The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Super-ish win is all in vain
ALL-IRELAND SFC QUARTER-FINAL GROUP PHASE ROUND 3
IN the end it was all in vain. Never has a 12-point Kerry win in a Championship match been greeted by such stunned silence, not to mind the sight of hundreds of Kerry supporters streaming out of Fitzgerald Stadium well before the final whistle, but such was the final twist in the tale of the inaugural Super 8s that Kerry bowed out of the Championship on the back of a big victory.
Of course the devil is in the detail and the devil as far as Kerry was concerned came clad in maroon and white. Galway had thrown everything including the hatchet and the hammer at Kerry three weeks ago in the first round of the Super 8s in Croke Park, inflicting a catastrophic defeat on the Kingdom. Three weeks later, with their own qualification to the All-Ireland semi-finals secured, Galway rolled over against Monaghan and failed to record a six successive Championship win that would have dragged Kerry into the last four of the Championship. As word filtered back from Salthill that Monaghan were headed to the county’s first All-Ireland semi-final in 30 years the supporters headed for the exits at Fitzgerald Stadium. Soon after Fitzmaurice would be out the gate behind them, the Finuge tendering his resignation as manager despite having two years left of his commitment to the cause.
Kerry’s failure to reach the All-Ireland semi-finals for only the third time since 2000 probably precipitated the manager’s decision to step down, but once more the devil was in the detail and this time it was more sinister. Fitzmaurice cited the unreasonable criticism of the management and players in the weeks since that Galway defeat as damaging to the team, and the younger players in particular, and in believing those players would be better served by him removing himself from the manager’s post he literally took one for the team.
What Kerry - and the new manager - take from this latest and last performance of the summer into what will be a long winter of introspection is for another day but it was a scratchy performance from Kerry, at least until Kildare were reduced to 14 men just before the interval. Thereafter Kerry made hay in the open spaces but they will take little, if any, consolation from what has been a very poor Super 8 campaign.
All of the drama was reserved for the last 10 minutes of the first half when Kildare momentarily opened up a six-point lead but then had goal scorer Neil Flynn sent off on a red card after a slap out at Killian Young, with full back David Hyland following soon after for a black card foul.
Flynn’s goal came in the 31st minute when he easily turned Jason Foley and dispatched it past Brian Kelly to make it 1-9 to 1-6 to the visitors, after David Clifford’s penalty seven minutes earlier had hauled Kerry back on level terms, 1-5 to 0-8, after a lifeless start from the home side.
Kerry never led in that first 25 minutes as Kildare looked like the team chasing a place in the All-Ireland semi-finals, with Paul Cribbin kicking some brilliant long range points. Trailing by three points David Moran was bundled over to win a deserved penalty, which Clifford coolly placed past Mark Donnellan, but Kildare reacted like a team with plenty to prove, and two fine Cribbin points had them 1-12 to 1-6 ahead with Kerry at sixes and sevens all over the field.
Flynn’s sending off came in the 35th minute with Sean O’Shea (free) and Clifford mining late points to leave Kerry trailing by four at the interval.
Kevin McCarthy and James O’Donoghue came in for the second half in place of Young and Kieran Donaghy as Kerry went about chasing down that four-point deficit to turn it into a five-point win to be sure of advancing should Monaghan lose above in Galway, and the hosts made their numerical advantage tell in the second half. They got the perfect start when Clifford capitalised on a Donnellan mistake to roll his second goal into an empty net, and Paul Geaney soon had the scores level, 2-9 to 1-12, with a point. Thereafter it was all Kerry as they finally found their rhythm, with O’Donoghue’s goal in the 45th minute easing fears that Kerry might win but by not enough.
They needn’t have worried on that score as they piled on the scores, with Clifford finishing his freshman season with the seniors with a masterclass. The Fossa man finished with 2-6 to his credit and has been a rare ray of hope on a bleak summer landscape, but while he and others like Sean O’Shea, Gavin White and Tom O’Sullivan are the future, others will need to take serious stock as to what, if anything, they can offer next year.
Kildare had Mick O’Grady red carded late on and ended with 12 men when Paddy Brophy couldn’t be replaced after pickng up a black card, but it’s Monaghan and Galway who advance from Group One to face Tyrone and Dublin respectively in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Kerry and Kildare skulk away and reflect on their respective campaigns, with the Lilywhites certain to regard their summer as being far more successful than the Kingdom’s.
SCORERS for Kerry: David Clifford 2-6 (1-0 pen, 0-1f), James O’Donoghue 1-2, Sean O’Shea 0-5 (3f, 2 ‘45’), Jack Barry 0-3, Paul Geaney 0-2 (1f), Micheal Burns 0-2, David Moran 0-1, Stephen O’Brien 0-1, Kieran Donaghy 0-1, Kevin McCarthy 0-1, Tadhg Morley 0-1
SCORERS for Kildare: Paul Cribbin 1-5, Neil Flynn 1-3 (0-1f, 0-1 ‘45’), Kevin Feely 0-3f, Peter Kelly 0-1, Johnny Bynre 0-1, Kevin Flynn 0-1, Toomy Moolick 0-1, Niall Kelly 0-1
KERRY: Brian Kelly; Jason Foley, Peter Crowley, Tom O’Sullivan; Paul Murphy, Killian Young, Gavin White; David Moran, Jack Barry; Micheál Burns, Sean O’Shea, Stephen O’Brien; David Clifford, Kieran Donaghy, Paul Geaney. Subs: Kevin McCarthy for K Young (HT), James O’Donoghue for K Donaghy (HT), Darran O’Sullivan for M Burns (57), Tadhg Morley for J Foley (59), Anthony Maher for S O’Shea (67), Brian Ó Beaglaíoch for G White (inj, 69).
KILDARE: Mark Donnellan; Peter Kelly, David Hyland, Mick O’Grady; Johnny Byrne, Eoin Doyle, Kevin Flynn; Kevin Feely, Tommy Moolick; Fergal Conway, Paul Cribbin, Keith Cribbin; Neil Flynn, Niall Kelly, Paddy Brophy. Subs: Chris Healy for K Cribbin (27), James Murray for D Hyland (b/c, HT), Cathal McNally for M O’Grady (47), Eamonn Callaghan for F Conway (51)
REFEREE: Derek O’Mahoney (Tipperary)