Kerry 0-20 Laois 1-13:KERRY SECURED top spot in Division One despite having to play Laois with 14 men for over an hour of this entertaining contest played before 4,485 fans bathed in the splendid sunshine at the Fitzgerald Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Kerry lost Tomás Ó Sé for the third time in 10 months, when he received a straight red card after just 10 minutes, for an off-the-ball incident that will probably see the five-times All-Ireland medal winner sit out Kerry’s two games, at home to Mayo and the NFL semi-final, but it could see him miss Kerry’s opening championship game, if he were to get a longer suspension.
Afterwards, Kerry manager Jack O’Connor said: “I didn’t see it. I was looking away. I can’t comment on it.
“It’s always disappointing to lose people. But I can’t comment on the incident because I didn’t see it.”
However, Kerry coped admirably with the loss of Ó Sé and despite a spirited second-half fightback by the relegation-haunted Laois, who actually regained the lead (1-11 to 0-13) with 20 minutes to go.
However O’Connor emptied his bench and the introduction of the experienced Marc Ó Sé, Anthony Maher, Kieran Donaghy and Paul Galvin changed the game back in Kerry’s favour and with Bryan Sheehan’s accuracy from frees, and a point from man-of-match Patrick Curtin, the Kingdom eased to their fifth victory of the campaign.
O’Connor was pleased with the Kerry win which sees them on top with 10 points and having beaten the only teams that can catch them, even if they lose to Mayo in their final game, they cannot be toppled, on the basis of the head to heads of those sides that could reach 10 points.
“It’s another game for us and another game to try out a few things, so we are happy enough with that. It’s a tough pitch to play for 60 minutes minus a man and it was a warm day as well so that knocked a lot out of us. It was another test of us. It was good to kick 20 points in those circumstances,” he said.
Kerry led 0-11 to 0-7 at the interval with all six Kerry forwards scoring from play and Curtin catching the eye, kicking three points from play.
Kerry were winning decent ball at midfield where Sheehan put in another top-class display, though Laois were well served in this area with Brendan Quigley and John O’Loughlin putting in a big shift.
Justin McNulty’s side won lots of possession but they squandered a succession of good scoring opportunities, amassing nine first-half wides and five more after the break.
Laois’s first-half points came from Gary Walsh, Ross Munnelly, Colm Begley, James Kavanagh, and the extra man, Kevin Meaney, also found the target.
Declan O’Sullivan and David O’Connor swapped early second-half points as Sheahan restored Kerry’s four-point advantage after an exceptional point from play in the 45th minute.
However Laois were battling for survival and points from Munnelly (free) and Walsh were followed by a well-worked goal from Begley and suddenly the game was in the melting pot, with Laois hitting the front 1-11 to 0-13.
This spurred Kerry into action, with Galvin and Donaghy now on the pitch and the home side tacked on five unanswered points, with Sheehan kicking three frees and Laois, with Begley off injured, were never going to close the gap and it was plain sailing for the Kingdom, who cruised to a four-point win, and that after playing with only 14 men for over an hour.
KERRY:T Mac an tSaoir; S Enright, A O'Mahony (0-1), K Young; T Ó Sé, E Brosnan, J Lyne; S Scanlon, B Sheehan (0-6, five frees); BJ Keane (0-1), Darran O'Sullivan (0-2), J Buckley (0-1); K O'Leary (0-1), Declan O'Sullivan (0-3, one free), P Curtin (0-4). Subs: M Ó Sé for S Enright (half-time), A Maher (0-1) for S Scanlon (43 mins), P Galvin for BJ Keane (45 mins), K Donaghy for J Buckley (45 mins), J O'Donoghue for K O'Leary (62 mins).
LAOIS: E Culliton; C Healy, K Lillis, P O'Leary (0-1); K Meaney (0-1), M Timmons, C Boyle; B Quigley (0-1), J O'Loughlin (0-2); C Begley (1-1), B Sheehan, D Strong (0-1); D O'Connor (0-1), G Walsh (0-2), R Munnelly (0-3, one free). Subs: P Cahillane for C Boyle (52 mins), P Clancy for B Sheehan (55 mins), J Kavanagh for C Begley (58 mins).
Referee:Marty Duffy (Sligo).
