THAT most evocative of Leeside expressions -- 'we were haunted boy!' -- was a fitting summary of this semi-final but it was Kerry folk who were thankful for a lucky escape in Killarney yesterday.

The two minutes of official injury-time were almost up when Cork U-21 star Colm O'Neill coolly converted a controversial '45 to put them one point clear in a game in which they looked the better side for long periods.

And it was a full 96 seconds later when Kerry super-sub Bryan Sheehan showed equal composure from a free almost as far out to snatch the invaluable equaliser. The amount of injury-time played, plus a host of earlier baffling decisions, meant ref Maurice Deegan left the field with boos ringing in his ears.

Yet, while sluggish Kerry freely admitted to getting out of jail, the Rebels will accept that, not the referee, but their own failure to put away gilt-edged chances, was what cost them this latest edition of Munster football's Old Firm.

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Munster Council immediately announced a reduction of a fiver on all ticket prices for next Saturday's replay but the re-match will surely be recession-proof considering the amount of questions left hanging tantalisingly unanswered after yesterday's 74-plus minutes.

With both sides battling to avoid the shark-infested waters of the Qualifiers, a full-blooded encounter was expected, but a strange ennui hung over Kerry from the start.

With Kieran Donaghy out injured they were unlucky to lose the other half of their 'twin towers' -- Tommy Walsh -- to an ankle injury after just 15 minutes.

That forced Jack O'Connor to spring veteran star Darragh O Se earlier than he'd hoped but they still continued to mis-fire and the first-half even saw the usually infallible 'Gooch' notch up just one free and three wides, the last a contentious and badly fluffed penalty after 32 minutes.

One man exempted from blame was Tadhg Kennelly, who started at midfield but switched to half-forward when Walsh was lost.

Any doubts about the returned Aussie Rules star's ability with the round ball were firmly settled as Kennelly -- with Paul Galvin and Tommy Griffin -- was one of only a handful of Kerry players to take the fight to the old enemy.

Eventually it took the switch of Declan O'Sullivan out to his regular centre-forward role, plus the arrival of Sheehan (0-5, 4f) and David Moran and some late driving runs from Tomas O Se, to shake Kerry out of their lassitude in time.

Yet Cork, for their failure to stick the knife in and twist it -- missing three goal chances in-a-row early in the second half -- also still have serious questions left to answer. Manager Conor Counihan showed himself unafraid to make hard decisions, particularly with the early replacement of James Masters by 6'7" Michael Cussen.

But they still didn't get the right kind of ball in to Cussen and, despite home advantage now, could yet stand accused of leaving it behind them.

The defending champions led by four points within 13 minutes thanks to a Paul Kerrigan run which put Pearse O'Neill through to goal.

O'Neill, like midfielder Nicholas Murphy, caused havoc early on but his penetrating role was lessened when Aidan O'Mahony was switched to curb him. Only that goal lay between them for most of the first half but Cork were by far the better side thanks to their all-action defence, led brilliantly by Anthony Lynch, Michael Shields and John Miskella.

Kerry's 32nd-minute penalty, against Shields on Darran O'Sullivan, looked a tad generous and came against the run of play but the Gooch spurned the chance with a bad mis-hit and they went in 0-5 to 1-5 down at the break.

When Daniel Goulding re-started by knocking over a great point off the upright Cork looked like kicking on.

And when they then carved through the Kerry defence three times in the next six minutes it looked like they only had to nail the coffin shut.

Yet, with the goal at their mercy, three times, they fluffed it. First Cussen failed to get on the end of Pa Kelly's pass across the goal-mouth, then Noel O'Leary opted to settle for a point and worst of all was the third chance, when Goulding put Kelly through and he pulled a great open chance wide.

Cooper, brilliantly shackled by Anthony Lynch, immediately replied with his first point from play. Then came an inspirational long-range point from Kennelly and suddenly Kerry's chins lifted.

Two frees from Sheehan reduced the deficit to a point with five minutes remaining and then the Gooch, seemingly suffocated by two markers, produced a bit of his trademark magic with a wondrous left-footed equaliser.

Only then did the game take light and culminate in some controversy.

First, after Kerrigan ballooned a shot into the Kerry goalmouth, it looked like Alan O'Connor had punched it wide but a '45 was awarded and U-21 star O'Neill held his nerve to give Cork the lead.

But one last trademark upfield burst by Tomas O'Se was brought to a halt around the '45m line by Murphy and, when O'Leary obstructed its initial taking, was brought forward to help Sheehan earn Kerry's great, late escape and book the replay next Saturday.

Scorers -- Cork: P O'Neill 1-2, D O'Connor 0-3 (3f), D Goulding 0-2, G Canty, N O'Leary 0-1 each, C O'Neill 0-1 ('45). Kerry: B Sheehan 0-5 (4f), C Cooper 0-3 (1f), D Walsh 0-2, D O Se, T Kennelly, T Walsh 0-1 each.

Cork -- A Quirke 7; J Miskella 8, M Shields 9, A Lynch 9; G Spillane 6, G Canty 7, K O'Connor 7; A O'Connor 7, N Murphy 8; P Kelly 7, P O'Neill 8, P Kerrigan 7; D Goulding 8, J Masters 6, D O'Connor 8. Subs: M Cussen 7 for Masters (25), N O'Leary 8 for Spillane (31), N O'Donovan 7 for Miskella (inj, 45), B O'Regan 6 for K O'Connor (62), C O'Neill 7 for Goulding (65).

Kerry -- D Murphy 7; M O Se 7, T O'Sullivan 7, P Reidy 6; T O Se 7, T Griffin 8, A O'Mahony 7; T Kennelly 9, M Quirke 6; Darran O'Sullivan 7, D Walsh 7, P Galvin 8; C Cooper 6, T Walsh 5, Declan O'Sullivan 7. Subs: D O Se 7 for T Walsh (inj, 11), B Sheehan 8 for D Walsh (48), D Moran 7 for Quirke (50), BJ Walsh 6 for Darran O'Sullivan (58), Sean O'Sullivan for Kennelly (70).

Ref -- M Deegan (Laois).

- Cliona Foley