Scores claimed on the brink of the half-time whistle tend to carry a value far greater than the points they add to the scoreboard. They are akin to swing states in US elections, inflating the mood in one camp while sucking energy from the other.

The momentum created can be impossible to turn.

Cork had long been a side that could ride such contrasts in fortune. The collective experience and belief in the dressing-room was total. No setback was fatal, no deficit irretrievable, but the four-point gap facing them that day in CIT made for a moment of truth.

Ephie Fitzgerald and his squad have lost a host of the nous and class that delivered so many All-Irelands up to the county’s 11th in 12 years back in 2016. Only seven of the side that won the final two seasons ago started this year’s provincial decider against Kerry.

Gone were the likes of Rena Buckley, Brid Stack, Briege Corkery, Deirdre O’Reilly, and Vera Foley. Although there are still more than a few with All-Ireland CVs, the ability to master any situation has been compromised.

Cork won the league in 2017 but then lost their Munster title for the first time in an age and fell short in a game they could have won against Mayo in the All-Ireland semi-final. A third failed campaign in a row followed this year with a league semi-final exit.

Tight games were evading them instead of bending to their will.

“It all comes from experience but what I like about this year’s team is that we hadn’t been going well and to lose a goal before half-time against Kerry, to be a few points down, the heads didn’t drop and there was a determination at half-time to do ourselves justice,” said Fitzgerald.

“The one thing about Cork girls is that, regardless of what age they are, how experienced they are, they will always give it their all until the finish. Our second-half performance reflected the type of talent in the team. We just need to get it out of them more consistently now.”

Cork didn’t just squeak home against the Kingdom, they hit them for 5-13 to win by a dozen points. It was an impressive riposte to Foley’s potentially crippling goal regardless of Kerry’s traumatic spring

and the absence of the talismanic Louise Ní Muircheartaigh.

For all their transition, Cork are fortunate in the sense they can still boast experience throughout the field, from Martina O’Brien between the sticks up as far as left-corner forward Orla Finn. There isn’t a single line that looks completely raw.

“We had a very tight panel for the league because a lot of the players we would be introducing are minors and doing their Leaving Cert,” said Fitzgerald.

“So, we made a decision that we wouldn’t be using any of them until they were finished that.

“We have brought six now onto the panel so our panel was maybe 21, 22 players for the league. Saoirse Noonan was doing her Leaving Cert as well and we introduced her the last day. She is a serious talent who hasn’t played much the last eight months because of the soccer.”

It isn’t just Noonan and Cork entering a brave new world. This summer’s All-Ireland championship began last weekend under a new format with four groups of three. Cork had to sit out the opening weekend as Monaghan and Armagh met in Clones.

Judgment on the success or otherwise of the changes will have to wait for now. “Lots of them are being televised and TG4 do a great job in terms of exposure of the game,” said Fitzgerald.

“We’re happy with that. Whether the format works or not? Who knows? It is probably a better system than what was there before originally but we will just have to wait and see.”

CORK: M O’Brien; C Collins, R Phelan, M Duggan; M O’Callaghan, S Kelly, E Spillane; A Hutchings, H Looney; C O’Sullivan, L Coppinger, O Farmer; Á O’Sullivan, D O’Sullivan, O Finn.

MONAGHAN: L Martin; J Fitzpatrick, F Courtney, R McKenna; A McAnespie, S Courtney, E Woods; E McKenna, E McAnespie; R Courtney, J Drury, C Courtney; C McAnespie, N Callan, E McCarron.