Kerry 1-13 Donegal 0-7
Storm Franklin howled across the old theatre as Kerry made light work of Donegal on Sunday afternoon.
Sean O'Shea hoisted seven points and David Clifford grabbed a fortuitous 49th minute goal to lift Kerry to the top of Division One.
Seven successive points, three of them by O’Shea, had Kerry 0-9 to 0-2 in front at the break. Darkness was accompanied by a horrendous mix of driving rain and a gale-force breeze in Killarney.
Donegal, level at 0-2 apiece in the 12th minute, might have hoped for a better return in part two, but their hopes were hardly aided by a 35-minute scoreless spell.
When Clifford, just five minutes after his introduction, saw his effort at a point drop shot and slip past Shaun Patton, Kerry were nine in front. Despite having the storm in their faces, they outscored Donegal 1-4 to 0-5 in part two.
“We knew at half-time we’d have to score because seven points was never going to be enough and it was very pleasing that we scored the 1-4 into that gale,” Jack O’Connor, the Kerry manager, said.
“It’s not a huge priority to win the league or anything like that but if we can experiment a bit and win a few matches that’s basically it.
“As I say it’s not a huge priority to win the league but it gives confidence to a group when you are winning matches. We may experiment and when I say experiment, we may use more of the panel in the next couple of games to try and get as many fellas as possible up to speed.”
Early exchanges
An O’Shea brace early on was cancelled out by fisted points by Eogan Ban Gallagher and Shane O’Donnell, but Kerry soon took charge.
When O’Shea boomed over a monster point in the 19th minute, Kerry had the two-point cushion restored. A huge free by O’Shea put five between them and Kerry were making headway.
“Throw them up there and hope for the best,” O’Shea said of his tactic.
“Great leader,” his manager countered. “He kicked some savage scores today, including a sideline in the first half, when scores were hard to get. He’s playing great football and probably back in his best position, which is good for him.”
Donegal were without their injured captain Michael Murphy, whose participation for the remainder of the League campaign is uncertain. Caolan McGonagle has been added to the injury list. Michael Langan, an All-Star nominee last year whose start to this season was such that Declan Bonner described him as one of the best players in the country in recent weeks, was also left at home.
Paudie Clifford and Kilian Spillane added points to put Kerry 0-9 to 0-2 ahead at the break.
O’Connor said: “Against the wind in the 15 first minutes I thought Donegal were excellent.
“At half-time I wouldn’t say the game was sealed by any stretch of the imagination. Seven points didn’t appear to us to be enough. So we knew we’d have to score a bit in the second half and yeah, I thought our fellas controlled the game pretty well in the second half.”
O’Shea clipped off the base of the post just 50 seconds after the restart as Kerry began with intent.
Conor O’Donnell ended Donegal’s wait for a score, but Clifford came off the bench and soon had the ball in the net.
In reserve
“He’s played a lot of games in the last three or four weeks,” O’Connor said of the decision to keep the Fossa man in reserve. “It was great to be able to bring him on there, he gave us a huge lift there 10 minutes into the second half.”
O’Shea shot over the top when he, too, might’ve goaled a minute later to open up a 10-point lead and Clifford hit the crossbar with a delicate effort 10 minutes from the end.
Donegal did reel off four points in a row, but the goose was long since cooked for the Ulster side and it was fitting that O’Shea, the game’s best performer, had the final say, fisting over in added time.
“I’m disappointed with most of that second half performance,” Bonner, soaked-to-the-skin, observed.
“We have a bit of work. It’s always a difficult place to get a result but the performance wasn’t good enough to get something out of.
“We didn’t take the initiative and got ball turned over and missed a number of opportunities. Kerry were the better side, no doubt about it.”
Kerry: S Ryan; D O'Donoghue (0-1), J Foley, T O'Sullivan; P Murphy, T Morley, B Ó Beaglaíoch; D O'Connor, J Barry; A Spillane, S O'Shea (0-7, 0-1 sideline, 0-2 frees), D Moynihan; P Clifford (0-1), P Geaney (0-1), K Spillane (0-2). Subs: D Clifford (1-1) for K Spillane (44 mins), S O'Brien for A Spillane (55 mins), T Brosnan for Geaney (58 mins), J Savage for P Clifford (65 mins), G Horan for Barry (67 mins).
Donegal: S Patton; C Ward, B McCole, O McFadden-Ferry; R McHugh, P Brennan, E Gallagher (0-1); J McGee, H McFadden; C Thompson, P Mogan, S O'Donnell (0-2); R O'Donnell, P McBrearty (0-2, 0-1 free), C O'Donnell (0-2). Subs: S McMenamin for Brennan (40 mins), N O'Donnell for R O'Donnell (43 mins), O Gallen for McFadden (50 mins), D Ó Baoill for S O'Donnell (66 mins), E O'Donnnell for McFadden-Ferry (70 mins).
Referee: M Deegan (Laois).
