Clifford finds net as Kerry too much for Monaghan
DAVID CLIFFORD marked his arrival to the new season by crashing home the goal that ensured his Kerry team scored an emphatic 3-15 to 1-12 victory over Monaghan in Clones yesterday. Back-to-back footballer of the year Clifford was introduced three minutes before half-time, but his enthusiasm to get into the action was to pick up a yellow card for a wayward tackle, but even at that stage, Kerry were already in charge. That was down to newcomer Cillian Burke who, scored his first goal for the Kingdom in the 27th minute that took the wind out of a Monaghan team, who after a sluggish start when they trailed by 0-5 to 0-1, got back into the match when Ryan O’Toole palmed the ball to the net. After Burke’s goal — they trailed at the interval by 1-9 to 1-5 — Monaghan were left playing a game of catch-up and the chase became futile when the Clifford brothers — Paudie making his first appearance as Kerry captain — entered the fray. The real source of Kerry’s dominant display was to be found in another of their bluechip leaders, with Seán O’Shea capping a fine display with a late goal to take his tally for the day to 1-7, 1-5 coming from play. Meanwhile, Roscommon and Galway played out a tetchy 0-9 apiece draw in Hyde Park, with neither team scoring in the final 14 minutes and both finishing with 14 players after Roscommon’s Donie Smith saw red and Galway’s Jack McCabe was issued a black card in the final 10 minutes. First-half goals from Ciaran Downey and Ciaran Keeney provided the foundation for Ger Brennan’s first win as Louth boss, as his team edged Cork in a 2-9 to 0-13 win in Ardee. Cork looked to be set for a win when they retook the lead after 56 minutes, but they failed to score for the remainder of the game, while Craig Lennon, Ryan Burns and Sam Mulroy reeled off the winning points for the home side.