SOME TEAM selections are more predictable than others – and there’s certainly no great surprise in the Cork team to face Kerry in Sunday’s Munster football semi-final in Killarney.
Manager Conor Counihan has decided on one change from the team that beat Waterford by 14 points last Sunday week: Patrick Kelly will make his first championship start at right half forward as a direct swap for Paul O’Flynn, but otherwise it’s effectively the same Cork team that has been building some notable momentum since the start of the year.
It means Alan O’Connor is back to match fitness, having sustained an injury early in the Waterford match when he was replaced by Fintan Goold – and that is significant. O’Connor is one of Cork’s several so-called “six-footers” which should give them a height advantage against Kerry on Sunday, albeit a marginal one.
Both O’Connor and his midfield partner Nicholas Murphy stand 6ft 5in. Centre forward Pearse O’Neill is an inch higher, with centre back and captain Graham Canty and goalkeeper Alan Quirke also part of their six-footer club.
It’s not all about size, however. Counihan also has speed and agility in abundance in the likes of Ger Spillane, who maintains his place at left half back ahead of Noel O’Leary, and also in Paul Kerrigan, who is one of the most Cork improved players so far this year.
The 22-year-old Kerrigan made his senior debut as a substitute against Kerry in last year’s Munster final, but made his first start against Waterford – where he hit 1-2 in the 2-18 to 1-7 victory.
He captained the Cork under-21 team to an All-Ireland title back in 2007, and featured with Nemo Rangers during their All-Ireland final run last year.
Kerry manager Jack O’Connor was forced into some more difficult decisions in selecting his team – in terms of who to leave out. For the first time in 14 seasons, Darragh Ó Sé has failed to make the starting 15, injury or suspension aside, as Tadhg Kennelly will make his senior championship debut, selected to partner Micheal Quirke at midfield. It’s completes Kennelly’s rapid retransformation from Australian Rules football – and certainly makes for an interesting championship debut. Team captain Darren O’Sullivan also makes it, named at left corner forward alongside Tommy Walsh and Colm Cooper, while Donncha Walsh gets the nod in the half forward line alongside Paul Galvin and Declan O’Sullivan. Tommy Griffin is named at centre back, and Tom O’Sullivan at full back.
It means David Moran also misses out, and is named among the list of substitutes that also includes Killian Young, Seamus Scanlon, Mike Frank Russell, Bryan Sheehan, Eoin Brosnan and emerging star Barry John Walsh – younger brother of Tommy.
Elsewhere, the McGourty brothers CJ and Kieran are the sole championship debutants in the Antrim team for the Leinster SHC clash against Dublin at Croke Park on Sunday.
Ciaran Herron (hamstring) and Michael Herron (broken foot) miss out through injury, but their brother Michael starts at left half forward. Johnny Campbell is fit to take his place at win back. Dublin will announce their team after training on Friday evening.
CORK (SF v Kerry): A Quirke; R Carey, M Shields, A Lynch; J Miskella, G Canty, G Spillane; A O’Connor, N Murphy; P Kelly, P O’Neill, P Kerrigan; D Goulding, J Masters, D O’Connor.
KERRY: D Murphy; M O Se, T O’Sullivan, P Reidy; T O Se, T Griffin, A O’Mahony; T Kennelly, M Quirke; P Galvin, Declan O’Sullivan, D Walsh; C Cooper, T Walsh, D O’Sullivan.
ANTRIM (SH v Dublin): R McGarry; K McGourty, N McGarry, A Graffin; J Campbell, C Donnelly, N McAuley; P Richmond, K McKeegan; S Delargy, N McManus, M Herron; CJ McGourty, K Stewart, PJ O’Connell.
