Kerry 0-12 Limerick 0-10: If the hurling curtain-raiser had a bit of the Twilight Zone about it, this Allianz Football League semi-final at the Gaelic Grounds had a stifling sense of inevitability. Maybe it represented a slight improvement for Limerick on last year's Munster final but it still represented a lost opportunity.
Proving they could put away their neighbours would have been a significant step forward for Liam Kearns's team and they will have to cope with the disappointment of losing a match that was there for them. Darragh Ó Sé was sent off on 30 minutes and despite the extra man and a couple of promising platforms, Limerick couldn't turn the opportunities to their advantage.
Kerry toughed it out and when the match was on the edge, they did what they were expected to do - found the players to take a couple of late points and close the deal.
In the early stages a tight margin didn't look likely as Kerry harnessed a strong wind and ran a hesitant defence ragged. Declan O'Sullivan was the source of much bother to Diarmuid Sheehy, who moved to full back before the start. Colm Cooper, looking stronger on the ball, shot two good early points.
But O'Sullivan looked to have aggravated the hamstring injury that had threatened his participation last week and had to be replaced after 25 minutes. By then Kerry's sparkling initial momentum had died and they had started to miss chances.
Having played into a stiff wind, Limerick recovered well in the 10 minutes before half-time and drew level at 0-5 each. The attack had started as hesitantly as the defence. They laboured to win ball and what did come their way was frequently given right back. Tom O'Sullivan and Marc Ó Sé kept their men on a tight leash in the corners and the points when they eventually came were from dead-ball kicks.
One scything movement set up Eoin Keating in the 32nd minute. A slick final pass from Stephen Kelly opened the defence but Keating shot straight at Diarmuid Murphy in the Kerry goal.
At half-time Kerry manager Jack O'Connor was in a familiar place, as he said after the match when commenting on Ó Sé's dismissal for taking out John Galvin, who with Jason Stokes had the better at centrefield. The foul was indicative of a nasty undercurrent in the early stages.
"These things happen," said O'Connor. "They appeared to have an extra man anyway. At half-time it felt like we were two men down. But we've been in tight corners all year. Up in Parnell Park we were being hammered at half-time, five points down against Cork and even up in Omagh.
"At times we made mistakes but kept plugging away. We showed great heart. I thought we held the ball up a bit better in the second half. Then the wind died for a period in the second half and that helped us get the scores, which gave us a target to hold on to."
O'Connor's opposite number, Kearns, agreed Kerry's scoring burst just after the interval had been pivotal. Tomás Ó Sé started the ball rolling with a long delivery into skyscraping replacement full forward Michael Quirke. It missed but hopped over the bar. A succession of frees from Michael Russell pushed Kerry into a 0-10 to 0-6 lead.
"We weren't quite good enough," said Kearns, "and we have to accept that and get on with it. That spell after half-time didn't do us any good but we missed three good goal chances. They got none and we got three. Unless you take those chances against the likes of Kerry you tend to come out on the wrong side of things. I thought their full-back line were beating us. We ended up taking off two of our full-forward line."
Full forward Johnny Murphy fisted a point with the goal at his mercy in the 42nd minute and, as Kearns said, the team's unease in front of goal cost them in the end. Muiris Gavin kicked some good frees but went for a point and missed with a man inside on goal.
But Kerry were stretched and couldn't get any supply into Quirke, who ended up wandering out the field in search of ball before being replaced.
With Conor Mullane seeing plenty of ball as the extra man Limerick caught up on the scoreboard, and with 13 minutes left, the match was there for them, but they began to miss the frees, whereas conversely in the 64th and 65th minutes Eoin Brosnan and Ronan O'Connor took excellent scores to close the case.
KERRY: D Murphy; T O'Sullivan, M McCarthy, M Ó Sé; T Ó Sé (0-1), S Moynihan, A O'Mahony; D Ó Sé, W Kirby; L Hassett, E Brosnan (0-1), P Galvin; C Cooper (0-2), D O'Sullivan (0-1), MF Russell (0-6, five frees). Subs: M Quirke for D O'Sullivan (25 mins); R O'Connor (0-1) for Quirke (55 mins); S Scanlon for Kirby (61 mins).
LIMERICK: S O'Donnell; J McCarthy, D Sheehy, M O'Riordan; D Reidy, S Lucey, C Mullane; J Stokes, J Galvin; S Kelly, M Gavin (0-5, all frees), M O'Brien; C Hickey, J Murphy (0-2), E Keating (0-3, one free, two 45s). Subs: P Browne for Reidy (13 mins); M Horan for Hickey (49 mins); M Jones for O'Donnell (69 mins), M Reidy for Keating (71 mins), T Carroll for O'Brien (71 mins).
Referee: J Geaney (Cork).
