St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield 1-12 Broadford 0-10

FORMER ALL-IRELAND CLUB champions St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield have regained their senior status in Clare with victory in the intermediate championship.

The club, which has produced Banner All-Ireland winners such as Jamesie O’Connor, Ollie Baker and Seanie McMahon, confirmed their return to the senior ranks with a 1-12 to 0-10 victory against Broadford in Cusack Park this afternoon.

Alan O’Neill bagged 1-1 in a four-minute second-half spell to edge Doora-Barefield ahead by 1-8 to 0-8 and it was a lead that they never relinquished.

Trailing 0-7 to 0-6 at the interval, O’Neill’s goal soon afterwards was the spark that Doora-Barefield needed, it coming after he fetched a long ball which he booted to the net.

O’Neill earlier had a goal disallowed when the referee ruled that he had crossed the line during his penalty strike.

St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield were relegated to intermediate hurling in 2014, 13 years after winning their last county title and 15 years after their All-Ireland club success.

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CLONMEL COMMERICALS MADE light work of Arravale Rovers to advance to the last four of the Tipperary SFC this afternoon.

Michael Quinlivan kicked eight points and Eoin Fitzgerald 1-3 as the Tipperary and Munster champions wrapped up a 1-19 to 0-11 victory.

Commercials will be joined by Kilsheelan-Kilcash and Loughmore-Castleiney after their respective wins this evening.

Kilsheeland-Kilcash saw off county star Conor Sweeney’s Ballyporeen by 1-13 to 0-12 while Loughmore-Castleiney were comfortable 3-15 to 0-11 victors against Galtee Rovers.

The fourth quarter-final takes place on Tuesday, with Moyle Rovers and Aherlow set to battle it out for the last semi-final spot.

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IT’S BEEN A busy week of sport. Here’s a taster of how you reacted.

Showbiz Babyy particularly enjoyed Lance Armstrong’s hasty exit after his superbly tense interview on Newstalk’s Off The Ball last week.

Lance Armstrong’s heel turn was the greatest of all time

Source: Lorraine O’Sullivan/INPHO

Iran’s football supporters faced a tricky balancing act last Tuesday as theyfaced South Korea in the midst of a religious holiday, which bans Shiite Muslims from expressing joy. But Phil O’Meara put the plight of the Iranians into perspective – just think of those poor Mayo fans…

That’s nothing. Mayo fans have been forbidden from celebrating in September for 65 years…

Rown Hill still hasn’t forgotten 2013 and he sent out a word of warning to the All-Blacks as they renew acquintances with Ireland next month.

Still remember the day ,never felt so bad for a team ,they deserved to win that day ,all blacks we are coming for ye !!!!!!!

Connacht winger Niyi Adeolokun earned a call-up to Joe Schmidt’s squad but his phone let him down when the Ireland boss called him. Alan Noonan wasn’t a bit impressed, and clearly has history with the Galaxy Note 7.

So the phone coverage in Connacht is shocking then! Or had he a Galaxy Note 7 that had just exploded when Joe tried to call him!!!! 

Dundalk’s Daryl Horgan was named the SSE Airtricity/SWAI Player of the Month for September this week. Conex spotted his resemblence with Damien Duff and James McClean and, to be fair, he’s spot on!

Put Damien duff and James mc clean in a blender …………..out comes daryl Horgan !!!!

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

Jim Gavin is off to Rwanda with a cargo of Irish-donated animals (37 pregnant heifers, three bulls, 260 pigs, and 5,000 chickens) which will be will serve as food and income producers for the country’s farmers. The spokesman captured the mood perfectly.

There will be some BBQ tonight.

Source: Diarmuid Greene/True Media

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The draw for the 2017 GAA football and hurling championships was made in RTE on Thursday night. Kevin Whelan feels for Carlow, who’ll have to beat Wexford and Dublin to reach a Leinster semi-final.

Tough draw for Carlow

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WHEN DAVY FITZGERALD decided to step down as Clare senior hurling manager on 21 September, he could hardly have envisaged that he’d be a more than interested spectator at Wexford Park for tomorrow afternoon’s county senior hurling final between Oulart-The-Ballagh and Cloughbawn.

But on the merry-go-round that is now senior inter-county management, Fitzgerald has hopped on in Wexford and will guide the fortunes of the Slaneysiders for the next three seasons, with a review planned after year two.

And so Fitzgerald will make a round-trip of some 400km tomorrow afternoon, from Sixmilebridge to Wexford town and back again, to run the rule over some prospective panel members before he gets stuck into a real job of work ahead of the 2017 campaign.

As things stand, Fitzgerald cannot rely upon the availability of three cruciate knee ligament victims next year.

Andrew Shore and Shane Tomkins both underwent surgery on the same day in June while it emerged more recently that McGovern sustained the dreaded injury on duty for St Anne’s against Naomh Eanna in August.

McGovern, along with Lee Chin, was one of Wexford’s most impressive performers in 2016 but Tomkins and Shore played no part in the championship.

Tomkins, on his day, is a more than useful and combative forward, a potential John Conlon-like figure for Wexford.

Wexford’s Shane Tomkins is recovering from a cruciate knee ligament injury.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

McGovern is a will-o’-the-wisp attacker, pacey, direct, low centre of gravity and well able to take a score, while Shore can play at centre-back but was earmarked for a centre-forward role during the summer by Fitzgerald’s predecessor Liam Dunne.

In that sense, Fitzgerald is behind the 8-ball straight away, while some of his early phone calls will be to ascertain Jack Guiney and Kevin Foley’s immediate plans.

Foley opted out for the championship gone by due to study commitments while Guiney decided to take himself off the panel in February.

Get those two back involved, pray for swift returns for the cruciate trio, and Fitzgerald will have something concrete to work with.

Davy Fitzgerald will be hoping that Jack Guiney (pictured) will return to the Wexford squad.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

Speaking to Liam Griffin recently, the legendary 1996 All-Ireland winning manager believes that Fitzgerald is poised to profit from Dunne’s “fantastic” work over the last five years.

Griffin acknowledged that losing out on a sixth year at the helm is “tough” on Dunne, who was interviewed for the position but overlooked by county board chiefs in favour of ex-Clare boss Fitzgerald.

But he says that Dunne has left behind “a good legacy”, and he’s backing Fitzgerald to build on those foundations.

“Liam’s done a fantastic job, a very difficult job to rebuild the team from when he started out.

“It’s a natural progression, (it) took him that long to build a team and a squad and sadly for him, after doing all that, the general consensus was that a new voice was required.

“That’s the prerogative of the chairman and committee to come up with that decision.

Wexford’s 1996 All-Ireland winning manager Liam Griffin (pictured) is predicting success for Davy Fitzgerald in Wexford.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

“It’s tough on Liam but Davy will be the beneficiary of the good work he’s done and in the evolution of management in any area, even in business, you start a business and the next person brings it to another level.

“Liam did a great job and that shouldn’t be forgotten. What’s left behind is a good legacy and it’s incumbent on everybody to get behind Davy in every way.”

Fitzgerald will be anxious to hit the ground running, beginning with the Model County’s opening Division 1B fixture against Limerick next year.

And Griffin predicts that Fitzgerald will bring a dash of spice to his new role.

Liam Dunne managed Wexford for the last five seasons.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

Fitzgerald won’t tolerate players not toeing the party line (Clare’s Davy O’Halloran and Nicky O’Connell will testify to that) and if nothing else, Wexford fans are in for an interesting couple of years.

Griffin says: “Davy, first of all, is a character, an interesting character.

You need characters in our game, warts and all. If everybody was the same, it would be a very sad situation.

“He’s been very successful as a manager and was over a team that won a League title this year, an All-Ireland in 2013 and he also brought Waterford to an All-Ireland final (2008).

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“He must have learned on every inch of the road and hopefully that will stand him in good stead.

Liam Dunne commiserates with Davy Fitzgerald after the 2014 All-Ireland SHC qualifier replay.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

“He has a good, young, emerging team. He doesn’t have a massive amount of players but he does have a good squad.

“If he gets the players not involved for the last couple of years, and the injured players back, he should make good strides and that’s what we all want.

That’s what Liam (Dunne) wants and I know Liam was one of the first people in Wexford to wish him well. Liam is a loyal son of Wexford and always was, and gave everything he had to the senior hurling team, on and off the field.”

But Griffin warned that Fitzgerald, who’s been given a three-year term, with a review after year two, will need time to deliver.

He said: “Wexford people need to be patient. He needs a bit of time to get used to the squad and if anything good happens in the meantime, that’s a bonus.

“Wexford have the capacity for a few big hits but to do it consistently is the challenge.

“Within the next two years, you could see 11 or 12 players under the age of 25.”

Fitzgerald has a core group of established players to work with, along with graduates from the U21 teams that won three successive Leinster U21 titles from 2013-2015.

Clare beat Wexford to claim a third successive Bord Gáis Energy All-Ireland U21 crown in 2014.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

You could argue that there are parallels between Wexford’s underage success and the Clare teams that surged to three successive All-Ireland U21 titles from 2012-2014.

When Clare wrapped up the hat-trick, they beat Wexford but Wexford weren’t disgraced, losing out by 3-11 to 2-20.

Earlier that year, Fitzgerald won’t need reminding that it was Wexford who ended Clare’s reign as All-Ireland champions, defeating them after a replay in the qualifiers.

Fitzgerald knows there’s talent in Wexford and he’ll feel confident of harnessing it.

And while Dunne was deemed surplus to requirements, he still managed to bring Wexford to quarter-finals twice in the last three years.

And Fitzgerald, being Fitzgerald, will carry a burning desire to prove his doubters wrong.

He’ll view this as a challenge to relish, far from the snipers he feels were always lurking in the hills of Clare. Privately, Fitzgerald is deeply unhappy with the criticism that came his way from former players and ex-manager Ger Loughnane.

Fitzgerald prides himself on loyalty but towards the end of his Clare reign, he felt that was in short supply. It’s what he’ll demand of his Wexford players from the word go.

And if they reciprocate, who knows what Wexford could achieve?

Buckle up, this could be one hell of a ride.

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Paddy McBrearty at the launch of the AIB GAA Club Championships this week.

Source: Sam Barnes/SPORTSFILE

“WELL, I THINK 23 years is too long for Kilcar to not even be in a final, never mind win one,” declares Patrick McBrearty firmly.

The Donegal talisman is speaking a few days out from county senior final day, a game where Kilcar’s long and exhausting wait to be part of the marquee club football occasion in the North-West, will come to an end.

McBrearty has stockpiled a collection of accolades at inter-county level, sampling All-Ireland and Ulster senior success. In July he delivered a career best display in shooting the lights out against Cork and amassing 0-11.

Patrick McBrearty in action against Cork in July

Source: Lorraine O’Sullivan/INPHO

But at club level, it has been different. McBrearty was born in August 1993. That same year Kilcar reached the Donegal county senior final. They won that decider by 0-12 to 0-10 and having local rivals Killybegs in the opposition corner made the victory all the sweeter.

It was their fourth title in 14 seasons and they had also reached another three finals where they fell short. Between 1985 and 1989, Kilcar contested four deciders. They were perennial challengers, a heavyweight on the Donegal football scene.

It was a golden era for the club but after 1993 that spell screeched to a halt. There’s been plenty frustration in the intervening 23 years until they achieved a final berth by blitzing Naomh Conaill with five goals to triumph in the Donegal semi-final earlier this month.

“There’s a lot of hype about Kilcar,” admits McBrearty.

“I think that has been the situation for Kilcar for the last six years, everyone has been expecting us to win it. I suppose with every year which passes that you don’t win it, there is added pressure.

“It is not easy playing for Kilcar and Donegal because over the last few years, there have been a few years there where it has been tough.”

Having a bunch of inter-county players in the Kilcar ranks has added to that weight of expectation. McBrearty is joined by his brother Stephen, an addition to the Donegal senior panel this year and a player who made such an impression on Donegal’s route to the 2014 All-Ireland minor final.

Then there are the McHughs. Brothers Ryan and Mark, and their cousin Eoin, were all on the pitch when Donegal’s All-Ireland adventure ended at the hands of Dublin in August. It’s a wealth of talent for Kilcar to possess but it has taken time to properly blossom.

ON SEPTEMBER 4, Michael Fennelly took his seat among the Kilkenny substitutes in the Hogan Stand. In front of him, he watched Tipperary wipe the Cats out after half-time to deny the Leinster champions a third-straight title.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

“It just wasn’t a good day,” Fennelly recalls. “There was a sensation of feeling lost and just not being part of it, and that was it really. You couldn’t offer anything on the field.”

The 31-year-old had been in superb form for the Cats when he ruptured his Achilles tendon in the replay against Waterford. It ruled him out of action for an extended period, and robbed Kilkenny of their most dynamic midfielder.

“When they said it looks like there was a need for a scan and I was gone. That hit home alright, that my year was gone. That was tough. Every year I go out, I try and play every game, try and not get injured but it always seems to come at me and I miss some sort of game. So that was tough, mentally.”

So he sat there helpless, as the Premier ran riot en route to their first All-Ireland victory in six years. He particularly felt the pain of defeat in the days after, when the players had to fulfill the post-All-Ireland formalities.

“You’re just a supporter on the day. It’s not enjoyable. And I was dreading the next day and the day after, on the crutches, with a cast. I’d rather have gone home, to be honest, on the Monday morning. But I hung around with the players. We did what we had to with the homecoming.

“I wasn’t playing, so it wasn’t as bad for me as some of the lads that played. Some lads didn’t play to their potential were upset about it. Whereas for me, I didn’t play, so I had no real feeling with it.”

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

If everything goes to plan, Fennelly expects to return to the field by next May. A long road lies ahead. A lecturer in sports science, the Ballyhale Shamrocks man has a philosophical outlook on the recovery.

“Any time you get a serious injury like that, you have to re-look at things, re-analyse. Where I am at the moment, this has to come back right either way, whether I come back hurling or not.

“So I’m staying positive. Hopefully get back in the jersey. There is no point doubting myself. You have to be positive and optimistic about these things.

“I’ve done it before so it’s nothing strange to me to do this. I’m intrinsically motivated to do it. If someone wasn’t motivated, they’re not going to do it, simple as that.”

The thing is, Kilkenny need Fennelly back in the saddle. When Tipperary annexed their last All-Ireland in 2010, the Cats bounced back and won the next two. There’s far less optimism surrounding their ability to return to the top in the short-term.

“I suppose there’s a huge difference with our 2011 team and now, with all those big names gone. We have players coming in and filling their boots but it’ll never be the same obviously because they were top-class in the country hurlers. Henry (Shefflin), Tommy (Walsh), JJ (Delaney), you’d never come across them lads really for another couple of years or decade or two.

“But we have lads coming up. We have some nice players that haven’t been on the panel this year but I think could be brought in maybe next year. We probably need a bit of fresh blood coming in and pushing lads like me, and the older lads like Richie Hogan and TJ. They’re all now in their late twenties and we need players pushing them..

“I think the fact that we won ’14 and ’15 and we’ve won an awful lot over the last 10 years and maybe people are like, ‘look, this team has to come to a finish at some stage’.

“Obviously we don’t think that ourselves, but I think it’s only natural. What people say or think doesn’t really come into our perspective. We’re a team and we have goals that we set for ourselves. That’s all that matters. It doesn’t matter if people in our own county don’t think we’re strong enough. It’s what we think I suppose.”

Source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO

For now, Fennelly will put down a hard few months rehabing his Achilles. They’ll likely face Davy Fitzgerald’s Wexford in the Leinster semi-finals, a tie Fennelly hopes to play some part in.

“It looks like Wexford could be coming our direction from the draw. Davy is heading down that direction now to get the boys going down there. Any time we play Wexford it’s always a helter-belter game.

“Any team that comes our way, it’s always going to be a tough test, that’s the way I look at it. We’ll look after ourselves, that’s key for us and see from there.”

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Ulster are put through their paces before Sunday’s clash with Bordeaux in Belfast.

Source: Presseye/Jonathan Porter/INPHO

Home

• Martin O’Neill has hit back at Everton manager Ronald Koeman by defending his right to select James McCarthy for Ireland’s last two WQ qualifiers.
• Ireland’s trio of Graeme McDowell, Paul McGinley and Shane Lowry are all going well at the British Masters, which is led by England’s Richard Bland.
• Johnny Sexton will miss Leinster’s Champions Cup opener against Castres with a tight hamstring.
• 20-year-old Joey Carbery will deputise at out-half and Leo Cullen is confident he can fill Sexton’s boots.
• Andrew Trimble will captain Ulster for Sunday’s clash with Bordeaux, but there is still no sign of a return for Tommy Bowe.
• Connacht boss Pat Lam has made one change for his side’s Champions Cup return against Toulouse.
• Dave Kilcoyne has been passed fit for Munster‘s trip to Racing 92 but Keith Earls misses out.
• Páirc Uí Chaoimh won’t be ready to host Cork’s Munster senior hurling quarter-final next year as the ground won’t open after its redevelopment until July 2017.
• Ian Madigan says he has yet to play his best rugby since moving to France despite starting life with Bordeaux impressively.

A view of the ongoing redevelopment work at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Source: Gary Carr/INPHO

Away

• Footballer Ched Evans has been found not guilty of rape following a retrial in Wales.
• Jose Mourinho has pleaded with Man United and Liverpool fans to stop chanting about club tragedies ahead of their much-anticipated meeting on Monday.
• There’s no place for Dan Carter in the Racing 92 team to face Munster on Sunday as he struggles with a calf problem.
• French prosecutors today called for former Liverpool striker Djibril Cisse to be charged with blackmail over a sex tape scandal involving Karim Benzema.
• Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has laughed off rumours he’s set to be sacked by the club.

The Best Thing We Shared

Kevin Doyle showed he’s still got an eye for goal with this cracking diver header in the MLS last night.

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On The Record

“Manager of the Month is a nice prize, but unfortunately a second ago I saw the new fixture changes. I am not too happy. I can’t believe we have less than 48 hours between City and Sunderland.”

Jurgen Klopp was fuming with the Premier League after Liverpool’s festive fixtures were re-arranged.

Where we were today

Ryan Bailey was down at the RDS as Leinster hosted their press conference before Saturday’s clash with Castres.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

The Fixture List

• The Premier League returns on Saturday with seven games down for decision, including the early kick-off between Chelsea and Leicester.
• Champions Cup rugby is back this weekend with Leinster in action against Castres (3.15pm) and Connacht hosting Toulouse (5.30pm) tomorrow. On Sunday, Munster are in Paris to face Racing 92 (3.15pm).

Showbiz, Baby!

Source: The42.ie/YouTube

Dubliner Paddy Holohan on adjusting to life as a former UFC star.

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1. Tipperary v Cork – Munster SHC quarter-final

It’s Tipp against Cork again in the Munster senior hurling championship.

Source: Lorraine O’Sullivan/INPHO

For the second successive year, Tipp and Cork will battle it out at the quarter-final stage in Munster.

There’s now a huge incentive for Cork chiefs to get Páirc Uí Chaoimh ready in time to potentially host the game, as Tipp had home advantage this year.

Given Tipp’s stellar form in 2016, this was surely the draw that Cork and manager Kieran Kingston wanted to avoid early on but the Rebels should relish the opportunity to pit their wits against the best team in the country.

It’s an age-old rivalry between these two counties and the prize for the winners isn’t easy either as Waterford await them in the Munster semi-final.

If Tipp want to retain their All-Ireland crown through the front door, they’ll have to win five matches again, excluding potential replays.

2. Tyrone v Derry – Ulster SFC quarter-final

Source: Presseye/Lorcan Doherty/INPHO

Tyrone beat Derry at this stage of the Ulster championship this year, running out comfortable 3-14 to 0-12 winners, but the Oak Leafers have the chance to avenge that loss at the same juncture in 2017.

It has been reported recently, however, that Derry have lost as many as nine players from their squad ahead of the new season, and manager Damien Barton has a big task on his hands.

After winning Ulster this year, and running Mayo close at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage, boss Mickey Harte will be confident of building on that progress.

Tyrone and Derry is a traditional rivalry but the Red Hands, at this point in time, are a far superior side and will be expected to get their 2017 campaign off to a winning start.

3. Galway v Dublin – Leinster SHC quarter-final

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

A real rivalry has built up between these two sides in recent seasons, as evidenced by their infamous Fenway brawl last year. 

Galway battered Dublin in a Leinster quarter-final replay in 2015 but the scene is set for another championship showdown between the counties, after they were pitted together in tonight’s draw.

Both sides will go into that fixture knowing that the stakes are high. The pressure is on Dublin manager Ger Cunningham and his players to make some inroads next year while Galway will hope to push on after losing the Leinster final and All-Ireland semi-final in 2016.

Dublin have already been dealt a blow ahead of the new campaign with the news that Danny Sutcliffe will be unavailable once again, while Galway are sweating on the fitness of ace forward Joe Canning after he sustained a serious hamstring injury against Tipperary in August’s All-Ireland semi-final loss.

4. Clare v Limerick – Munster SHC semi-final

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

Avoiding a quarter-final in Munster is a bonus for Clare, Limerick and Waterford.

Clare and Limerick will renew acquaintances for a place in the provincial decider, having last met in championship hurling in a 2016 qualifier, won by Clare.

That game marked TJ Ryan’s last in charge of the Shannonsiders and he’s since been replaced by John Kiely, a former senior selector who guided Limerick’s U21s to an All-Ireland final win last year.

Clare will also go into championship 2017 under new management, as Gerry O’Connor and Donal Moloney join forces again following their All-Ireland three-in-a-row exploits at U21 level.

Both counties will fancy their chances of reaching a Munster final – with the added bonus of a straight route to the All-Ireland quarter-finals on offer for the winners of a tasty last four tie in the Southern province.

5. Offaly v Westmeath – Leinster SFC quarter-final

Source: Tom Beary/INPHO

The winners of this game will progress to a semi-final against Carlow, Wexford or Dublin.

And on all known form, it will be Dublin in the last four of the Leinster championship for Offaly or Westmeath.

At the quarter-final stage this year, Westmeath edged out Offaly by a point and went on to contest a final with Dublin.

For ex-Westmeath boss Pat Flanagan, now in charge of his native Offaly, this is a huge opportunity to atone for that narrow loss.

The challenge for Westmeath is to first of all get past Offaly again, and then aim for a third successive Leinster final appearance.

For manager Tom Cribbin, that will be the clear goal but Flanagan and Offaly will hope to stop the Midlanders at the very first hurdle. 

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Kerry 2-17
Cork 0-11

AN UNSEASONABLY LARGE football crowd gathered in Killarney this afternoon for the latest demonstration of Kerry’s superiority in Munster.

Kerry’s Paul Geaney and Cork’s Kieran Histon.

Source: Bryan Keane/INPHO

Free from the crowd restrictions that have hampered the GAA inter-county scene over the past two years, there was a spike in interest amongst the locals to see how Kerry’s 2022 fortunes were progressing.

Jack O’Connor picked up the first bit of silverware on offer in his third coming as Kerry boss, his focus quickly transferring to a league campaign that commences next Sunday with a trip to his old stomping ground of Newbridge.

Cork head to Roscommon in their second tier opener, aware of the range of development required under new manager Keith Ricken. They were well beaten here, that it didn’t get as ugly as last summer’s 22-point beating in the Munster final was due to a couple of superb second-half saves from Micheál Martin, while Paul Geaney and Brian Ó Beaglaoch smacked shots against the upright in either half.

The starting Cork team was experimental with only six players starting who’d featured in the 2021 Munster decider. Of the newcomers, wing-back Rory Maguire and corner-forward Mark Cronin shone brightest. They shared 0-5 between them with Castlehaven’s Maguire rampaging forward from defence and Nemo’s Cronin lively closer to goal. 

Brian Hurley finished with 0-5 to his name, pointing the way for Cork for long stretches.

Spectators at Fitzgerald Stadium.

Source: Bryan Keane/INPHO

Kerry laid the foundations with a sharper first-half display. They prised Cork apart for an early goal in the 4th minute, Tom O’Sullivan swiftly swapping passes with Paul Geaney and galloping into open country in the Cork defence before a smooth finish to the net.

There was a Dingle flavour to their second goal as well, Geaney stepping neatly inside the cover and planting home his shot after Micheál Burns cut the ball across. That strike occurred in the 32nd minute, the centrepiece of Kerry’s burst of 1-4 without replay the end of the half, as they capitalised in particular on the sin-binning of Cork’s Kevin O’Donovan.

Kerry were 2-9 to 0-5 clear at the interval with Paudie Clifford and Killian Spillane both catching the eye in attack. They had the luxury of introducing quality replacements with David Clifford and Jack Savage both landing a brace of points apiece in the second half, Clifford introduced at a juncture when they were 12 points clear.

Cork chipped away at the deficit near the finish with Hurley, Daniel Dineen, Cronin and Maguire on target in the second half. By the finish there was that 12-point gap separating the teams, the focus in both camps shifting to next weekend’s assignments.

Scorers for Kerry: Paul Geaney 1-4, Tony Brosnan 0-3 (0-3f), Tom O’Sullivan 1-0, David Clifford, Sean O’Shea (0-2f), Jack Savage, Killian Spillane, Paudie Clifford 0-2 each.

Scorers for Cork: Brian Hurley 0-5 (0-2f), Mark Cronin 0-3 (0-1f), Rory Maguire 0-2, Daniel Dineen 0-1.

Kerry

1. Shane Murphy (Dr Crokes)

2. Dan O Donoghue (Spa), 3. Jason Foley (Ballydonoghue), 4. Tom O’Sullivan (Dingle)

5. Paul Murphy (Rathmore), 6. Tadhg Morley (Templenoe), 7. Gavin White (Dr Crokes)

8. Sean O’Shea (Kenmare – captain), 9. Adrian Spillane (Templenoe)

10. Micheál Burns (Dr Crokes), 11. Paudie Clifford (Fossa), 12. Stephen O’Brien (Kenmare)

13. Tony Brosnan (Dr Crokes), 14. Paul Geaney (Dingle), 15. Killian Spillane (Templenoe)

Subs

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22. Jack Savage (Kerins O’Rahilly’s) for O’Brien (inj) (6)

18. Gavin Crowley (Templenoe) for Murphy (half-time)

19. Brian Ó Beaglaoich (An Ghaeltacht) for O’Donoghue (half-time)

23. Greg Horan (Austin Stacks) for Adrian Spillane (46)

17. David Clifford (Fossa) for Brosnan (46)

20. Graham O’Sullivan (Dromid Pearses) for White (50)

29. Dylan Casey (Austin Stacks) for Crowley (inj) (55)

24. Paul O’Shea (Kilcummin) for Paudie Clifford (55)

21. Dara Roche (Glenflesk) for Killian Spillane (61)

26. Cian Gammell (Killarney Legion) for O’Sullivan (61)

Cork

1. Míchéal Martin (Nemo Rangers)

2. Sean Powter (Douglas), 3. Kieran Histon (Nemo Rangers), 4. Tadhg Corkery (Cill na Martra)

5. Rory Maguire (Castlehaven), 6. John Cooper (Éire Óg), 7. Matthew Taylor (Mallow)

8. Cian Kiely (Ballincollig), 9. Joe Grimes (Clonakilty)

10. Kevin O’Donovan (Nemo Rangers), 11. Blake Murphy (St Vincent’s), 12. Colm O’Callaghan (Éire Óg)

13. Mark Cronin (Nemo Rangers), 14. Brian Hurley (Castlehaven), 15. Chris Óg Jones (Iveleary)

Subs

24. Damien Gore (Kilmacabea) for Murphy (33)

23. Luke Connolly (Nemo Rangers) for Gore (inj) (half-time)

22. David Buckley (Newcestown) for O’Donovan (half-time)

25. Daniel Dineen (Cill Na Martra) for Jones (46)

21. Daniel O’Connell (Kanturk) for Kiely (46)

18. Kevin Flahive (Douglas) for Histon (50)

20. Shane Merrit (Mallow) for Grimes (52)

26. Kevin Crowley (Millstreet) for Cooper (53)

17. Paudie Allen (Newmarket) for Corkery (55)

19. Paul Ring (Aghabullogue) for Powter (61)

Referee: Niall Quinn (Clare)