Danger sparks Kerry surge

Kerry's old hands know the time to react to danger, like when the clock is ticking down and a foreign hand is poised on the dynamite plunger. In yesterday's Munster final at Semple Stadium - as alien football soil as the men in green and gold will likely find without leaving their own province - some of their favourite sons responded when the need was most to rebuke the fanciful notion that Tipperary could depose them.

It was tough graft, though. In the end, Kerry had four points to spare over a Tipperary side who refused to be tied down by historical facts and figures. Indeed, it took some of Maurice Fitzgerald's old magic, especially in the final 10 minutes, to extinguish Tipperary's fire and ensure that Kerry would retain their Munster crown and take another step on the journey to keeping their hands on the Sam Maguire.

The experience garnered in that march to the All-Ireland title last year was crucial yesterday. When lesser teams might have buckled, Kerry's strengths came to the fore: Seamus Moynihan stuck well to the awesome task of policing Declan Browne; midfielders Dara O Se and Donal Daly won vital possession; and, in attack, Dara O Cinneide turned in a tour de force performance and Fitzgerald responded admirably to the challenge.

Fitzgerald can be a thing of pure genius. He may have had better days on a football field, but not this year. After a winter and spring spent nursing injuries, Fitzgerald's character - as well as his sublime football touches - were demonstrated in the moments after Tipperary substitute James Williams gave his team a lifeline with a 62nd-minute goal, a shot that crashed down off the crossbar and, according to the green-flag umpire, over the line to reduce the gap to just three points.

With the Tipperary supporters in the crowd of 27,263 rediscovering their vocal chords, three Tipperary men went for the kick-out and none of them got it. The ball was swept down to Fitzgerald, who pointed deftly with his left foot. A couple of minutes later, he fended off the robust challenges of Mark Sheahan and Conor O'Dwyer to win the ball and even more deftly kick the ball over his shoulder with his right foot for another point. It was the moment when Kerry knew they were safe.

Equally, it was the time that Tipperary knew they weren't getting their hands on the trophy they haven't won since 1935. They'd given as good as they got in the first-half and were somewhat unfortunate to trail at the break by a point - 0-7 to 0-6 - but Tipperary lost their way slightly in the second-half and allowed a six-point margin to appear before briefly regenerating their ambitions with Williams's goal.

Much of Tipperary's game-plan centred around Browne, their fine forward. He was moved in to start the game at full-forward and Barry O'Shea assumed the responsibility of marking him until tweaking a hamstring. When Browne shifted out to the corner, Moynihan moved back from wing-back to perform the task.

Browne finished with seven points, two of them from play, the second coming shortly after Moynihan took on the job of marking him, when the Tipperary forward rounded his man and picked off his point like a veteran. But he was aided by some tremendous, hard work from his colleagues, most nota bly Davy Hogan, who covered oceans of space, and Brendan Cummins, who combined speed with strength.

In the first-half, Tipperary, playing with the wind, were mostly decisive. They even had the belief in themselves to initiate the first worthwhile move of the match, in the third minute, when Browne delivered a quick ball to Peter Lambert and he was fouled by Stephen Stack. Browne pointed, but the effort was annulled a minute later when Daly kicked a point and Tipperary were never to get their noses in front again.

However, Tipperary stuck to Kerry's coat-tails. Incredibly, it was 16 minutes into the game before Kerry got a free - indeed, referee Niall Barrett was quite inconsistent - but, by that time, they'd followed up on Daly's opening point with some lovely efforts from Pa Laide, O Cinneide and a fisted point from Mike Francis Russell to ensure that Tipperary's confidence wouldn't soar too high.

Tipperary's forwards weren't alone in making a good fight. Fullback O'Dwyer did very well to curtail John Crowley and Niall Kelly demonstrated the art of blocking quite superbly on two occasions, denying Kerrymen scores each time. And, given their work and footballing brains, it was probably a mite unfair that Tipperary walked in at half-time a point behind, although Browne had kicked a curling free wide with the last action of the half.

Kerry were more authoritative on the restart. Tipperary defenders Liam Cronin and Kelly gave away two needless frees within the opening five minutes and Fitzgerald effortlessly pointed them. And Philly Ryan deprived Laide - in what proved to be Kerry's only clear goal chance - with a fine save in the 45th minute after Crowley nudged on O Cinneide's pass.

However, Kerry got five of the first six scores of the second half to take control and, although their team kept going, Tipperary's supporters were wilting until the goal arrived in the 62nd minute. Instead of sparking further life into Tipperary's ambitions, it merely served to force Kerry to react. And, led by Fitzgerald, they did. Indeed, the football they produced for the last eight minutes is probably what they'll aspire to for a full 70 minutes some day.