Champions Kerry into All-Ireland final

Kerry		Cork
	3-14 - 2-13

There was another revival, but no epic Cork comeback in another thrilling chapter to this storied rivalry. In the end Kerry's unbending will and ruthless brilliance saw them through past their ancient rivals - again.

SFC Semi-Final Replay
Cork 2-13 Kerry 3-14 

Eight points down at the start of the second half, Cork thought about it - thought hard. They levelled the game at 2-12 apiece with just five minutes remaining before Kerry quickly put them in their place in a thrilling finale to a game that had looked like it was all but over in the first-half. 

But this Cork team has been infused with steel and grit under Conor Counihan. They again threatened to derail Kerry's three-in-a-row hopes with an incredible display against all the odds.

After 50 minutes, they had just one point from play - Donncha O'Connor's fisted effort ten minutes in - but Daniel Goulding inspired the Rebels with an incredible performance that in the end yielded 1-7 (1-5 frees), a brilliant individual goal just before half-time the highlight..

At that point, Kerry had an eight-point lead (that magic mark that seems to stir Rebel hearts). But the Kingdom have thrown away leads of that size like rice at a wedding in the last two meetings against Cork.

The Rebels struck back with 1-6 without reply and, incredibly, it looked like history was about to repeat itself after Pearse O'Neill's goal and a quite brilliant lofted point from O'Connor from a very long way out.

But Colm Cooper, who finished with 1-8, snaffled a precious goal to stem the red tide and restore the Kerry lead as the game reached its epic climax. And the 'Gooch' added another free at the death to give the All-Ireland champions a lead that even this remarkable Cork side - whose Derek Kavanagh saw red late on - could not peg back.

Donncha O'Connor came into Cork's side at centre-forward, while Nicholas Murphy started in midfield alongside O'Neill. The big move, however, was the introduction of Noel O' Leary at wing back - no doubt a ploy to counter Kerry's physicality - at the expense of Ger Spillane. 

Pat O'Shea, too, opted to tinker with his named 15, starting Michael Quirke at midfield in place of the suspended Darragh O Se. In defence, Tommy Griffin overcame a late injury scare to take his place at full-back, with Tom O'Sullivan moving to the corner and Padraig Reidy missing out in the reshuffle. 

Kerry were the first off the mark, as Kieran Donaghy beat Kavanagh to the first high ball into the danger zone and passed off to Cooper, who pointed well off his left. 

Cork were nervous in the opening minutes and those nerves manifested themselves in five wides, from which at least three were scoreable chances. Donncha O'Connor was guilty of two of those misses, one of which, unforgivably, was from an easy free.
  
Tommy Walsh showed the Cork attack how it was done when he beat Diarmuid Duggan to the ball and slotted over off his right to give the Kingdom a two-point lead.

Cork, for all their possession, kept hitting delivering high balls into Cussen, Hayes and Goulding. It was a gambit that failed miserably and only when Counihan brought the giant Glanmire man out the field in the second half did Cork start to play well.  

O'Connor got Cork off the mark after ten minutes when he slinked through the Kerry defence before fisting over. Goulding then landed a free to level the game. But Kerry hit back with three points without reply, Seamus Scanlon hitting a long-range effort from play while Cooper punished the Cork defence with two frees. 

Walsh was by now starting to do damage in the full-forward line and Duggan looked in big trouble. The Cork boss opted to leave his corner back on the field and it proved to be a big mistake as Walsh beat him to a high ball on 24 minutes and scythed through the Cork defence before caressing the ball past a motionless Alan Quirke to leave the Kingdom 1-5 to 0-3 ahead. 

Walsh continued to wreak havoc in a two-man inside forward line with Kieran Donaghy causing Cork all sorts of problems. Cooper hit two more frees to extend the Kerry lead to seven points before Counihan took Duggan off and replaced him with Michael Shields.

Cooper added another from play - his sixth of the half - to leave Kerry eight points to the good and cruising as half-time approached. 

Then, from nowhere, Cork hit back. Michael Cussen was now operating in midfield and he won good ball before delivering to John Hayes, who offloaded to Daniel Goulding. The Eire Og youngster found a way through a thicket of bodies and blasted the ball expertly to the roof of the net.  

Cork appeared to have the momentum, but it was Kerry who flew out of the blocks with a Declan O'Sullivan goal inside a minute of the restart. O'Sullivan prodded the ball home from close range after Kieran Donaghy had handpassed a tidy ball inside the Cork defence. 

Walsh added another Kerry point, with Tomas O Se and Eoin Brosnan also getting in on the act as Goulding's one-man show kept the Rebels treading water. 

Cork, however, then began to take over the midfield as Quirke tired and Scanlon drifted out of the game after a brilliant first 50 minutes. Nicholas Murphy and O'Neill took control of the game and finally delivered some good ball to the Cork attack after so much profligacy in the opening period. 

In the end, though, Cork were repelled by Kerry, who are now just one win away from a third successive All-Ireland title.

Cork: A Quirke; D Duggan, D Kavanagh, A Lynch; J Miskella, G Canty, N O'Leary, P O' Neill, N Murphy; S O'Brien, D O'Connor, K McMahon; D Goulding, M Cussen, J Hayes. 

Kerry: D Murphy; M O Se, T Griffin, T O'Sullivan; T O Se, A O'Mahony, K Young; M Quirke, S Scanlon; B Sheehan, C Cooper, D Walsh; D O'Sullivan, K Donaghy, T Walsh.    

Scorers for Cork: D O'Connor (0-4, 0-2f), D Goulding, D Goulding 1-7 (0-5f), J Miskella 0-1, J Masters 0-1, P O'Neill 1-0. 

Subs: M Shields for D Duggan '29, F Goold for S O'Brien HT, J Masters for K McMahon '42, P Kerrigan for J Hayes '49.

Scorers for Kerry: C Cooper (1-8, 0-6f), T Walsh (1-2), S Scanlon (0-2), D O'Sullivan (1-0), T O Se 0-1, E Brosnan 0-1. 

Subs: D O'Sullivan for M Quirke '50, D Moran for E Brosnan '65, D Bohan for T Walsh '72, M Quirke for K Donaghy '72. 

Referee: Jimmy White (Donegal)

Attendance: 65,252 (Approx)