It was a bitterly disappointing night for Cork football on Monday, as they were soundly beaten by 15 points by Kerry in the Electric Ireland Munster minor football championship final.
The Kingdom were utterly ruthless in putting 2-18 past Cork at Pairc Uí Rinn, as the home crowd were left stunned.
That the game took place in Cork city will only deepen the wound for the young Rebels side, and they are left with a lot of self-reflection ahead of the All-Ireland quarter-final against the Connacht champions next month.
It is the latest in a string of concerning results for Cork across the age grades in Munster.
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Concerns swirl over Cork underage structure after big defeat to Kerry
13 May 2024; Kerry captain Ben Murphy is presented with the cup by Munster Council vice-chairman Tim Murphy after the Electric Ireland Munster GAA Football Minor Championship Final match between Cork and Kerry at Páirc Ui Rinn in Cork. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
When Kerry hosted Cork in Tralee last month, the margin was just two points. There was a far wider gulf between the teams on Monday evening.
Kerry were eight points up at half-time and second-half goals from Ronan Carroll and Ben Murphy extended the margin to 15 points by the whistle. Cork could only muster 1-6 in front of their home crowd.
Speaking at full-time, Cork manager Micheál O'Sullivan was shell-shocked, saying that the management could not have foreseen what he called a "no-show" from his team:
It’s very disappointing. None of us saw this coming.
It’s more disappointing for the players because they know that they are better than that. They just collectively didn’t show up. It wasn’t just one or two players, it was across the board. It was as poor a performance as we could have imagined.
We as a management group had the belief that we would have a right crack off this one. The players had that belief. We thought there wasn’t a whole pile between the teams...we certainly couldn’t have predicted that kind of no show from our guys.
It is the second consecutive year that has seen Cork beaten by Kerry in the Munster decider - though last year's margin of five points looks far more respectable now.
That is not to send up the Cork minors - there appear to be wider issues at play in the county's efforts to return to the top in Munster.
Sobering few weeks for Cork football against Kerry in the various Munster championships.
Seniors: lost 0-18 to 1-12.
U20s (x 2): 1-12 to 0-11 & 1-15 to 0-12, including Munster final.
Minors (v 2): 0-12 to 1-7 & 2-18 to 1-6, including Munster final.— Kieran McCarthy (@KieranMcC_SS) May 13, 2024
Over the past few months, the county has been beaten by Kerry five times across senior, U-20 and minor level, at a combined margin of 30 points.
There have been positive signs at senior level that Cork are slowly rising in prominence - ironically, last month's Munster SFC semi-final defeat to Kerry was one of their more encouraging performances in recent years. But, with the gap to Kerry not exactly closing at underage level, it seems as though the Kingdom continue to have their old rivals at arm's length.
Cork now have almost a month to prepare for the Electric Ireland All-Ireland MFC quarter-final, where they will play the Connacht champions (Roscommon/Galway or Mayo) on June 8. One can only hope that the Cork management can manage to get this group of young footballers back on their feet for a decent charge at the All-Ireland title.
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