All-Ireland champions Kerry got the defence of their Sam Maguire title back underway yesterday after they held off a stiff Cork challenge, winning by just two points in Pairc Ui Chaoimh.
The Kingdom looked to be well of their best in the game and were thankful for a controversial 46th minute David Clifford penalty which aided them to victory.
That's a clear penalty for Kerry. O'Driscoll is key. He gets drawn to the ball and leaves Clifford free. Simple pass and simple finish. It's a good goalscoring opportunity without any question. Strange thing is that the rule has existed for a while but is so seldom used pic.twitter.com/6J4inBPaL6
— Cahair O'Kane (@CahairOKane1) June 3, 2023
Jack O'Connor's side still need to beat Louth in two weeks time to guarantee themselves a place in the knockout stages of the All-Ireland series, but it looks like they will have only done enough to play in a Preliminary Quarter-Final unless Mayo slip up against Louth this afternoon or Cork.
“I suppose we mixed the good, with the bad, with the average. I thought we were decent in the first half,” the Kerry boss said after the game.
“From the point of view of digging in and showing a bit of bottle and a bit of resistance, you have to give our fellas credit in the second half. But, if you are saying I would be happy with the overall performance, there is a bit of work to do yet.
“Today wasn’t about champagne football. It wasn’t about polished performances. It was about digging in and being better defensively than we were against Mayo. We were cut open against Mayo to an alarming degree. Mayo got six goal chances and scored one.
“I am not sure Cork got any clear-cut goal chances today, so that was the first thing we had to correct. We can work on the other stuff; a bit of fluency and a bit more flow up front. But you have to get that other side of the game right first.”
Joe Brolly hits out at Kerry 'mediocrity'
While O'Connor wasn't overly pleased with his Kerry side's performance, Joe Brolly certainly wasn't.
Writing in his Sunday Independent column this morning Brolly blasted last year's champions as effectively a one-man team.
“Without Clifford they are nothing,” he said.
“Seanie O’Shea is a beautiful free-taker and kicked three delicate points in the first half, but when it came to the business end, it was Clifford, as always, who was the difference.
“Kerry’s mediocrity is shocking.
“Without him there would have been no All-Ireland. Without him, they would have lost yesterday to an awful Cork team.”
The former Derry All-Ireland winner clearly doesn't rate their chances of retaining Sam Maguire.
The latest comments from Brolly however could serve as strong motivation for O'Connor and his Kerry players in the weeks ahead.
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