Munster SFC Final Cork v Kerry
Ian O'Riordan asks Kerry manager Jack O'Connor what it means to play in Cork against Cork in a Munster final

Here we go again, Kerry against Cork in the Munster football championship. You'd think even Don King would have a hard time promoting this one. Haven't they fought 93 times in the championship already? And 55 times in the Munster final? Surely we've seen enough of those two already.

Not when it comes to Kerry against Cork. It's the original football rivalry - and still the best. It's 115 years since they first met in the Munster championship, and you'll hear a pistol shot ring out in Páirc Uí Chaoimh tomorrow when the ball is thrown in. These two have never settled their history. It simply accumulates. Each game marks a new battlefield.

Kerry against Cork is a rivalry that constantly renews itself. Decade to decade the edge has changed hands, whoever dared claim it. The 1890 Munster final set the trend. Cork were leading by a point when the football burst and the game was abandoned. Cork won the rematch by six points. There's been a lot of water under the bridge since then, and a lot of other stuff too.

Now Kerry have dared to take the edge again. They easily handled Cork in last year's semi-final on route to winning the All-Ireland. Cork haven't beaten them in a Munster final since 1999. Just when a definite line has been drawn like that the contest is inclined to take a turn.

Jack O'Connor wouldn't have it any other way. The Kerry manager isn't personally burdened by the many volumes of history between the two counties, but knows his opposite number Billy Morgan definitely is.

Yet, O'Connor is weighed down by a different burden. His Kerry team are trying to defend the All-Ireland football title, which hasn't been done in 15 years. In many ways, playing Cork in a Munster final is exactly what he wants.

If they beat Cork they've a good chance of winning back the All-Ireland. If they lose they'll feel they're probably not good enough to go all the way again. That's not putting words into his mouth. O'Connor volunteers this information.

"I would consider it paramount that we win this game," says O'Connor, "because I think a team that's been on the road as long as this one would find it hard to go through the back door. Psychologically as much as anything else. So certainly we'll be going all out to win this one.

"It's going to be a huge battle for us, but in a way that makes it an even easier game to prepare for in the sense that playing Cork brings out the best in these Kerry players. So I'm actually looking forward to the game, and I'm not just saying that. It's a great test for us. By the time we finish in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday we'll have a very good idea of where we're at."

Just because O'Connor hasn't endured the frontline of battles with Cork in recent years doesn't mean he's not aware of what the enemy are capable of. He only deals with reality, and has seen for himself how it can bite.

"All I can say about Cork is that they're one of the few teams we've lost to since we've taken over the management. Two of those were National League games, which we lost by a point or two. And the other one was the first league match this year against Cork, which we lost by seven or eight points. So we know they're a serious threat. They've been very quiet and that's usually a further sign of their confidence.

"The Limerick game was a good test, I can tell you that for sure. But certainly I can see in the body language of the players now that they're treating this as a one-off game. They're going flat out for this one."

HE CONTINUES to deal in reality whenever the question of defending the All-Ireland title arises; "First of all, we're not thinking about All-Irelands. We're thinking about the Munster championship. I don't know what our record down in Cork is, but we've had a hard time winning there in recent years. So this is a big enough game for us. We have been on the road a while, and I think the Kilkenny hurlers felt some of the problems with that last year.

"If they'd beaten Wexford maybe they would have won it, because they just looked like a team that had played one game too many when they reached the All-Ireland final.

"We want to win the Munster championship on its own merits, and also because I think it will enhance our chances of going the distance."

O'Connor will have two men on the sidelines with him tomorrow who'll have offered plenty of reminders of what Cork teams are capable of doing to Kerry. Johnny Culloty and Ger O'Keeffe have been given their share of lessons over the years.

For Culloty, the rivalry with Cork could be said to be particularly personal. He was goalkeeper on the Kerry team that lost the 1971 Munster final to Cork, when Morgan when in the opposite goalmouth.

"Any team that Billy Morgan is in charge of will be well prepared," says Culloty. "I've seen him come down to play Kerry teams over the years with Nemo Rangers and even at that level it was always about Cork against Kerry.

"He's a great driving force for Cork, and lives for the football there really. He's been involved as long as myself really and yet still retains that zest for the game. He's a great motivator and he's proved already that he's won All-Irelands, and he's quite capable of doing it again.

"I've no doubt they'll be as good as any Cork team we've played in the past. So if we were in Billy Morgan's shoes we'd definitely be aiming to dethrone the champions. And we'd feel we've a good chance of doing so. And Cork seem to be scoring freely. We're lucky that we have scorers to match them."

Having scoring forwards is one thing, but getting them to score is another. O'Connor faced that question after their semi-final win over Limerick, which saw Kerry unable to score between a goal after 30 seconds and a free over half an hour later. Without Colm Cooper's 2-5 they would surely have perished.

So what happened? "One of the things I thought we had a problem with was being over anxious at the start of the game," recalls O'Connor. "Maybe getting the goal so early was the worst thing that could have happened to us because I think players went for the jugular after that and tried to finish the game off, instead of putting over a few points. We became a little obsessed with goals and suddenly we weren't scoring. And fellas lost a bit of confidence after that.

"Obviously, we'd love to have all our forwards scoring, but then maybe not all of them are there for scoring. I don't have a major problem with forwards not scoring once they're working and contributing. If their heads went down and their work-rate dropped then I'd have a problem."

BEING THE meticulously thoughtful manager that he is, O'Connor will have looked back at every aspect of the preparations going into the Limerick, and wondered. With so much talk about the competition for places and the intensity of the training sessions it's possible they might have left too much sweat in Fitzgerald Stadium.

"That does cross my mind," he admits. "Of course, it's a good thing to see players pushing themselves, but you can't be putting the gun to their heads the whole time. That can wear players down over the course of the season. I still think it's better to have that competition than not to have it.

"I do think the team is reasonably settled, but we always feel there are one or two positions where we can bring players in and it won't change the shape of the team too much.

"It would be worse if you were looking around for players. I don't see it as a huge issue. But look, there's a spin being put out there that we have this ferocious panel at the moment. We can only pick 15. The crux of the matter is trying to get that right.

"We can't pick 25. So we're just looking for the right balance between experience and players that are going well and players that just fit into the team. That's not an exact science. That's based on judgment and there's nothing to say we'll get it right all the time.

"But I think the training has improved since Limerick. I sense an extra bite in the training that wasn't there before the Limerick match. That was my own fault as much as anyone else. Certainly the training has been very, very fruitful since the Limerick game. Maybe it was the jolt that we got, that players realised that we're weren't as fluid as we should be."

All this talk makes it sound like Kerry are ready to hit a peak tomorrow. They'll probably need to come very close to peaking if they want to beat Cork, but that's going to make sustaining form until the end of September a little more challenging.

O'Connor just smiles at that suggestion. "Our trainer Pat Flanagan thinks that peaking is a bit of a misnomer, that it's only in the head. You just try to keep it at a good level all the time.

"Obviously, some games you get up for more than others. So we're aiming to peak now, and we'll just see what happens after that. We might go downhill afterwards, but we'll take our chances."

Kerry-Cork Rivalry

If there was one major turning point in the Kerry-Cork rivalry then it occurred in the summer of 1974. Kerry were enduring one of the worst periods in their football history, which included the 1973 final defeat to Cork by a record margin of 5-12 to 1-15. This was followed by another humiliation by Cork in the 1974 final, this time on a score of 1-11 to 0-7.

The onus was on then Kerry chairman Ger McKenna to change the fortunes of the county, and in September of 1974 he drove the 85 miles from his home in Ballyduff in the northern part of the county to the fishing village of Waterville along the southern coastline. There he met up with Mick O'Dwyer, the man he believed could steer Kerry back to the top.

O'Dwyer took his time to consider the offer, but within a few weeks took control of the Kerry team, and with that began one of the most dominant periods in the history of football. The irony of it was that Cork's sudden dominance in Munster had provided the spur for Kerry's revival.

On July 20th, 1975 Cork came to Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney expecting to defend their Munster title, still loaded with leading players such as Billy Morgan, Brian Murphy, Humphrey Kelleher, Kevin Jer O'Sullivan, Denis Coughlan and Dinny Allen.

O'Dwyer fielded a Kerry team loaded with youngsters, but they still steamrolled Cork by 10 points, winning 1-14 to 0-7. Kerry won the next seven Munster titles in succession, and converted them into five All-Ireland titles.

Championship meetings in total93

Kerry victories59

Cork 25

Draws9

Munster final meetings55

Kerry victories38

Cork victories17

1971 Munster Final

Cork 0-25 Kerry 0-14

This remains the last time Kerry lost a Munster final to Cork while being the reigning All-Ireland champions. There were 28,347 spectators at the old Athletic Grounds, and having beaten Meath for the All-Ireland title in 1970, Kerry started as favourites.

For a while it looked as if they live up to the expectations, but Cork substitute Denis Coughlan changed all that when introduced after 20 minutes. He went on to score 10 points and thus help land Cork their first Munster title since 1967.

CORK: B Morgan; S Looney, H Kelleher, D Hunt; KJ O'Sullivan, J Coleman, K Kehilly; B O'Neill, D Hunt; F Cogan, C Kelly, J Barrett; E Kirby, R Cummins, T O'Brien. Subs: D Coughlan, C Hartnett.

KERRY: J Culloty; D O'Sullivan, P O'Donoghue, S Fitzgerald; T Prendergast, J O'Keeffe, M O'Shea; M O'Connell, DJ Crowley; B Lynch, P Griffin, E O'Donoghue; M Gleeson, L Higgins, M O'Dwyer. Subs: P Lynch, M O'Sullivan, D Kavanagh.

1974 Munster final

Cork 1-11 Kerry 0-7

Cork were now All-Ireland champions, and suddenly dominant over their old rivals. But they'd never found it easy to beat Kerry in Killarney. Billy Morgan pulled off a series of great first-half saves from the likes of John Egan and Mickey O'Sullivan, limiting Kerry to two points in the first half.

The legendary Mick O'Connell was then introduced, but even he found Cork's resilience too much - and it was the Valentia Island man's last appearance in the green and gold. Yet this Kerry defeat came just before the dawn of a new era.

CORK: B Morgan; B Murphy, H Kelleher, D Hunt; KJ O'Sullivan, J Coleman, C Hartnett; D Long, D Coughlan; E Kirby, D Barron, D McCarthy; JB Murphy, R Cummins, J Barrett.

KERRY: J O'Mahony; D O'Sullivan, P O'Donoghue, D Crowley; P Ó Sé, J O'Keeffe, G O'Keeffe; P Lynch, J Long; E O'Donoghue, M O'Sullivan, G Power; J Egan, S Fitzgerald, M Sheehy. Subs: J Walsh, B Lynch, M O'Connell.

1976 Munster Final (replay)

Kerry 3-20 Cork 2-19

The newly-revamped Páirc Uí Chaoimh was packed to capacity for the matches that emphasised the changing of the guard in Munster football. Kerry had taken the Munster and All-Ireland titles in 1975.

Nothing could separate them the first day. Cork looked home and dry in the replay, but Kerry were given a controversial goal by Tipperary referee John Moloney. A shot by Seán Walsh appeared to have been saved, but Moloney waved the goal. Kerry forced the game into extra-time and won by four points.

KERRY: P O'Mahony; T Kennelly, J O'Keeffe, J Deenihan; P Ó Sé, G O'Keeffe, G Power; P Lynch, P McCarthy; D Moran, M O'Sullivan, P Spillane; B Lynch, M Sheehy, J Egan. Subs: S Walsh.

CORK: B Morgan; S O'Sullivan, B Murphy, D O'Driscoll; J Coleman, T Creedon, K Kehily; D Long, D McCarthy; C O'Rourke, D Allen, S Murphy; D Coughlan, JB Murphy; J Barrett. Subs: K Collins, B Field, C Murphy, K Murphy.

1981 Munster Final

Kerry 1-11 Cork 0-3

This was the low point for Cork football, but also brought about the changes that would eventually dethrone the champions. There were 41,292 spectators in Killarney to watch Kerry kill off their old rivals with remarkable ease, before going on to win their fourth All-Ireland in succession.

While Kerry did win back their title a year later, the subsequent All-Ireland defeat to Offaly had removed the invincibility of the team, and a rebuilt Cork team took advantage by winning the Munster title in 1983 - their first such honour in nine years.

KERRY: C Nelligan; J Deenihan, J O'Keeffe, M Spillane; P Ó Sé, T Kenneally, D Moran; J O'Shea, S Walsh; G Power, T Doyle, P Spillane; M Sheehy, E Liston, J Egan.

CORK: B Morgan; J Evans, K Kehilly, M Healy; M Moloney, C Ryan, J Kerrigan; T Creedon, C Collins; D Barry, P Hayes, T Dalton; F O'Mahony, D Allen, D Barron. Subs: J Allen, M Creedon, J Lynch.