Cliff grabs late draw

DUBLIN...1-19 KERRY ..... 1-19

A DAVID CLIFFORD free in the 10th minute of injury time earned Kerry a draw in a fractious encounter with All-ireland champions Dublin at Croke Park.

Both sides finished with 14 men as Dublin’s Eric Lowndes and Sean O’shea of Kerry were sent off for a combination of black and yellow card offences in the second half while, just like last February’s meeting in Tralee, there was a brawl after the final whistle.

In total, referee Sean Hurson flashed a total of 15 cards, all bar one of them in the second half, as the level of needle increased as the game went on.

It looked as though Dublin were set for an unlikely victory after trailing by three points by the 65th minute.

But a storming spell from Ciaran Kilkenny, who scored two points and won a 75th minute free which Dean Rock pointed to put Dublin in front with time almost up, looked to have swung the game.

There would be one last chance for Kerry, however, as they were awarded a free outside the Dublin 45, though with O’shea now off the field it was made much more scoreable when moved up for dissent, with Clifford nailing it.

Hurson played 10 minutes of injury time, four more than were initially advertised, and he was on the receiving end of heckling from Dublin fans as he left the pitch.

Despite having completed only a handful of training sessions, Dublin were far more assertive from the off and lead 0-5 to 0-1 by the 14th minute.

After the impressive James O’donoghue had registered his first point for Kerry, the Dublin lead was wiped out by a superb Clifford goal on the 21-yearold’s first outing as Kingdom skipper. There was no obvious danger when he took a Sean O’shea pass in the 18th minute but Clifford left Davy Byrne for dead and drilled low to the net.

Brian Fenton restored Dublin’s lead before O’shea (free) and O’donoghue put Kerry in front for the first time, but the rest of the half belonged to Fenton.

He quickly tagged on another two points to restore Dublin’s lead and though Kerry replied through Stephen O’brien and O’donoghue, a Rock penalty, after the same player had been fouled, made it 1-8 to 1-6 on 31 minutes.

A fourth point for Fenton in the space of 20 minutes, after Lowndes had been blackcarded, ensured that Dublin led 1-10 to 1-9 at half-time.

With the numerical advantage, Kerry went back in front on the restart with a pair of Paul Murphy points and Dublin could only manage three Rock frees from half-time until the 62nd minute.

By then, although Clifford’s influence had waned, Kerry appeared to be in control and moved three points in front.

But, as they’ve done so often, Dublin hit a purple patch at the business end of the match that looked to be decisive until Clifford’s heroics.