Sending off costs Kerry dearly in crunch contest

A SEVEN-point defeat doesn’t accurately reflect the tenor of this game.

Don’t get us wrong here, Westmeath were worthy winners, the better team, all of that. Kerry, however, were much more competitive in the game than the final scoreline suggests.

Westmeath trailed Kerry for most of the first half, only re-claiming their lead into injury time at the end of the half and, while they won by seven, Kerry were within two, a puck of the ball away from victory, at the end of the seventy minutes of regulation time.

It was only then, down to fourteen men for twenty plus minutes and chasing the game, that the bottom fell out of the Kingdom’s challenge. In their desperation to get something out of the game – only a win would do – they left themselves exposed.

With each Westmeath point – starting with Killian Doyle’s brilliant long range effort on seventy minutes – Kerry’s desperation grew that little bit more and the Lake County took advantage to hit five unanswered to round out the game.

It was a chastening way for a young team to finish a game and to finish a campaign, but not, we stress, all that representative. Even if Kerry weren’t at their best on Sunday – and they weren’t – they were well in this game for long stretches.

In a nip and tuck first half they looked the better side for a lot of it. They looked the more expansive side in contrast to a slightly narrow Westmeath side, who seemed to be playing a one man inside line for periods.

Starting with Pádraig Boyle’s first point in the second minute,

Kerry led for most of the first half, just never by much. Kerry could never fashion a lead greater than two points. After an early Westmeath flurry, Kerry hit four on-the-trot to open out a two point lead (0-5 to 0-3) by the seventeenth minute.

This was easily Kerry’s best period in the game. They needed to take advantage of it and, when Pádraig Boyle hit the back of the net, following up a Jordan Conway effort on eighteen minutes, they seemed to have done so.

Unfortunately the referee spotted an infraction – a square ball was the common consensus – and Westmeath were awarded a free out. A hammer blow to Kerry’s chances, especially with Westmeath having the benefit of the breeze to come in the second half. It was 0-9 to 0-10 to the hosts at the break.

Westmeath started the second half the more determined side with a couple of points from the inspired Allan Devine (scorer of 1-10), but even then there was very little to choose between the sides.

The hosts opened up an early three point lead and, yet, within minutes Kerry had it back at a one point game. It was 0-12 to 0-13 after forty three minutes following a Shane Conway free.

Then came the game’s defining score when straight from their own puck-out Westmeath fashioned a goal for Allan Devine, who quickly followed it up with a point from play to make it a five point game all of a sudden (0-12 to 1-14).

Kerry by now were reeling, struggling to get hold of their own puckouts and as if to compound matters the

Kingdom were soon down to fourteen men following the dismissal of Jack Goulding on a second yellow card.

With twenty minutes to go it wasn’t looking particularly encouraging for Fintan O’Connor’s men. Yet still they battled. A combination of Kerry grit and Westmeath laxness (and indiscipline) kept Kerry in the game.

Shane Conway frees kept Kerry ticking over and by the sixty second minute Kerry were back within a single score, 0-15 to 1-15. A minute after that Kerry almost broke the cover for a goal when Pádraig Boyle picked up Colum Harty.

Harty was fouled and Boyle, instead of taking an easy point, blasted wide from the free. With seven minutes to go it was probably too early to go for goal and it denied Kerry the chance to really put Westmeath under pressure.

When Conway pointed his tenth of the day on sixty six minutes it could have been down to a single point proposition. Instead Westmeath had a little bit of a buffer and a little less reason to panic.

Down the back stretch Michael Ryan’s men were steeliness personified. That’s experience and, while Kerry have reason to be disappointed, we must remember too that they’re a young side.

It’s of little consolation to them now that they’ll learn from the experience, but learn they will. Promotion will have to wait at least another year.

Dáithí Griffin