David Clifford leads Kerry to victory over Cork but All-Ireland champions far from their best

Though Jack O’Connor’s side produced a much better performance against the Division 2 side than they managed in the first round against Mayo, ultimately they had to depend on a controversial 46th-minute penalty from David Clifford for the victory.

Cork’s Sean Powter spent ten minutes in the sin-bin after his foul which resulted in the penalty. After he returned in the 56th minute the home side outscored Kerry 5-2 during the remainder of the contest with substitutes Eoghan McSweeney and Steven Sherlock hitting 0-4 between them.

Though they never looked like losing, it wasn’t a vintage performance by any means by the title holders.

They still need to beat Louth in their final group game in two weeks’ time in order to guarantee themselves a place in the knock-out phase of the series, but unless Mayo slip up they will have to play in the preliminary quarter-final.

Regardless of the outcome of their last round robin game against Mayo, Cork also look set to qualify unless Louth upset the odds against both Mayo and Kerry.

The two teams lined out as selected with Kerry captain David Clifford making his 25th championship appearance. He started at centre forward where he was picked up by Daniel O’Mahony.

Sean O’Shea and Paudie Clifford operated as a two-man full forward line while Cork did the same with Brian Hurley and Chris Og Jones inside while Sean Powter returned to his sweeping role.

Right from the throw-in O’Shea looked on fire, winning a free after two minutes which he converted. Cork, though, competed well with their runners finding gaps in the Kerry rearguard.

But they weren’t as clinical as the visitors and dropped a couple of harmless shots into the arms of Shane Ryan in the first quarter. By the end of the half they had only converted 37 percent of their chances from open play compared to 66 percent for Kerry.

Meanwhile at the other end, Cork could not cope with O’Shea who after a rather indifferent spring found his mojo. The sight of him fist-pumping after he landed his first point from play was evident that his confidence was back after an indifferent season so far. His enthusiasm actually got the better of him and he was yellow carded after 18 minutes.

That score gave Kerry a 3-1 advantage and though Cork stayed in touch as the sides swopped points to make it 3-2 and then 4-3 after 15 minutes, Kerry gradually turned the screw.

Their work-rate and intensity in defence was noticeably better than it had been against Mayo while at the other end they were patient when probing the massed Cork defence.

A brilliant fetch from Diarmuid O’Connor from a Shane Ryan re-start ultimately created an opening for a rare Adrian Spillane point after 15 minutes and after Brian Hurley dropped a shot short, Kerry recycled the ball and a three-man move involving Dara Moynihan and the Clifford brothers resulted in Paudie kicking his first point of the afternoon.

After a bad wide from Kevin O’Donovan, Sean O’Shea extended Kerry’s advantage to three and after another turnover O’Shea hit his third point from play.

Powter ended an eight-minute scoreless spell for Cork with a 22nd-minute point but a wonderous David Clifford point left Kerry in front again.

Just before the break Cork did finally get a much-needed score when Brian Hurley converted a free but the next play summed up the next half. Dara Moynihan rose unchallenged to fetch Shane Ryan’s kick out and combined with Paudie Clifford, who knocked over his second point to give Kerry a 0-9 to 0-5 advantage at the break.

Cork were back on the field early for the second half and there was far more urgency about their play with points from Hurley from a mark and Killian O’Hanlon after an assist from Ruairi Deane within 90 seconds.

An O Shea free temporarily halted the Cork charge but points from Powter and a monster free from Hurley left it a one-point game after 42 minutes.

Cork were now pressing up on Shane Ryan’s re-starts and in the energy snapping conditions it was the home side who looked marginally the better side.

But Kerry got a huge break when they needed it most. Powter was turned-over in the middle of the field and with the Cork defence out of position, Kerry pounced. Powter pulled down Paul Geaney on the side of the parallelogram.

Not only did referee David Gough deem it a black card offence, he also decided that the cynical foul had deprived the Kerryman of a goal chance and pointed to the penalty spot. David Clifford stepped up and deftly side-footed the penalty to the corner of the net.

By the time Powter returned, Kerry had stretched their lead to five points (1-12; 0-10) though Hurley had missed two difficult frees from the main stand side.

Points from substitute Eoghan Sweeney immediately after his introduction, a converted free from Hurley and a monster effort from another substitute, Stephen Sherlock, after Cork turned over a Kerry re-start left it a two-point game with less than five minutes of normal time remaining.

Kerry played keep ball deep in the Cork half from the subsequent re-start before the chance opened up for David Clifford’s fourth point from play. But Cork drove forward again with Ian Maguire putting Sherlock through on the left but his shot flew over the bar in the final minute of normal time.

Tom O’Sullivan and Eoghan McSweeney exchanged points in a hectic finish. The Kerry substitute won the subsequent re-start and Kerry saw out the game, but it was not a vintage performance from the All-Ireland champions.

Scorers

Cork: B Hurley 0-6 (5f, 1m); C Jones 0-1, B O’Driscoll 0-1, S Powter 0-2, K O’Hanlon 0-1, E McSweeney 0-2, S Sherlock 0-2.

Kerry: S O’Shea 0-5 (2f), P Clifford 1-5 (1-0 pen, 1f), D Clifford 0-2, A Spillane 0-1, T O’Sullivan 0-1.

TEAMS

Cork: M Martin; M Shanley, R Maguire, K O’Donovan; L Fahy, D O’Mahony, M Taylor; C O’Callaghan, I Maguire; B O’Driscoll, R Deane, K O’Hanlon; S Powter, B Hurley, C Og Jones.

Subs: S Sherlock for Jones (48), E McSweeney for O’Hanlon (59), J O’Rourke for Deane (65), B Murphy for Hurley & T Clancy for Maguire (70+2)

Kerry: S Ryan; G O’Sullivan, J Foley, T O’Sullivan; P Murphy, T Morley, G White; D O’Connor, J Barry; D Moynihan, S O’Shea, A Spillane: P Clifford, D Clifford, P Geaney.

Subs: R Murphy for Spillane (ht), S O’Brien for Moynihan (60), T Brosnan for Geaney (63), BD O’Sullivan for Barry (65), M Burns for P Clifford (70+2)

Referee: David Gough (Meath)