy; M Ó Sé, T O'Sullivan, K Young; T Ó Sé, A O'Mahony, B Guiney; D Ó Sé, T Griffin; E Fitzmaurice, D Walsh, D Quill, K Donaghy , B Sheehan, MF Russell. Subs: S O'Sullivan for M F Russell, P O'Connor for D Walsh.
CORK - P O'Shea; M Shields, E Cadogan, K O'Connor; N O'Leary, G Spillane, A Lynch; N Murphy, D Kavanagh; S O'Brien, D Goulding, A Cronin; J Masters, D O'Connor, K O'Sullivan. Subs: E Sexton for E Cadogan, C McCarthy for K O'Sullivan, A O'Connor for S O'Brien.ó
REF - P Russell (Tipperary)
