Conor Counihan jokingly remarked that the GAA should go back to 60-minute matches at inter-county level after his Cork team were left hanging on for a three-point victory over Kildare in their All-Ireland football quarter-final. "I would have preferred if the second half had lasted 30 minutes rather than 35," said the Cork manager, who made no attempt to hide his relief. "I feel these championship matches should go back to 30-minute halves because the last five minutes of this game were an absolute nightmare for us. "That was much too close for comfort. Cork never seem to do things easy. There were periods in the game when we played brilliantly, but got very ragged at other times, which on another day could prove extremely costly." He added: "Maybe complacency set in after we went a couple of scores in front, it's hard to know, but you have to give credit to the fighting qualities of Kildare." Counihan acknowledged that a big improvement would be required against Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final, but was nevertheless confident that they would rise to the challenge. "That performance wouldn't do against Kerry in a fortnight's time, but we have time to remedy the mistakes for that game," he said. "There are many positives we can take from the game. We played extremely well at times, created and got some great scores and that's a plus. "Also, you saw we have a very strong bench. I knew on Thursday that Nicholas Murphy wouldn't be able to start and that Graham Canty was very doubtful also. "Both those players are tremendous leaders and are vital to the team. They should benefit from the two weeks to the semi-final." Tweet

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