7 May 2022; Erica McGlynn of Kerry scores her side's first goal during the TG4 Munster Senior Ladies Football Championship Semi-Final match between Tipperary and Kerry at Páirc Ui Rinn in Cork. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

You'd have mixed reactions to some aspects of today’s TG4 LGFA Munster final.

Great to see it in the glorious venue of Killarney – a stage worthy of its protagonists - and making history as part of a double-header with the men’s decider.

But the throw-in time (12.15) and the gap to the second game (3pm) may negate any shared audience benefit.

Seeing Cork’s dual players pulled in two directions again (their camogie side play Clare tonight in Páirc Uí Rinn at 6pm) and Kerry not currently getting access to Currans for training leaves plenty of room for head scratching.

But this is a game that promises no distractions or disappointment.

Few teams in the country have taken more motivation from Meath’s rapid, giant-killing rise than Kerry, who lost to them in last year’s Division Two final.

Now the Kingdom are Division 2 champions and beat Armagh for that promotion after losing two of the last three finals.

The manner of their comeback - surviving the sin-binning of Louise Ni Mhuircheartaigh, 1-2 off the bench from Danielle O’Leary and scoring the last five points – showed serious guts and cohesion.

There’s a sense that Declan Quill and Darragh Long’s time with this side is now bearing fruit.

Injury now deprives them of Julie O’Sullivan who held Aimee Macken to just three points from play in that league final but Cait Lynch’s return this season is vital to bolstering their defence.

Stalwarts like Lorraine Scanlon and Ní Mhuircheartaigh need little introduction but Erica McGlynn – the Kingdom’s biggest find from the Underdogs TV series since a certain K Donaghy –has provided a new threat upfront.

She scored 2-3 against Tipperary and dovetails particularly well in a super full-forward line in which Niamh Ní Conchúir is also motoring.

Throw in home advantage and the challenge increases for Rebels' boss Shane Royane in his first year in charge.

He's already had double All-Ireland club success with a tranche of the panel (as Mourneabbey boss) but has lost some standout players, like their two 2021 All-Stars Hannah Looney (working in America) and Erika O’Shea (to Australian Rules).

Today’s dual clash means he’ll have Libby Coppinger back but loses Maebh Cahalane, and Brid O’Sullivan is also still out injured. He's still got a team full of household names and ramped up his bid to tweak them stylistically when, without their Mourneabbey gang, they were quickly out of league contention.

Brilliant kick-passing was one of Cork’s hallmarks when they reigned supreme in the game but, in recent seasons, hand-passing and defensive structures have come to dominate most inter-county teams.

Dublin are the biggest exception (which explains their four in-a-row) and it’s clear their nearest neighbours have absorbed their vital example of putting the ‘foot’ back into football.

“I was very happy with our kicking against Waterford. That’s something we brought in at the start of the year, we wanted to move the ball quickly through that middle third,” Ronayne says. “It takes time, you’ve got to get the kicking and the movement right, but we’re trying to transition the ball that bit quicker. The way Meath play - and Dublin do the same -they get back very quickly so if you’re ponderous and slow and playing lateral football, it’s not going to work.” 

He’s had personal experience of a Kerry ambush before, when he was assistant to the legendary Eamonn Ryan in 2015.

“We went in as hot favourites in Mallow and Kerry beat us by 10 or 12 points. You have to be on your guard against them. "We’re very conscious of the fact that they’re an up and coming team, that the lads have continuity with them.

“I was talking to Louise Ní Muirchearthaigh at a wedding a few weeks ago and she said they’re very settled and very happy.” There’ll be no such niceties today in what feels like a proper derby. Much hinges on the quality of Kerry’s defence against a side with so much more experience, especially on the bench.

There isn’t just a trophy at stake either as the result will decide All-Ireland Championship groupings with the Munster champions paired against Donegal and Waterford while the losers face Galway and Westmeath.

C Butler; C O’Brien, K Cronin, E Lynch; A O’Connell, E Costello, C Murphy; A Galvin (capt.), C Lynch; D O’Leary, N Carmody, L Scanlon; N Ni Chonchúir, E McGlynn, L Ní Mhuircheartaigh.

CORK: M O’Sullivan; R Phelan, E Meaney, S Leahy; M Duggan, M O’Callaghan (capt.), L O’Mahony; A Hutchings, S Kelly; E Cleary, C O’Sullivan, L Coppinger; Á O’Sullivan, D O’Sullivan, O Finn.

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