BELIEF NOT A PROBLEM TO SKIPPER.

Byline: PAT NOLAN 

CORK captain Graham Canty didn't feel it was a lack of belief that cost his side in what was their sixth Croke Park defeat to Kerry in eight seasons.

Though the Rebels have competed well with their arch rivals in the Munster Championship, time and again they have been outdone by them at the business end of the All-Ireland race.

However, Canty simply felt it was a failure to make the most of their periods of dominance more than anything that cost them.

"Maybe if you weren't creating the chances you would be questioning whether there was belief there or not," he said.

"When we were creating the chances there was no doubt that there was belief there. There's savage belief in this team. I don't think anyone could question that."

After a bright start to the game for Cork, Kerry took over to storm to a two-point lead at half-time though Canty said there was no sense of panic at half-time.

"We were only two scores down and we had played poorly for the last 15 minutes especially in the first half. We had started well but lads were itching to get back out there because we hadn't performed in the last 15 minutes and we wanted to get back out and try and tag on a few scores.

"There was no panic, everyone was relaxed, we were two points down in an All-Ireland final. Lads were fairly content going into the start of the second half but disappointed with the way we played in the last 15 minutes of the first half.

"We got two scores on the trot and Kerry seemed a bit unsettled. We seemed to dominate for seven or eight minutes around the middle. If we had maybe stayed on top for another while, who'd have known, but Kerry were always going to come. They're a good side so you're not going to stay on top of them for long."

CAPTION(S):

SKIPPER Graham Canty tussles with Tomas O Se DEJECTED Cork players lie devastated after the game