ALL-IRELAND SFC QUALIFIER ROUND THREE/Kerry 0-14 Sligo 1-10:It took a brilliant penalty save from goalkeeper Diarmuid Murphy to keep the Kingdom's All-Ireland hopes alive in Tralee tonight as a plucky Sligo side ran them to a single point.
Sean Davey’s fine run at the Kerry defence was ended abruptly, with referee Syl Doyle having no hesitation at pointing to the spot.
David Kelly, who had score a goal in first-half injury time, stepped up but Murphy moved well to his right to push away the attempt and keep his side’s two-point advantage.
Sligo sub Ken Sweeney did bring it back to just one with to minutes to go, but an edgy Kerry side held out to keep hopes of September football alive.
Jack O’Connor’s side are still nowhere near where they need to be, but man of the match Paul Galvin says there was no panic at half-time when they were two points down (0-7 to 1-6).
“It was probably a bit to close for comfort, but we didn’t panic at any stage. The buzzword at half-time from Jack was not to panic. Given the way we came into the game, we haven’t been firing on all cylinders and we knew it might be a dogfight. We were definitely hanging on,” said Galvin, who also gave Sligo credit for their showing.
“We’re just trying to find a bit of form, possibly we’ve been on the road a few years together and we’re just looking for that bit of form. The qualifiers are always tough games and this Sligo team were very unfortunate not to beat Galway,” he added.
Sligo dared to dream for much of the game, with Kelly, Stephen Coen and Adrian Marren proving a handful for the Kerry defence.
That belief was at its strongest on the stroke of half-time, when Kelly hooked the ball back from a tight angle to beat Murphy and put them ahead by two. Sadly he wasn’t able to repeat the dose from the penalty spot with three minutes to go but they will take a lot from running them so close in the end.
Donegalwon the All-Ulster clash in Ballbofey in thrilling fashion as Kevin Cassidy's extra-time goal secured a one-point (2-13 to 0-18) victory over Derry.
Colm McFadden had netted half-way through the first period of regulation for Donegal and that remained the difference between the sides at the break (1-5 to 0-5).
They kept Derry at bay until the final throes of the game, when Christopher McKaigue pointed to level matters (1-11 to 0-14) and send the game to an extra 20.