Gaelic Games:In Kerry, the turnover in dynasties is swift. The All-Ireland champions rumbled out for their first truly solemn assignment under Pat O'Shea in the valley of the Macgillycuddy Reeks yesterday, and after a fine, heavyweight encounter against Cork, it was business as usual.
Cork were at times classy and at times inventive but they were squeezed out here and they will pack a dozen tantalising questions about what might have been.
After a runaway train of a second half, Kieran Donaghy stepped out of the crowd with a matinee star's sense of timing and delivered a point that could not have looked any more spectacular had it left a trail of flame. Two minutes later, the bullet-headed substitute Seán O'Sullivan thumped another heartbreaker. The dividing line was thin and cruel but how many of Kerry's Munster championships have been that way? This marked their 71st provincial sweep and they broke a minor hex, delivering their first title in the stately and panoramic Fitzgerald Stadium since 1986.
"Well, it was always said Killarney was bad luck for Kerry so maybe we are going to turn it around," grinned Pat O'Shea, relieved to have secured his first piece of silverware on his home pitch.
The incoming Kerry boss is still as skinny as a teenager, and yesterday he wore the pressure of a serious clash lightly on his slender shoulders. Although his credentials are impeccable, he was pitted against one of the maverick mastermind's of the modern game. Billy Morgan has spent the last 40 years playing and managing in Fitzgerald Stadium, and in his most recent match he did not make a bad call. Cork were labouring in the spell of a supreme Kerry show early in the second half when Morgan began to radically reshape his team and encouraged a fightback that had its flashpoint with Donnacha O'Connor's goal, after a typical Rebel move of smart opportunism and cool finishing.
That shot flipped the match into a parallel universe, leaving the scores at 1-10 to 1-12 with 52 minutes gone and Kerry seemingly stunned. Morgan's boldest stroke was in bringing his towering forward Michael Cussen out to midfield. The young Glanmire man had indicated his quality by eclipsing Tom O'Sullivan with two wonderful first-half points. Released in the middle of the park, he continued to cause havoc.
"We found that difficult," O'Shea said with candour.
"Darragh (Ó Sé) had been winning a lot of ball for us and was doing exceptionally well and they wanted to counteract that by bringing out Michael Cussen.
"In fairness to Cussen, a lot of people may have underestimated him coming into this championship. He showed today he is a very good footballer and can contribute in different ways."
Cussen's elevation in profile may be a homage to the havoc big Donaghy caused in last year's All-Ireland. But it worked.
There was enough material in this defeat to signal Cork as real contenders. When they played fearlessly, they troubled the champions. And just before Kerry hit those thunderbolt points, Cork created a gaping goal chance for Derek Kavanagh but the big midfielder, his blood-red jersey visibly stretched by a desperate Kerry hand, blasted wide. Make no mistake, the visitors had the winning of this title. Instead, the qualifiers loom. But Morgan seemed at peace with the proposition.
"There is a character about this team," he mused before boarding the bus. "There is a fierce togetherness about them.
"Six points and playing against a very strong wind it looked curtains. But I never felt we were out of it."
Cork probed at every Kerry sensitive spot - literally so in the shenanigans between Noel O'Leary and Paul Galvin, who became quite intimate over the hour. But significantly, the champions stood up to it. All in all, the machine looks in good order.
Darragh Ó Sé seems set to prolong the magnificent twilight of his career. There were moments here when he seemed to dwarf the vast mountains that provided the canvas for his high-flying artistry.
It is hard to imagine how Kerry football will fare when he leaves.
Kerry were measured in the first half and burst into life with Colm Cooper's 47th-minute goal. It was a familiar scene: the long ball from Killian Young to Donaghy, panic in the rearguard and a champagne finish from the copper-headed genius.
A minute later, Cooper lobbed a tricky point and turned on his heels, not even bothering to see it over the bar. Fitzgerald Stadium roared. Such is the arrogance of champions.
It might have faded into a routine Kerry stroll after that. Cork had different ideas and nearly perfected a great escape. Nearly.
A testy week for Kingdom football matters ends, then, with the old truth. Kerry are Munster champions. Swamped by the fans, Donaghy paused to give his verdict on his late and memorable point.
"There was a lot of fellas that could have done it but if fell to me," he reasoned lightly.
It was throwaway modesty but also a striking analysis of why Kerry have triumphed so. Whoever the chance falls to, it is more often than not taken with splendour.
So Kerry march the old-fashioned way. Three games between them and the All-Ireland title. Thunderous days ahead.
At Croke Park, Kilkenny were ruthless in dismissing Wexford's feeble challenge 2-24 to 1-12 to claim their 64th Leinster senior hurling title while Laois advanced to play Dublin in the Leinster football final after a 1-13 to 0-13 defeat of Wexford.
