Cork kept their unbeaten Division One run going by hammering Kerry in Austin Stack Park, moving them to the top of the table in the process.
Cork boss Joe Carroll made two changes to the team that had made the long trek to Armagh the previous week, starting Leah Hallahan instead of Abigail Ring, while Rachel O’Regan replaced Aine O’Sullivan.
Kerry boss Mark Bourke decided to shuffle his starting 15, making six changes, giving league debuts to Eabha Ni Laighin, Kelli McGrath, Kelly Enright and Niamh Quinn and, pre throw-in, he opted to start Katie Brosnan in place of the experienced Niamh Carmody.
Kerry rested Danielle O’Leary, who played the first half of Kerry’s camogie win over Meath on Saturday and Leah McMahon, who was on basketball duty with Utility St Paul’s.
Cork, on their return to the top flight, came to Tralee unbeaten and just two points behind leaders Waterford, while Kerry have two wins from three outings.
Kerry started brightly and should have dominated the opening half with the breeze to their backs, but Cork started brightly with two early points from the impressive Grace Ni Mhurchu and a free from Katie Quirke.
Kerry did spurn two goal chances in the opening five minutes when Sarah Murphy denied Rachel Dwyer and Kelly Enright with excellent saves but that was as close as Kerry came to penetrating a Cork rearguard, superbly marshalled by fullback Dara Kiniry.
Cork simply pummeled Kerry for the remainder of the opening half as Katie Quirke ran riot, finishing the half with 0-9.
Quirke, with a succession of scores, had Kerry on the back foot as the Rebels raced 0-7 to no score clear by the 20th minute.
Kerry suffered a double blow in the 11th minute when they lost Ava Doherty to a serious leg injury, while Kelli McGrath was sin-binned for a tackle on Rachel O’Regan on the edge of the penalty area.
Kerry enjoyed just a few sporadic attacks and was denied by the post in the 25th minute when Mary O’Connell saw her goal-bound shot come back off the butt of the left post.
Cork with Aimee Corcoran, Sadhbh McGoldrick, Grace Ni Mhurchu and Rachel O’Regan had the Kerry defence at sixes and sevens. And in the final stages of an extended first period, Leah Hallahan and Quirke from play added points, while Quirke, with two more, one for Kerry’s second breach of the afternoon, continued to make it a miserable opening period for the Kingdom.
Two Cork defenders, Corcoran and McGoldrick, joined the Cork scoring party with the final two points of the opening half, as Cork retired 0-14 ahead at the break, with Kerry failing to score with the only mitigation that they played against a very strong wind.
Despite having the elements in their favour in the second half and introducing six substitutes, Kerry never came to grips with their Cork opponents and struggled to put any worthwhile movements together.
Kerry did outscored Cork in the second half 0-8 to 0-2, with Siofra O’Shea top scoring with 0-4, scoring a two-pointer, while Danielle O’Leary also found her range outside the arc.
Cork captain Emma Cleary and Quirke added points in a comprehensive victory in a game Cork dominated in both halves.
K Quirke (0-10, 6fs), A Corcoran, S McGoldrick, G Ni Mhurchu, E Cleary, L Hallahan and R O’Regan (0-1 each).
S O’Shea (0-4, 1tp), D O’Leary (0-2, 2tp), A Galvin and N Ni Chonchúir (0-1 each)
C Butler; E Ní Laighin, A Doherty, A Dillane; K Brosnan, E Lynch, K McGrath; M O’Connell, C Evans; M O’Connor, N Ní Chonchúir, K Enright; S O’Shea (capt), R Dwyer, N Quinn.
K Furey for A Doherty ( inj14), D O’Leary for M O’Connor ( 20), A Galvin for K McGrath ( h/t), J Lynch for E Lynch ( h/t), J Lucey for N Quinn ( h/t), L McMahon for R Dwyer ( 40), M Mulvihill for C Evans ( 47), J Curtin for M O’Connell ( 58)
S Murphy; M Duggan, D Kiniry, S Kelly; A Corcoran, S McGoldrick, R Corkery; A Healy, A O’Mahony; R Leahy, G Ní Mhurchu, E Cleary (capt.); L Hallahan, K Quirke, C McCarthy.
C Hughes for G Ni Mhurchu ( 49), E Hurley for R Leahy ( 50), A Ring for L Hallahan ( 54), K Redmond for A O’Mahony ( 54), K O’Driscoll for A Corridan ( 58), S Callahan for R Corkery ( 58).
J Murphy (Carlow).
