Going into the weekend's clash between Cork and Kerry, hardly anyone predicted anything other than a one-sided victory for The Kingdom.
The only real talking point ahead of the fixture was around the venue as The Rebels had to fight tooth and nail to maintain home advantage after an Ed Sheeran concert meant Páirc Uí Chaoimh was unavailable.
It was partly because of the fuss players and staff kicked up in the weeks leading up to Saturday's 12-point loss against their old rivals that Sean Cavanagh pushed back on the idea that Cork had surpassed expectations against the All-Ireland favourites.
He explained: "I don't really buy into this whole morale-boosting idea of 'they put in effort'. They've lost by 12 points to their biggest rivals.
"They made a big hullabaloo about bringing the game to Pairc Uí Rinn in the first place because they knew they would get destroyed in a wide-open Killarney.
"Effort should be the minimum standard for Cork going into a game of that magnitude. Really and truly, I thought Kerry kept them in the game with some cheap frees and whatnot.
"I'm just not sure where Cork are going at the moment. I watched them celebrate after beating Offaly in the league to stay in the All-Ireland championship but I'm not totally sure whether that's the right place for them.
"Maybe for a young team, maybe the Tailteann Cup is a better place to develop. Looking at yesterday's performance, I wouldn't give them massive hope going into the back door."
The no holds barred assessment of how they played irked plenty of viewers in Cork since they had seen their team put in a well-drilled defensive display for 35 minutes that meant Kerry only led by two points at half-time.
In addition, young guns Steven Sherlock and Cathail O'Mahony continually took on and nailed some brave scores to give downtrodden Rebel fans some hope that their side is on the up.
Plenty of commentators also observed that Páirc Uí Rinn's pitch is bigger than Fitzgerald Stadium's so the point about them fearing a 'wide-open' pitch in Killarney didn't really have any legs.
Sports journalist Joanne O'Riordan raged: "The 12-point loss literally came in the last 20 minutes. Why is this man telling me I shouldn’t be impressed with a team who kept the All-Ireland favourites frustrated?"
One follower replied: "Agree Joanne. Cork strength and conditioning is effectively at year 1 while Kerry are at year 4/5.
"Kerry bench deeper than Cork. Absolutely right to be pleased (cannot be happy losing) with green shoots and first real glimpse at our recent underage talent. We will be better for yesterday."
While Jim added: "Well said Joanne and I thought they played with great heart for 50 mins and Kerry subs made a difference and I thought it was Kerry got the cheap frees in the second half."
Lastly, Mossy wrote: "He really put the boot into Cork. I definitely thought it was a bit over the top. Coming into this game everyone said Kerry would wipe the floor with Cork.
"Sure Cork had to go defensive, if they had gone man to man Kerry would have torn them apart."
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