Pat Spillane Thinks Cork Will Never Progress Until They Drop Their Kerry 'Itch'

Cork ran Kerry mighty close on Saturday but, as their fans have become accustomed to, it was not enough to get them over the line against their fiercest rivals.

A red card for Paudie Clifford helped Cork but they were full value for a draw in regular time, forcing extra-time against the 2022 All-Ireland champions.

In extra-time, Sean Brady was sent off to even up the sides at 14 men each and, ultimately, the class of Kerry shone through as they hung on for a two-point victory.

Cork may well see Saturday's defeat in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoímh as a missed opportunity. For Pat Spillane, however, the game as a whole epitomised the problem with Cork's approach to the championship in recent years.

READ HERE: Whelan Explains Why Cork Approach v Kerry Could Be Blueprint For All-Ireland Contenders

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Appearing on the Indo Sport podcast this week, Kerry legend Pat Spillane said that he did not foresee Cork kicking on until they managed to motivate themselves for games other than those against Kerry.

This is the problem...Cork, in the last couple of years, have brought that physicality and intensity and ran Kerry close.

Cork have the tools to beat Kerry, they have the tools to be a top-class team. They have a good management team, the type of player they have now is ideally suited to the modern game. Their physicality, their athleticism, their powerful running. They had those in abundance. Their forward line is improving. Their capacity to score two-pointers...they've scored 25 two-pointers in league and championship, that's fair rattling.

But the problem with Cork is they must bring consistency to their game. There's no point in upping your performance when you see the sight of a Kerry jersey. They must produce and bring that performance to every county they play.

Over the last number of years, they've had that huge performance against Kerry and then they come up against the Louths or whatever of this world and they don't turn up.

I spent 30+ years teaching in West Cork. Cork is primarily a hurling county. That's their number one sport. Football is very much limited...the border regions with Kerry are the hotbeds of Cork football. There's great passionate people there but beating Kerry seems to be their be-all-and-end-all. That defines their season, or else they're happy if they're out and Kerry are beaten.

They've got to get that Kerry itch away.

The eight-time All-Ireland winner's point is perhaps best summed up by the last time Cork knocked Kerry out of the championship in 2020. Having snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to stun the Kingdom in the Munster semi-final, the Rebels would themselves go on to be the victims of a giantkilling in the final, as Tipperary claimed their first provincial title in a century.

Spillane told hilarious stories about the antics of Cork fans at his bar near Kenmare to sum up what he sees as a fixation on Kerry.

I know from years going back - you'd play Cork in a Munster final. The west Cork would travel through Kenmare and if they won in Killarney, Kenmare would have the greatest night because the whole Cork crowd would spend the night celebrating in Kenmare.

If Cork got beaten in the Munster final, [Michael] Schumacher wouldn't be as fast driving through Kenmare!

Back in the bar, when Cork would lose you'd never see any [of them]. But when Cork would win...not that they'd come into the bar but they'd drive the four miles out of Kenmare to go back past Spillane's Bar to hoot the horns several times!

Get rid of that itch about Kerry football, get rid of that mentality, that elephant in the room.

Cork will be in the All-Ireland series once again but, 15 years on from their last Sam Maguire triumph, they will be hoping for something more than a near-miss against Kerry to hang their season on.