Sharp Kerry beat Cork to win third consecutive Munster U20 title
Tomás Kennedy of Kerry celebrates after scoring his side's goal during the Munster U20 final against Cork. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Kerry’s first-half priority was to be defensively stubborn. They steadfastly ticked that box. They frustrated the Cork finishers. They time and again stopped them finishing.
Kerry’s second-half priority was to be sharp and decisive at the far end of the field. They spectacularly ticked that box in the seven minutes after half-time.
Come the finish, they were comfortable Munster U20 champions.
If Kerry’s third quarter scoring explosion took them clear and uncatchable, it was the opening half resistance that laid a solid and sound base for the county’s 31st provincial title at U20 level. The victory represented the county’s first U20 three-in-a-row since the five-on-the-spin between 1995 and ‘99.
Kerry began the second period 0-9 to 0-5 ahead. Within seven minutes of the restart, they were 1-12 to 0-5 clear. Game over, even with 23 minutes remaining.
Luke Crowley was so central to Kerry’s winning third quarter burst. The half-time decision to move Luke Crowley from centre-forward to the inside line was so central to Kerry’s winning third quarter burst.
Crowley played a neat one-two with Tomás Kennedy on 32 minutes. Kennedy’s drive went the distance. Goal Kerry.
Cormac Dillon landed his first from play less than a minute later. Dillon’s sole point from play of six was beautifully put together by Rob Stack and the outstanding Charlie Keating.
On 36 minutes, Dillon converted a free that Crowley won. A minute later, Crowley assisted a white flag raised by Kerry corner-back Gearóid Evans.
Evans, Keating, and the others wearing shirts No.2 through No.7 were exerting influence far from their front door.
Cork’s response to falling 10 points off the pace was to fashion four on the bounce through Hugh O’Connor (0-2, 0-1 free), and subs Gearóid Kearney and Ross Corkery (‘45). 1-12 to 0-9. Six was as close as Ray O’Mahony’s side came of their opponents in the second half an hour.
The final quarter was flat. The intensity faded. The outcome contained not a hint of suspicion.
Luke Crowley punched over on 51 minutes. The point was the least his second-half display merited.
Meath, on the weekend of May 11/12, await the Munster champions. It was at the All-Ireland semi-final stage that Tomás Ó Sé and his 2023 class fell. The task now is to go at least one step further.
Kerry had five different scorers in building their four-point interval advantage. Half-forward Daniel Kirby contributed a tidy pair. His half-forward colleague, Odhran Ferris, also raised a white flag, and provided the pass for a Dillon mark. The latter was four from four with the placed ball.
And yet for all that it was their defensive colleagues who outshone them. Outworked them. Outshone and worked the Cork forward unit too.
The first proper defensive stand was taken 12 minutes in. Cork targetman and talisman Hugh O’Connor versus three-in-a-row chasing Kerry full-back Dara O’Callaghan. The outstanding duel of the evening. O’Connor swung, O’Callaghan dived. Block.
O’Callaghan forced another turnover early in the second quarter, smartly sticking his toe in to knock possession away from a forward colleague of O’Connor’s.
And then there were the two Cork goal chances that the Kerry rearguard snuffed out. The first fell to Ed Myers on 21 minutes, Keating - among the five opening half Kerry scorers - sprinting back to disrupt the Cork corner-forward.
The second fell to O’Connor five minutes later. On this occasion, it was corner-back Maidhcí Lynch who produced a superb block. O’Connor was smothered again two minutes later, Kingdom midfielder Rob Stack suffocating the white flag attempt.
The amount of possession going through O’Connor’s hands confirmed the pre-match narrative that the Cork captain represented the visitors’ chief threat.
After Ed Myers opened the scoring and sent Cork in front on four minutes, the home side responded with five-in-a-row in the ensuing 10 minutes. But for two wides from Luke Crowley, an off-the-post effort by Darragh O’Connor, and a Dillon kick dropped short, Kerry might have been double what they were.
As it was, the gap was never closer than three thereafter. The gap grew and grew in the third quarter. The gap and the game got away from Cork.
C Dillon (0-6, 0-4 frees, 0-1 mark); T Kennedy (1-0); D Kirby (0-2); C Keating, O Ferris, L Crowley, R Diggin, C Brosnan (0-1 each).
H O’Connor (0-3, 0-1 free), D Sheedy (0-3, 0-1 free); C Molloy, R O’Shaughnessy, O Corcoran, E Myers, R Corkery (0-1 ‘45), G Kearney (0-1 each).
M Tansley (Austin Stacks); M Lynch (Dr Crokes), D O’Callaghan (Kilcummin), G Evans (Keel); C Keating (Dr Crokes), D O’Connor (Kenmare Shamrocks), C Lynch (Glenflesk); R Stack (Beale), E Healy (Listowel Emmets); O Ferris (Ardfert), L Crowley (Glenflesk), D Kirby (Austin Stacks); A Crowley (Templenoe), T Kennedy (Kerins O’Rahilly’s), C Dillon (Duagh).
Subs: R Diggin (Laune Rangers) for O’Callaghan (38, inj); A Segal (Ballyduff) for O’Connor (45); C Brosnan (Currow) for Ferris, P Lane (Austin Stacks) for A Crowley (49); E Boyle (Ballyduff) for Healy (57).
M O’Connell (St Michael’s); M Óg O’Sullivan (Bantry Blues), C Molloy (Nemo Rangers), G Daly (Mallow); D Twomey (Ballinascarthy), D Buckley (Douglas), S Copps (Mallow); R O'Shaughnessy (St Michael's), M McSweeney (Knocknagree); J O'Neill (Castlehaven), D O'Brien (Glanworth), D Sheedy (Bantry Blues); O Corcoran (Naomh Abán), H O’Connor (Newmarket), E Myers (Naomh Abán).
Subs: G Kearney (Kinsale) for McSweeney (37); R Corkery (Nemo Rangers) for O’Brien (41); S O’Connell (Kilshannig) for Twomey (48); M Maguire (Castlehaven) for O’Shaughnessy (55); L O’Herlihy (St Michael’s) for Sheedy (62).
N Quinn
