Munster Senior Football Final : v Cork

[watchdahop]

Two hands: another thing the best sport on Sunday night if Cork lose will be to see the Cork supporters turn on their most sucessful club Nemo, AGAIN!!

I'd say half the Cork supporters would not like to win at all cos they couldn't give out about Billy and Nemo!
Where do you stand on that?

[Owenabue]

Look there are people in Cork who probably love to see Cork lose just so they could say, “I told you so”. But how, by any stretch of the imagination, could they be called Cork supporters?

[twohands]

Sorry Watchdahop, we're working on improving our jabs. We're using videos of the Kerry backs to help us.

[Joxer]

Is Fionan no longer a hero then twohands, that you need to look accross the county bounds for guidance in that dept.?

[jerkyturkey]

its only cheating i you get caught

think kerry should win on sunday. cork are not up to much.
we should win by four or five id say.

whats the weather supposed to be like on sunday anyone?

[twohands]

jerkyturkey said:

its only cheating i you get caught

whats the weather supposed to be like on sunday anyone?

Sorry Seamus. Looks like it might be a bit warm. Just as well ye'll have the game won after ten minutes.

"It'll be mostly dry on Sunday and there should be some hazy sunshine with temperatures creeping in to the early twenties again. " (From aertel)

[jerkyturkey]

should be entertaining one so. nothing better than a warm day for the cork boys to lose their temper

[leesidelegend]

amazing how the kerry boys are going on about a player who doesn't even play for cork

we'll do ye sunday, ye boys are around to long, moynihan the man's gonna get it sunday

[RashersTierney]

"with temperatures creeping in to the early twenties again" ?? I thought we are now in the year of our Lord 2006? Is it still the early 1920s in Killarney? Right, I'll get me coat - "horse & trap for Mr Rashers!"

[kerryman99]

what kind of tactics will kerry be trying on sunday? quick low passing into the space? or high balls in? or how should we play?

[inforthebreaks]

rashers it may be 2006, but teh horse and trap culture is still going storng in Killarney

[austinstacksabu]

"Try imagining a place where it's always safe and warm". Bob Dylan, Shelter from the Storm.

And so we face into a big test of this Kerry team. Win by a wide margin and people will call for Billy Morgans head, thus deflecting from any possible weakness in the Kerry performance. Win by three points or less and people will start pointing fingers, many of them at the forwards, Gooch included, and some of them at Jack et al. Lose and it'll be a free for all feeding frenzy for the vulchers from Lauragh Lower to Tarbert Island.

Rumours abound of players on the booze before games, bust ups, walk outs, walk ins, backs being roasted by Galway in a recent challenge and much more besides. On top of it all, Jack is still trying to find the forward six that will actually work for him so that he can begin to focus on how they play rather than who plays.

He's picked a team based largely on form, with the possible exception of Eoin Brosnan. Aidan O'Mahony moves across the goals, but expect a torrent of abuse for him from all and sundry in the Cork end after his recent court appearance no matter what position he is in. If the greatest and most dedicated goalkeeper of modern times, David Fitzgerald can't escape it, then Aidan certainly won't. Brosnan is on the wing, but has never really prospered there. Declan O'Sullivan is at centre forward but has been known to wander too far in the past, but thankfully not against Tipperary. Bryan Sheehan anchors the full forward line for the second game in a row. He looked lost at sea there against Tipperary so hopefully the intervening weeks have proved useful to him. But he is crucial to the team with his accurate foot from free kicks.

Behind the front six, it is largely a settled team apart from Tom Sullivan being dropped, but then in comes Mike McCarthy, currently a reigning double All Star at full back. Not a bad replacement on paper, so hopefully he can come up to game speed on Sunday.

Meanwhile, south of the border, Billy has ransacked the cupboards of Cork football to try and come up with a team that can bring a challenge to Killarney. Club, junior and minor all brought in! Gone are the days when you used to be able to cut and paste the Cork team from one match to another not so long ago.

What type of game will it be? This observer suspects tense and dirty. There is bad blood around the Kerry squad at the moment, and the slightest provocation from Cork and there could be all out mayhem. Cork won't mind the battle, they never have in my 20 + years going to watch them anyway.

As to what type of football will be played, I really have no idea. Perhaps more long high balls in the hope that Sheehan will begin to work the oracle and supply Paul and Gooch with good ball. With Anthony Lynch around, I can't see there being a flood of fast hand passing ball going in anyway. But then, I really just don't know.

Midfield will for me be crucial. If we can win our fair share of ball, and more importantly, if Darragh and Donaghy distribute it effectively, I can see us kicking enough scores to have our noses just about ahead at the end. For some reason, despite Gooch not getting many scores recently, we've still put up decent numbers each game. I can see more of that on Sunday with scores from the more unlikely sources.

Cork were reliant on Masters the last day, but don't expect the same again. It's hard to know where they'll get their scores from, a bit like Kerry really. But whereas there are provent scorers in Kerry outside of Gooch, the same can't be said in recent times about Cork. If the Kerry back six can produce another solid display, it will be very tough for Cork to get a big score.

Jack and the lads know they are in for a tight battle on Sunday, and will be imaginging a warm and happy place where the team clicks and moves onto the quarter finals in an uplifting, spirited mood. Lose and they really will be seeking shelter from the storm.

Kerry by 2 points.

I'm off out the gap to the green green grass of home. It's the Munster final, Cork v Kerry in Killarney. It doesn't come much better down home way. Ciarrai abu.

[RashersTierney]

inforthebreaks said:

rashers it may be 2006, but teh horse and trap culture is still going storng in Killarney

Indeed, and probably still more reliable than Ear&Rod Eireann....
Anyway, I'll shut me TRAP before I start to rant about public transport in Ireland.............
"Pony & trap", is that Kerry's secret tactic for the match?

[watchdahop]

Good summary as always AS abu!!

I think I can agree with what you are saying. It will probably end up a tight match with Kerry possibly on the right side of it.
Looking at both teams it seems both have good defences with forward lines that make it hard to get a score.
I expect Cork to go all out and get stuck into Kerry but like Kerry they do not have enough scoring forwards to translate possesion into scores easily.
I expect a battle rather than a scoring exhibition. I also expect the game to be more like last years munster final that the AI semi final.
Interest is low in Cork........that makes them dangerous cos they have nothing to lose!!

[realist]

Good Post abu. And me thinks you might just be right in your analysis??

[Kingdomson]

Hello everyone,

Here is a preview taken from the Hoganstand website:

Bank of Ireland Munster senior football championship final
Sunday
Kerry V Cork (Killarney)
What is it with Kerry getting to play all their championship matches in Killarney this year? The Kingdom already saw off Waterford and Tipperary here and they’re back in Fitzgerald Stadium for the third time on Sunday. Could we make it any easier for them? Kerry have not been tested since the championship started and the Munster final will be their first tough game of the summer. We could argue for the rest of the year about whether the system is an advantage or disadvantage to Jack O’Connor’s team, but their status as favourites for Sam looks dubious. We have seen nothing from Kerry this year to suggest that they are good enough to win the All-Ireland and they are currently miles behind the likes of Dublin, who would destroy them if they met on Sunday. Uncertainty abounds, then, leading to a suspicion that Kerry are over-rated. Cork looked very poor against Limerick but will improve dramatically for this clash with the old rival. James Masters is playing far better football than the Gooch and I’m tempted to go for a shock victory for the Rebels, who are vastly over-priced at 5-1. One can almost see it coming, but a narrow Kerry win is more likely.
Verdict: Kerry

[RashersTierney]

Ha ha ha ha! Nice bit of propoganda, I wonder where the "reporter" is from, and how much evidence he bases such shallow commnets on

[Attacking Wing Back]

Kerry will win handy enough on sunday. Learn nothing, cruise into the all ireland quarters or semis, meet a battle hardened ulster team and get their the **it kicked out of them

[smellUlater]

Lolly u sound very pessimistic for someone that looks like a fine bit of totty!! Kerry at the moment are like someone just out of bed in the morning and eating their breakfast in a drowse. Don't worry after they have their weetabix against Cork they will be ready to milk the cowsand gather the sheep when it time for Croke park. By the way this Ulster crux is all a figment of the imagination. Kerry would beat every Ulster team out the gate apart from Armagh and Tyrone. Also Armagh have no hodoo over kerry they tough to beat but only for kerry collapse in the all ireland final that year Armagh still wouldn't have beaten kerry. Its only Tyrone that kerry can't seem to beat but this year they like a good sheep dog that has just after losing a leg, they might still know what to do in their heads but they don't have the players to do it with all their players out injured. Hopefully Cork will put up a bit of a fight but my thinking is that a lot of people will have left to get a good seat in Charlie Foley's or Macuddas to catch the World Cup final before the final whistle. Kerry by 6/7 points at least.

[fi76]

This game is awful, and now Star was sent off!! We need to wake up!!

[bannerman]

Dont know what to make of things now..... our boys were not at the races at all..... one side of me thinks that this draw could really be the making of us and turn us in right direction but another part of me thinks we on a downward slide

This team is being picked all wrong..... bryan sheehan kicked two good points from play but he did nothing else besides a few frees... he should have been the one taking off and not mossy

Gooch has had his difficulties this year so not going to say anything about him..... declan o sullivan not great.... dara o se not at races and i cant believe i saying this but donaghy seems to be carrying him and we fell apart when he was sent off

Paul o connor was unlucky was giving poor service all day and should have been giving ten mins at least in second half when we were going to be playing with the wind.

my team for next sunday

murphy

Marc mccarthy o mahony

Tomas fitzmaurice tom sulli

dara

donaghy

Galvin Brosnan Dec Sulli

Gooch Mike frank Darren Sulli


Let the gooch take frees on right and mike frank on left

[goupforit]

for god sake banner take your head out of the sand. how can you even consider mfr at full forward. mfr is lost in the physical nature of the modern game both the pace and the strength level is away above is capabilities.
sheehan did miss frees but you know what he showed great character to kick that point to put kerry ahead. as for fitzmaurice hes not up to the pace either
this is not about sk and nk or any other part of kerry. its about winning an all ireland. and if you want to go that way sk have 2 players onb the fileld and they have won 2 county championships in a row so i dont think there is a lot of bias there.

[Tadhgeen]

Whatever way you look at it today another game is not going to do us any harm. At least now we might find out if we are genuine AI contenders or not.

I had a sneaky suspicion that Cork would get the better of us today and make no bones about it - they did.

They were hungry, drove well from the half back line , won midfield and threatened our goal on numerous occasions.

If Lynch wasn't sent off , we would have been in serious trouble - we managed to get back into iit a bit in the aftermath of him getting his marching orders.

In second half had high hopes that we would come through but nothing could be further from the truth. Cork started well and I think got first two points of half. Can't understand why we didn't make use of extra man?

Darragh at midfield was poor enough although I thought Donaghy was doing ok before getting v harsh second half yellow card.

Half backs were poor and it's not often you see Tomas been taken off in a tight game. Would like to have seen Marc come out the field earlier and would also have brought on Fitzmaurice.

Galvin should have been deployed as extra man and Gooch should have been taken off replaced by Mike Frank.

Sheehan missed some easy frees (as did gooch) but he did score 2 lovely points from play and I suppose you can't argue with that in such a tight low scoring game. I do however feel he should be doing more in and around the box.

Darren Sull in my opinion had his best game for Kerry to date, worked hard , won good ball and frre kicks and his distribution was basic but top class.

Finally Cork threatened us frequently inside the 21 yard area we didn't - even once. We need to sort out the full forward line and quickly. Too often we are running up blind alleys and keep getting pushed back out around the forty and midfield.

Big improvement required next week or we can forget about AI. Looking at other games it's wide open this year. Mayo are the dark horse for me.

[Attacking Wing Back]

So where do we go nw?
I thought it was reckless to take off mossy lyons. If anything seamus should have gone and o mahony could have moved into the center. It was sheehans first real big game for kerry as the all ireland semi passed him by last year. Showed great balls to take on those two long range scores. Gooch will be fine if given right ball. Jack should go cap in hand to declan quill and beg him to come back!!!!!

[Mickmack]

Were kerry any worse in the drawn game against limerick in 2004.

Lads and lassies...... great players have retired........their replacements are not obvious.........the cteam is in transition and need support...........

I felt that paul o connor tried hard and will make the cut if given a chance...... Gooch is obviusly going thru a bad patch in his life.........he is human.............. donaghy was unlucky..........the form of tomas o shea is a worry..........

The era of 2006 to 2005 was great but the wheel turns........corks future is brighter at the moment...... such is life......accept it

[outsider23]

I thought both sendings off were unnecessary.. Yes Lynch did lash out but barely grazed Donaghy on the chin and Donaghy play-acted.. The ref realised his mistake at half-time and duly balanced the books sending Donaghy off for absolutely nothing. Moynihans challenge on Ger Spillane was the worst challenge of the day and only received a yellow card... where's the consistency? Why can't we get a Munster ref for a Munster final.. these northern refs always cause controversy when they come down south..

[bigbelly]

being from kerry i was very dissapointed with the kerry performance yesterday, we seemed to be all at sea from the word go. it was like the players and management had listened to all the hype that kerry would have a stroll in the park..... we got out of jail yesterday and are very lucky to have another chance next sunday.

[seamus]

Questions for Jack;

1. Why was Mike Mac left as the spare man in a game that we were chasing and we were being cleaned out in the breaks around the midfield? Galvin or Dos should have been left spare to dig out the breaks.

2. Can you win an AI without Gooch and MFR in the corners on song? I think not. The other options for the inside line don't have the class or brains that these 2 do when they are making their criss cross runs across the goals. Unmarkable.

3. Why did Declan and Paul take so much out of the ball instead of letting it in fast to the gooch? They slowed up the play and allowed Cork defence to re group and tighten up.

4. Did Seamus just have an off day or is he really struggling to keep with the pace?

5. Where were our half forward line for the last 20 minutes? I watched the game again and Ger Spillane and Sexton won 8 or 9 breaks from Murphy's kickouts in the 2nd half.

[watchdahop]

Kerry were very poor yesterday. One point from play in the first half ? Hardly All Ireland material.

We are lining up exactly the same way we did in the AI final: withdrawn half forward line and full foward line in.
We had no invention on the ball and the ball going into the forward line was terrible.
Kerry didn't deserve the win and realistically hardly deserved the draw.
A loss yesterday might have been the kick in the ass we needed. We might (and only might) beat Cork in the replay but on yesterdays form we won't be going much farther.

[watchdahop]

Seamus in answer to questions for Jack:
1) Agree Paul Galvin was the ideal spare man and not Mike Mac
2) Mike Frank might be worth a look but if he was not brought on yesterday he will never brought on
3) Paul and DOS dwelling the ball and not sending it in we have have that problem for the last 2 years. I accept the gooch is off colour but he is getting no good ball in. Also I thought a lot of the time the ball was being sent into Paul O'Connor and Darren while blatantly ignoring the Gooch.
4) I think Seamus has a pace issue I advocated moving him to the half foward line to a Dooher role.
5) 2 of the half forward line were non existent yesterday but apparently can't be dropped. See my suggestion earlier at point 4. I can't see anything being done about the half foward line problem though.....