Revenge Tastes So Sweet

7th Jul 2008

Revenge Tastes so Sweet
Cork 1-16 Kerry 1-11

Oh revenge tastes so sweet! Whatever Conor Counihan said at half time yesterday needs to be said before every match left in this championship!

Limping awkwardly back over the county bounds to the Animal Kingdom, Kerry arrived home under fire having been caught in the Rebel's second half ambush to which they simply had no reply (unless you count a meagre three points as a reply from reigning All Ireland champions).

Spillane's awkward neutrality: another reason to enjoy the Sunday Game

Even the ultra-cynical Dara Ó Sé was embarrassingly sent packing after the ref finally lost patience with his persistent fouling right in front of his nose. Even Dara turned towards the sideline before the referee produced the second yellow card. He knew. We knew.

KERRY FAILURES
This was Kerry's chance to bury Cork for years after the defeat in Croke Park last summer but the Rebels were having none of it - showing that a united team with a straight forward gameplan and an indomitable spirit can beat the best…and beat them well.

Smashing one goal and thirteen points over the Kerry boys heads in thirty five minutes contrasted with a first half where Cork seemed to decide that three points would be enough of a platform to build their victory from.

YOU'RE HAVIN A LAUGH
There was even time for a bit of craic at the end as Cork substitute Paul Kerrigan grabbed a high ball and found himself in the Kerry square playing puppet master to Young and Murphy in the Kerry goal.

He swung to the right, then turned to his left and then pivoted back to his right again before his mesmerised opponents were put out of their misery with a simple point. Kerry who had already begun to look weak were now starting to look like fools.

Michael Cussen: involved directly or indirectly in 1-6.

REVENGE
The Kerry fans who danced and roared in our faces as we left Croke Park last summer hung their heads low yesterday evening. Both Kerry fans who travelled to Cork looked disappointed as they left the stadium - a week of near-pneumonia would not be compensated by the result at full time.

No doubt this is the kick-up-the-hole that Kerry need to win their three-in-a-row (Kerry fans can thank us later) but regardless of what happens now, they cannot say they were undefeated on their travels. Cork's Munster final victory is a permanent taunt if that three-in-a-row victory ever comes to pass.

CORK FANS LOYALTY
While the likes of Diarmuid Duggan, Pearse O'Neill, Daniel Gouldling, Fintan Goold, James Masters and Michael Cussen were the obvious front page heroes, the 20,000 Cork fans who defied the apocalyptic weather conditions played an undeniable part in yesterday's victory. Despite the apparent impending misery of the second half Cork fans stood by their team at half time willing to be drenched to the bone in the hope of hope - like they have so many times before.

On February 1st over 3,000 fans marched through Cork city centre in support of the striking footballers in conditions even worse than those on Sunday. And this was after the painful defeat to Kerry in Croker last September. Cork fans will never abandon their teams.

Those "glass-half-empty" fans who point to the empty spaces in Pairc Ui Chaoimh need, like Conor Counihan at half time, to think again and be positive.

If Cork can continue on like they left off against Kerry and show their fans that they really mean business, there is no stadium big enough on this island to hold the hoards of Rebels willing to become part of the revolution.

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