Advertisement League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories Chris Óg Jones and Tadhg Morely tussle for possession.Bryan Keane/INPHO FreeThriller Kerry narrowly hold off Cork heroics to return to Munster final after extra-time battle Joe O’Connor kicked a crucial goal to settle the tie. 9.41pm, 19 Apr 2025 Share options LAST UPDATE 28 mins ago (After extra-time) THE DEFENDING MUNSTER champions live to fight another day – against Clare in a fortnight in the provincial final – but not before they were put through the wringer by a Cork team that will be sick that they couldn’t land the knock-out blow. The Rebels went toe to toe and score for score for the best part of 90 minutes with the Kingdom, but it was a brilliant goal from Joe O’Connor that rescued the win for the visitors in front of 14,358 spectators under Saturday night lights in Pairc Ui Chaoimh. Against all expectations, the Rebels mounted an Easter rising that Kerry manager Jack O’Connor had forewarned would come, and in the end it took O’Connor’s goal in the 86th minute to get the champions off the ropes. Kerry needed just 20 seconds to score their first point through Ruairi Murphy, but Cork were back on terms within four minutes through Mark Cronin. David Clifford and Chris Óg Jones traded points, but then Kerry put together five unanswered points as the reigning champions threatened to run away with it. O’Driscoll’s two-pointer momentarily pulled Cork back into the contest, but two more David Clifford points, either side of one from Paul Geaney, had Kerry in a 0-10 to 0-4 lead after 21 minutes. Kerry lost goalkeeper Shane Ryan to injury after a goalmouth clash with Brian Hurley, but Kerry kicked on with another Paul Geaney score to open up a seven-point lead. Ian Maguire and O’Driscoll knocked over a point apiece, and then O’Driscoll scored his second two-pointer to cut the gap to three. Mark Cronin converted a ‘45’ to leave it 0-11 to 0-9 at half time. Advertisement Hurley’s two-point free early in the second half levelled the score, but scores from Sean O’Shea, the Geaneys, the Cliffords and Barry Dan O’Sullivan pushed Kerry into a 0-17 to 0-12 lead. Hurley pointed for Cork but Kerry struck for a goal, with Paul Geaney netting beyond Micheal Aodh Martin to put the Kingdom seven clear. Paudie Clifford was red carded for a clumsily high tackle on Matty Taylor, Cathail O’Mahony and Sean McDonnell converted two-pointers and Chris Óg Jones raided a 61st minute goal. Two minutes later Ruairi Deane kicked Cork into the lead for the first time, but it was short-lived – Sean O’Shea scoring Kerry’s second goal to make it 2-17 to 1-18. Back came Cork with Cronin (free) and Eoghan McSweeney scoring to send the game to extra-time. David Clifford scored a free and a two-pointer for Kerry to take a 2-20 to 1-21 lead into the changeover, with Cork reduced to 14 men after Sean Brady was red carded. Points from Jones and a two-pointer from McSweeney put Cork in fron, 1-24 to 2-20, and then Killian Spillane and Conor Cahalane traded points. Joe O'Connor buries it - no stopping that one! 💥 GAA+ clips brought to you by @AIB_GAA#TheToughest #CORVKER pic.twitter.com/BcSPB3YtUG— GAA+ (@GAAPlusOfficial) April 19, 2025 Penalties were looking a distinct possibility and few outside the whitewash would have complained, but then O’Connor struck arguably the sweetest shot of the game to beat Martin for the third time and sealed the win for Kerry, and set them up for a Munster final against Clare in Killarney in a fortnight. Scorers for Kerry: D Clifford 0-9 (2p, 1f), P Geaney 1-3, S O’Shea 1-1, J O’Connor 1-1, P Clifford 0-2, D Geaney 0-2, R Murphy 0-1, B D O’Sullivan 0-1, K Spillane 0-1 Scorers for Cork: B O’Driscoll 0-5 (2 2p), C Og Jones 1-3, S McDonnell 0-3 (2p), B Hurley 0-3 (2pf), M Cronin 0-3 (1f, 1 ’45’), E McSweeney 0-3 (2p), C O’Mahony 0-2 (2p), I Maguire 0-1, R Deane 0-1, C Cahalane 0-1 KERRY: Shane Ryan; Paul Murphy, Jason Foley, Dylan Casey; Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Gavin White, Tadhg Morley; Joe O’Connor, Barry Dan O’Sullivan; Ruairí Murphy, Paudie Clifford, Graham O’Sullivan, David Clifford, Paul Geaney, Dylan Geaney. Related Reads Wexford win Leinster opener as Clare reach third Munster football final in a row Galway have plenty reasons to be cheerful, but can 2025 provide payback for recent hurt? Subs: Sean O’Brien for B D O’Sullivan (temp, 13-14), Armin Heinrich for G White (temp, 14-22), Shane Murphy for S Ryan (inj, 24), Sean O’Sheaa for R Murphy (ht), Damien Bourke for P Murphy (ht), Tony Brosnan for P Geaney (60), Sean O’Brien for B D O’Sullivan (65), Killian Spillane for D Geaney (et), Micheal Burns for G O’Sullivan (et, 77), A Heinrich for B O Beaglaoich (et, 81) CORK: Micheál Aodh Martin, Seán Brady, Daniel O’Mahony, Tommy Walsh, Brian O’Driscoll, Rory Maguire, Matty Taylor, Ian Maguire, Colm O’Callaghan, Paul Walsh, Seán Powter, Seán McDonnell, Mark Cronin, Brian Hurley, Chris Óg Jones. Subs: Maurice Shanley for T Walsh (14), Ruairi Deane for S Powter (47), Eoghan McSweeney for P Walsh (52), Cathail O’Mahony for B Hurley (59), Neil Lorden for M Shanley (65), Sean Walsh for I Maguire (et, 77), Conor Cahalane for S McDonnell (77), Hugh O’Connor for M Cronin (et, ht), Darragh Cashman for R Deane (temp, 83-ft) Referee: Barry Tiernan (Dublin) Check out the latest episode of The42′s GAA Weekly podcast here Paul Brennan View 11 comments Send Tip or Correction Embed this post To embed this post, copy the code below on your site Email “Kerry narrowly hold off Cork heroics to return to Munster final after extra-time battle”. Recipient's Email Feedback on “Kerry narrowly hold off Cork heroics to return to Munster final after extra-time battle”. Your Feedback Your Email (optional) Report a Comment Please select the reason for reporting this comment. Please give full details of the problem with the comment... This is YOUR comments community. 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