Cork salvage replay in dramatic finish

ALL-IRELAND SFC Semi-Final Cork 3-07 Kerry 1-13: Cork and Kerry will have to face each other again after two late goals rescued…

ALL-IRELAND SFC Semi-Final Cork 3-07 Kerry 1-13:Cork and Kerry will have to face each other again after two late goals rescued the Munster champions after being dominated for most of the match.

Kerry appeared to have booked their place in the final and were cruising to a 6-point victory with just 4 minutes remaining in the match.

However a late goal from second-half substitute James Masters and a last-minute penalty from John Hayes gave Cork an undeserved draw following an ill-tempered match in Croke Park this afternoon.

The Kerry team will be kicking themselves as their forwards, uncharacteristically, missed chance after chance to seal the victory.

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Cork opened the scoring in the 1st minute through a Donnacha O'Connor free kick before a Colm Cooper brace put Kerry in front.

The game came to life in the 14th minute when Daniel Goulding scored a well-worked goal for Cork. Pearse O'Neill raced onto a Michael Cussen pass before finding Goulding on the edge of the square to fire the ball into the corner of the net.

Kerry responded straight away and seconds later they were back in the lead.

A good pass from Cooper found Kieran Donaghy who punched the ball via his head into the back of the net.

Kerry dominated the remainder of the half but poor shooting by their forwards meant they went into the break only 1 point up 1-05 to 1-04.

At times the game threatened to boil over and just two minutes after the restart Kerry's Darragh Ó Sé was shown a straight red for punching Pearse O'Neill during an off the ball incident.

Cork couldn't make the numerical advantage pay and took ten minutes to score their first point in the second half through Nicholas Murhpy

Points from Cooper, Brian Sheehan and Tommy Walsh put Kerry into a four point lead before Cork were also reduced to 14 men.

In the 49th minute Cork's Donnacha O'Connor was shown a red-card for slapping Aidan O'Mahony's face. Referee Joe McQuillan's decision appeared harsh as replays suggested O'Mahony made the most of a light slap.

Kerry sprang into action and points from Thomas O Sé, Darren O'Sullivan moved them into a 1-13 to 1-07 lead as the final whistle approached.

Cork had other ideas.

Two minutes from time Masters rose high to punch the ball into the net from the edge of the square.

And perhaps justice was served when O'Mahony was wrongly judge to have taken down a Cork man inside the large square for a penalty.

John Hayes, the coolest man in Croke Park, stepped up and slotted the ball expertly into the corner to level the match with seconds remaining.

Cork:A Quirke; D Duggan, D Kavanagh, A Lynch; J Miskella, G Spillane, K O'Connor; P O'Neill, A O'Connor; D O'Connor, G Canty, S O'Brien; D Goulding, M Cussen, J Hayes.

Kerry:D Murphy; M Ó Sé, T O'Sullivan, T Griffin; T Ó Sé, A O'Mahony, K Young; D Ó Sé, S Scanlon; B Sheehan, C Cooper, D Walsh; D O'Sullivan, K Donaghy, T Walsh.

Luke Cassidy

Luke Cassidy

Luke Cassidy is Digital Production Editor of The Irish Times