FL1: Kingdom have no answer to Hurley

April 06, 2014

Kerry's Daithi Casey with Michael Shields of Cork.
©INPHO/Cathal Noonan.
Cork 2-18
Kerry 1-11

Brian Hurley produced a virtuoso performance as Cork turned on the style in the second half to blow Kerry away at Austin Stack Park, Tralee.

Despite being already assured of a place in the Allianz League semi-finals, the Rebels showed no mercy to their arch rivals and will now face holders Dublin for a place in the final next weekend. This was another hugely impressive display from Brian Cuthbert's new-look side with all but one point of their tally coming from play and full forward Hurley scoring 0-8, 0-7 from play.

Kerry, who had an outside chance of reaching the knockout stages before the throw-in, had a strong wind to their backs in the opening half, but fell behind to an early Hurley point. Peter Crowley and James O'Donoghue replied to give them the lead, but two further efforts from Hurley and another from John Hayes had the sides tied at 0-4 each at the end of the first quarter.

Hurley had fisted the visitors into a 0-6 to 0-5 lead before Daithi Casey set up Kerry full forward Paul Geaney for a well-taken goal in the 29th minute. But right on the stroke of half-time, Paul Kerrigan - who was a late replacement for John O'Rourke - got in for a goal at the other end to give the Rebels a slender 1-7 to 1-6 lead.

The second half turned out to be a one-sided affair as the visitors cut loose. They had eased into a 1-13 to 1-7 lead before Colm O'Neill came off the bench to score their second goal in the 50th minute and end the game as a contest.

The Kingdom's misery was compounded by a hamstring injury to Darran O'Sullivan after he had come on as a substitute for Donnachadh Walsh just before half-time.

Cork - K O Halloran; M Shields, J O Sullivan, Tom Clancy; J Loughrey, P Kelly, D Cahalane (0-1); F Goold (0-1), A O'Sullivan; C O'Driscoll (0-1), M Collins, P Kerrigan (1-3); B O'Driscoll, B Hurley (0-8, 1f), J Hayes (0-2). Subs: D Goulding (0-1) for C O'Driscoll, C O'Neill (1-0) for J Hayes, D O'Connor (0-1) for A O'Sullivan, Tomas Clancy for M Shields, M O Laoire for B O'Driscoll, R O'Sullivan for P Kelly.

Kerry - B Kelly; P Murphy, M Griffin, S Enright; P Crowley (0-1), F Fitzgerald, M O Se; A Maher, D Moran (0-1); D Walsh, D Casey (0-1), K O'Leary; S O'Brien (0-1), P Geaney (1-2, 0-2f), J O'Donoghue (0-4, 2f). Subs: Darran O'Sullivan for D Walsh, J Buckley for A Maher, B Sheehan (0-1f) for Darran O'Sullivan, J Sherwood for M O Se, BJ Keane for P Geaney, A O'Mahony for M Griffin.

Referee - E Kinsella.

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