Munster SFC final: Kerry 4-20 (4-3-14) Clare 0-21 (0-2-17)
By the half-hour mark it was less a match than a siege. Kerry have probably won easier Munster football titles than this over the years, but few enough, and this win was about as cool and unerring as they come.
Four goals inside the opening 26 minutes made sure of that. David Clifford helped himself to the first two, inside six minutes, and would have had three if the crossbar in Fitzgerald Stadium wasn’t reinforced steel. Micheál Burns and then Barry Dan O’Sullivan followed suit after two selfless build ups, Kerry moving the ball with the confidence of a grandmaster playing chess against a novice.
That took the life out of whatever fight Clare brought to Killarney. To their credit Clare never fell into a retreat. After trailing by 15 points at the break, 4-10 to 0-7, they came out and won the second half by four, the excellent Emmet McMahon and Mark McInerney leading the chase.
Their problem was Kerry’s foundation for victory, like the backdrop of Macgillycuddy’s Reeks, remained daunting. McMahon was also black-carded in the first half, which didn’t aid their case.
So before an increasingly muted crowd of 13,181 on a blissful day inside Fitzgerald Stadium, Kerry wrapped up Munster title number 86, their fifth in succession. All without breaking any sweat. Seánie O’Shea made his first start for Kerry since February, and kicked two two-pointers, Paul Geaney continuing his rich vein of form, as did Joe O’Connor at midfield.
No wonder manager Jack O’Connor was a picture of contentment afterwards, even if he did concede there was some sloppiness in the second half.
“Look, you’d love to keep going the same as we did in the first half, but it’s human nature,” he said. “Fellas lose a bit of focus. Then we made a lot of substitutions in the second half. Seánie was having a tremendous game on the 40 and taking him out of there maybe upset our rhythm a bit. Sure listen, we kicked 4-20. That’d win you most games, wouldn’t it?
“I am a lot happier than I was coming out of Ennis last year [after the Munster final win over Clare]. There was a bit of anti-climax in Ennis. I thought there were times today when we played really good football, particularly in the first half.
“We got a little bit sloppy in the second half and turned over the ball a bit, but you’d be a hard taskmaster if you were quibbling with that performance.”
Clifford’s opening goal set the mood and the trend. From the Kerry kick-out, O’Sullivan fielded a great ball, passing off to Tony Brosnan, who then set up Clifford, who danced around for a bit before shooting into the net. He then pointed to the sky, a gesture to his mother Ellen, who died on the eve of the Munster final two years ago.
He also did this without the sibling telepathy of Paudie Clifford, suspended for the day. He finished with 2-5, including a two-pointer of his own.
“The forwards are combining,” added O’Connor. “What I like about it is the unselfish nature of the goals. There was a great move there where Barry Dan palmed it in at the back post. There were a couple of lads who could have lashed it in themselves, but they worked a great team goal. So delighted with that.”
Clare were given some hope when awarded a soft penalty on 27 minutes, only for Keelan Sexton to blast his shot over the bar. O’Shea continued to show a welcome return to form, adding two more frees before the break, Kerry’s passing by foot or hand at times dazzling.
It was the first time Clare manager Peter Keane, the former Kerry manager, faced his native county. Given the way the first half had gone, he could afford some air of contentment too. There was no exchange of words with O’Connor on the sideline afterwards however.
“We had about seven turnovers in the first half, but we conceded 3-1 from those turnovers. That really hurt us,” said Keane. “But I thought our lads showed great character and resilience in the second half. They came out and they fought, we had a couple of goal chances which we didn’t convert, but if you look at the scoreboard at the end of the day, it was the goals that were the difference.
“It hurts you [conceding goals] and you’ve got to remember you’re talking about a team in Division 3 versus a team that were champions of Division 1. They’re playing at a higher level regularly, and they’re playing at home.
“I’m proud of the way the lads didn’t lie down. They fought very, very well to bring it back to what we got.”
Kerry introduced three debutants off the bench in the second half − Mark O’Shea, Evan Looney and Keith Evans − with Diarmuid O’Connor also back from injury this week. With that Kerry head into the All-Ireland series a step ahead of this time last year, which is plenty good for now.
KERRY: S Murphy; D Casey, J Foley, T O’Sullivan; B Ó Beaglaoich, M Breen, G White (capt); J O’Connor, BD O’Sullivan (1-0-1); T Brosnan, S O’Shea (0-2-4, 3 frees), M Burns (1-0-0), D Clifford (2-1-3, 1 free), P Geaney (0-0-4, 1 free). D Geaney (0-0-2). Subs: K Spillane for O’Shea, R Murphy for Brosnan (both 52 mins), T Morley for Breen (54 mins), M O’Shea for O’Sullivan (56 mins), K Evans for Burns (58 mins).
CLARE: E Tubridy; M Doherty (0-0-1), C Brennan, R Lanigan; C Rouine, I Ugweuru, A Sweeney, B McNamara (0-0-2), D Walsh (0-0-1); A Griffin (0-0-1), E McMahon (0-2-4, three frees), D Coughlan; K Sexton (0-0-2, 1 pen), E Clearly, McInerney (0-0-6, 2 frees, 1 45). Subs: C Meaney for Sweeney, S Griffin for Walsh (both 54 mins), E Cahill for Sexton (59 mins), R McMahon for Rouine (63 mins), D Burns for Cleary (68 mins).
Referee: Noel Mooney (Cavan).
