FITZMAURICE QUITS AS KERRY BOW OUT WITH A VICTORY
A 12-point win over Kildare yesterday proved Éamonn Fitzmaurice’s swansong as Kerry manager. Fitzmaurice, who led the Kingdom to the 2014 All-Ireland, stepped down as they failed to reach the All-Ireland semi-finals despite victory.
Before a crowd of 17,935, Kerry needed to win and hope Monaghan failed to overcome Galway in Salthill, but the second part of the equation didn’t transpire, meaning Kerry’s comeback from four points down at half-time was worthless.
‘I was speaking to the lads,’ said Fitzmaurice, ‘I think it’s time for me to move on.
‘I’ve been in the job for six years, I’ve given it everything I have and I think there’s a great foundation there for the future.
‘I think a change of voice and a change of direction will be good and I also think that, by taking me out of the equation, it can remove some of the over-the-top criticism that was coming at the team, which I feel was unfair.
‘When you’re preaching about patience as a young group, we didn’t carry that through as a county at all this summer and I think part of that was down to the fact that I’ve been there for so long.
‘It wasn’t enough today, but that wasn’t down to today, it was down to losing in Croke Park [against Galway] three weeks ago.
‘I think the feeling within the group was that if you come through the Super 8s, you’re in good position. If you’re not, then you’re just not good enough, but this team aren’t far away.’
With two minutes of normal time remaining in the first half, things looked quite bleak as the Lilywhites had reeled off 1-4 on the bounce to lead by six points.
Kerry were struggling, but they received a slice of fortune as Neil Flynn, who had scored 1-3 for Kildare, was red-carded following an altercation with Killian Young on the sideline and the Kingdom responded with points from Seán O’Shea and David Clifford in injury time. The visitors’ full-back David Hyland was then black-carded.
‘The sending-off changed everything,’ said Kildare manager Cian O’Neill.
“We’d be as disappointed with the second half as we were happy with the first half. I’ve watched the sending-off seven or eight times, there might have been some form of minimal contact but there was no strike.’
Despite having anything left to play for, Kildare were the better team for the majority of the first half, only briefly trailing after Clifford’s penalty goal was followed by a point from the corner-forward to put Kerry 1-6 to 0-8 in front.
Paul Cribbin was outstanding for Kerry, kicking five points from play, while Flynn was highly effective as well as the home side struggled to get to grips with matters.
After eight minutes, Tommy Moolick’s fine point, following good work from Paddy Brophy and Niall Kelly, put Kildare 0-3 to 0-1 in front and though Kieran Donaghy pulled one back for Kerry following Stephen O’Brien’s good run, it didn’t signal a Kingdom turnaround.
Too often, the high deliveries to Donaghy weren’t sticking and though David Moran was prominent at midfield for Kerry, Kevin Feely was winning his fair share in the centre for Kildare.
Peter Kelly’s driving run was followed by a point and Cribbin’s second made it 0-5 to 0-2. Though Micheál Burns and Moran brought Kerry back to within one again, Kildare responded through Niall Kelly, Cribbin and Kevin Flynn to lead 0-8 to 0-4 by the 21st minute.
Clifford got off the mark when Paul Geaney set him up for a point on 22 and a minute later they were level. It came from their most flowing move of the game, as Seán O’Shea and Geaney linked to give Moran a sight of goal but, just before he could shoot, Kevin Flynn fouled him for a penalty.
Clifford stroked the ball to Mark Donnellan’s left and the same player had Kerry ahead for the first time on 27 minutes from Donaghy’s layoff – but that wasn’t the signal for them to push on.
Kildare found a second wind as Neil Flynn nailed a 45 to level and then evaded Jason Foley to allow impressive sub Chris Healy to pick him out with a threaded pass. He made no mistake, firing past Brian Kelly for a 1-9 to 1-6 lead.
That was augmented by Flynn and two from Cribbin as Kerry trailed by six, but Flynn’s red card swung the advantage in the Kingdom’s direction.
On the restart, with James O’Donoghue taking over over from Donaghy, Kerry were ahead within seven minutes.
Within a minute, an error from goalkeeper Donnellan put Clifford in for a goal. Further points followed from Geaney, Seán O’Shea, Jack Barry and Stephen O’Brien.
The outcome was more or less decided in the 45th minute as McCarthy and Burns worked the ball to O’Donoghue, who ran through to slot past Donnellan for a 3-12 to 1-13 lead and Kerry had five more points on the board before Kildare scored again.
Kerry would add to their lead n the closing stages before Paul Cribbin capped his display with a late goal for Kildare, but events in Salthill made their efforts irrelevant.