Kerry 0-18  Cork 0-9 
Electric Ireland Munster Minor Football Final

Cork’s Munster Championship journey came to a close on Friday evening in Tralee, as a well-drilled Kerry side retained their title with a strong performance at Austin Stack Park.

While the scoreboard ultimately favoured the hosts, Cork showed moments of real promise and will now turn their attention to the All-Ireland quarter-finals, where they remain firmly in contention.

Playing into a stiff breeze in the second half, Cork had battled well in the opening period and created a number of chances that, if converted, might have changed the momentum of the contest. A late red card for Cathal McCarthy made the task even tougher in the closing stages, but the young Rebels kept battling to the end.

Points from Eoin Maguire, Ben Corkery Delaney, and Tom Whooley gave Cork a foothold in the game, while defensively there were brave performances from the likes of Aaron Keane and Matthew Kiernan.

Despite the result, the Cork camp will take valuable learnings from this clash with the reigning champions – learnings that could yet prove vital as they enter the All-Ireland series.

This group has shown resilience throughout the campaign, and they’ll be determined to bounce back when they take on the Ulster champions Tyrone next.

Cork Scorers: E Maguire 0-4 (2f), B Corkery Delaney 0-3 (1f), T Whooley 0-1, E G O’Sullivan 0-1

Cork Team: Rory Twohig; Ben Coffey, Aaron Keane, Matthew Kiernan; Eoin Looney, Cathal McCarthy, Brian Cronin; Samuel Kelleher Leavy, Ronan Hayes; Tom Whooley, Donagh Flynn, Niall O’Callaghan; Sean O’Sullivan, Ben Corkery Delaney, Eoin Maguire
Subs: Joe Miskella for S O’Sullivan (HT), Eamonn Ger O’Sullivan for N O’Callaghan (37), Jerry O’Leary for E Looney (37), Jack Hanrahan for S Kelleher Leavy (53), Luke O’Mahony for T Whooley (58)