Farrell has to witness yet another washout
DESSIE Farrell might be wont to paraphrase fellow Dubliner Oscar Wilde after seeing his side go down by seven points to Kerry in a crushing defeat at a wind-lashed and rain-soaked Austin Stack Park in Tralee last night.
To lose one League match by playing so poorly could be regarded as a misfortune, but to lose two in a row in such a way is downright careless.
Dublin were every bit as bad in Tralee against Kerry as they were against Armagh in Croke Park a week earlier, and Farrell and his players have much work to do before hosting Mayo in a fortnight.
For Kerry, they will be mildly irked that they lost the second half by seven points to one, but context is everything in terms of the result.
Kerry had this game won in the first half, taking a 13-point lead to the interval.
And, thereafter it was all about saving face for Dublin. Farrell might take some consolation for that second-half revival, but it is the first 35 minutes that will haunt the Dublin manager.
For Kerry and manager Jack O’Connor it was almost all good, so good in fact that they could afford the luxury of a missed penalty from David Clifford in the first half.
The penalty miss came just after Sean Bugler had pointed for Dublin to have them trail 0-4 to 0-5, and it prefaced a Kerry assault on the Dublin posts in front of a sell-out 12,000 crowd in the driving wind and rain
Dublin did have the ball in the Kerry net in the first half when Dean Rock’s shot went in through a combination of the post and Shane Murphy’s hand.
However, an off-the-ball foul by Niall Scully in the build-up saw the Dublin forward black-carded and the goal scratched off.
It was a let-off Kerry were happy to capitalise on, and they went to town on the Dubs for the rest of the half.
In the 26th minute, Loran O’Dell overcooked his pass to Rock with just Murphy providing the Kerry cover at that stage, but Kerry weren’t nearly as wasteful.
Points from Dara Moynihan, Paul Geaney, David Clifford (two) and a Sean O’Shea free made it 0-12 to 0-4, and then David Clifford teed up Moynihan for a cracking right-footed shot to the top corner of Comerford’s goal that made it a 12-point game on the 35-minute mark.
The half finished with a Geaney point, a Jack Barry black card, and Dublin reeling from a 13-point deficit going to the dressing room.
If most of the drama was squeezed into that second quarter, the second half wasn’t nearly as much fun. Kerry managed just the one score, from
Geaney in the 47th minute. Thereafter, the game petered out with black cards for Tom Lahiff and then Paudie Clifford, while Ciaran Kilkenny, Brian Howard, Brian Fenton, Ryan Basquel and Rock (three frees) restored a bit of respectability for Dublin in what was their second washout in a week.
What the result might predict for a Championship meeting between the two teams – if it comes to pass – is anyone’s guess.
But, as early-season markers go, this was all about Kerry laying a big one down to a team that still gets under their skin.
KERRy: S Murphy, D O’Donoghue (D Casey 72), J Foley, T O’Sullivan, P Murphy, T Morley (G Crowley 70), B Ó Beaglaoich, D O’Connor, J Barry, A Spillane (S O’Brien 54), S O’Shea, D Moynihan (M Burns 65), P Clifford J Savage 70), D Clifford (K Spillane 71), P Geaney (T Brosnan 63).
ScoRERS: S O’Shea 0-5 (3f), D Moynihan 1-1, D Clifford 0-4, P Geaney 0-3 (1m), D O’Connor 0-1, P Clifford 0-1 DUBLIN: E Comerford, L Gannon, D Byrne, S McMahon, D Conlon (CJ Smith 73), B Howard, J Small (McGinnis 67), B Fenton, T Lahiff, S Bugler, C Kilkenny, N Scully (R McGarry 65), L O’Dell (C Archer 50), C McCormack (R Basquel 50), D Rock. ScoRERS: D Rock 0-5 (4f), E Comerford 0-1 (f), B Howard 0-1, B Fenton 0-1, S Bugler 0-1, C Kilkenny 0-1, R Basquel 0-1.
REfEREE: Conor Lane (Cork)