Kerry 2-14 Cork 0-7
BY DAN KEARNEY
KERRY joint manager Darragh Long paid tribute to goalkeeper Mary Ellen Bolger for lining for Kerry against Cork on Monday following the death of her mother Annette at the weekend.
And Long and joint manager Declan Quill also hailed the Kerry squad for the way they have rallied around Mary Ellen and helped her cope with the death of her mother.
“Today was a bit more than football and a bit more than sport,” said Long. “It was about our group coming together for Mary Ellen and her family and honouring the memory of her mother, and to say that myself and Declan are immensely proud of that group is an understatement.”
Kerry made it three wins in a row in the Lidl National Football League and join Meath and Armagh with maximum points from three games.
“Hugely satisfying but it’s only the third round of the league,” added Long. “To put in a performance like that, and as ruthless as we were in the second half is extremely satisfying.
“We understand that Cork are missing girls. I mean to be missing the O’Sullivans and Roisin Phelan would affect any team in the country. For us it was about a performance. We probably left a couple of scores after us in the first half but there was very little wasted by us in the second half and the two goals were absolutely clinical.”
The win maintains Kerry’s perfect start to the league but this is a second defeat of the campaign for Cork and manager Shane Ronayne said they have work to do to avoid being caught up in the relegation battle.
“Kerry were very impressive. We’ve a lot of work to do to catch up to them. We’ve been ahead of them for the last couple of years but they’ve passed us out today,” said Ronayne.
“We’ve a lot of newer players in there and a lot of our more experienced players aren’t available to us but that’s the way it goes. I thought Kerry were outstanding to be honest. Their workrate, their intensity, their ability to get scores and the wind didn’t bother them. They were excellent.
“It’s a harsh learning curve and if we don’t start performing now our Division One status could be in jeopardy because it’s going to be very hard with two teams going down and every team is fighting tooth and nail.”
Kerry, despite shooting six wides with the breeze, led by 0-7 to 0-3 at the break after taking control after a tight opening which saw them level at 0-2 apiece after ten minutes.
Hannah O’Donoghue, who finished with 1-3, and substitute Danielle O’Leary came on after 23 minutes and landed 1-2, were the key scorers for the Kingdom in their win.
Cork had the breeze behind them in the second half and while Emma Dineen and Cork’s Katie Quirke traded points after the restart, Kerry pulled away with a point from Lorraine Scanlon pushing 0-10 to 0-5 in front after 43 minutes.
They pushed on from there with O’Donoghue striking for opening goal in the 55th minute and O’Leary wrapped it up at the death with a low finish to the corner.
Scorers – Kerry: H O’Donoghue 1-3, D O’Leary 1-2, N Carmody 0-3 (3f), E Dineen 0-2, L Ní Mhuircheartaigh 0-2 (1f), L Scanlon 0-1, N Ní Chonchúir 0-1.
Cork: K Quirke 0-6 (5f), L O’Mahony 0-1.
Kerry: M.E Bolger; E Lynch, D Kearney, C O’Brien; A O’Connell, C Lynch, C McCarthy; A Harrington, M O’Connell; N Carmody ,N Ní Chonchúir, A Galvin; K Brosnan, E Dineen, H O’Donoghue. Subs: D O’Leary for K Brosnan (23), L Scanlon for M O’Connell H/T, C Murphy for C McCarthy (43), L Ní Mhuircheartaigh for N Ní Chonchúir (45), J Gill for N Carmody (55), F O’Donoghue for D Kearney, B O’Connor for A O’Connell (both 57), R Smith for A Harrington, E O’Connor for A Galvin, J Lucey for E Dineen (all 59).
Cork: S Murphy; L Coppinger, S Leahy, D Kiniry; M Duggan, M O’Callaghan, K Redmond; A McDonagh, S Cronin; D Kiely, H Looney, L O’Mahony; S O’Leary, K Quirke, E Cleary. Subs: R Corkery for E Cleary, E Jack for A McDonagh (both 42), L McDonagh for S O’Leary, A O’Mahony for H Looney (both 45), A Ryan for L O’Mahony (49), E Hurley for D Kiely (51).
Referee: Paul McCaughey (Westmeath).
Below: Shauna Cronin of Cork is tackled by Niamh Ní Chonchúir of Kerry
Amy Harrington of Kerry is presented with the Player of the Match award by Lidl Ireland sales operation manager Keith Hogan Pictures: SPORTSFILE
