Sport

Poor Kerry are let off the hook

Kerry 0-16, Waterford 0-8: Waterford gave Kerry a huge fright at Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney, yesterday, as it appeared that…

Mon May 22 2006 - 01:00

Kerry 0-16, Waterford 0-8: Waterford gave Kerry a huge fright at Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney, yesterday, as it appeared that the impossible was going to happen and Kerry's summer was going to mirror the driving rain of this nightmare weather to date.

It was a game that manager Jack O'Connor will want to forget as Kerry were so poor that if Waterford had taken their chances in the second half they might have caused a huge shock.

"We are not happy with that performance at all, our attitude was not right. We went into a lead and then tried to coast our way to victory. Suddenly they got a few scores and they were in the game," O'Connor said.

"In fairness to them they were very competitive but we were very poor on the day."

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Kerry gave an indication of what they are capable of in the 10th minute when Eamonn Fitzmaurice set up Paul Galvin, for a long-range point.

It was all Kerry at this stage as Seamus Moynihan was at his best and it appeared they were going to make light work of the visitors following points from Declan O'Sullivan, Fitzmaurice and two from placed balls by the accurate Bryan Sheehan, pushing Kerry 0-8 to 0-2 clear by the 21st minute.

Kerry failed to score in the final 13 minutes of the opening half as Waterford, with Gary Hurney operating on the 40, finished strongly and added three unanswered points from Ger Power - who was unlucky not to goal - and two frees from Jason Ryan.

Waterford were given the chance of levelling the score five minutes into the second half through a penalty when Andrew Hobbard was pulled down by Kieran Donaghy after a sideline ball from Hurney. But Hobbard's kick was saved by Diarmuid Murphy and Moynihan took Hurney's follow-up off the line.

Liam O'Lionain scored a point from the rebound to make it a two-point game and Kerry were rattled.

The introduction of Darren O'Sullivan and Ronan O'Connor plus the moving of Declan O'Sullivan to the 40 helped Kerry get to grips with the game but not before Waterford had kicked eight wides and missed some glorious chances.

However, Kerry finished the stronger with a string of unanswered points from Sheehan, Declan O'Sullivan, Galvin and substitute Paul O'Connor as Waterford's challenge came up short but Kerry will want to forget this game in a hurry.

KERRY: D Murphy; A O'Mahony, M Ó Sé, T O'Sullivan; T Ó Sé, S Moynihan, M Lyons; D Ó S, K Donaghy; P Galvin (0-2), E Fitzmaurice (0-1), E Brosnan, C Cooper (0-2 frees), D O'Sullivan (0-4), B Sheehan 0-6 (0-4 frees, 0-1 '45). Subs: M McCarthy for T Ó Sé (half-time), Darren O'Sullivan for Brosnan, R O'Connor for Fitzmaurice, P O'Connor (0-1) for Cooper, T Griffin for O'Mahony.

WATERFORD: T Wall; E Walsh, J Phelan, S Briggs; B Wall, E Rockett, P Ogle; A Aherne, M Aherne (0-1); A Hobbard, K Power, G Power (0-1); S Cunningham, G Hurney (0-1), J Ryan (0-4 frees). Subs: W Hennessy for A Aherne, L O'Lionain (0-1) for K Power, J Hurney for A Hobbard.

Referee: Pat McGovern (Galway).