Kerry amble to all too easy win over surprisingly tepid Monaghan in Group 4 opener

ALL-IRELAND SFC GROUP 4, ROUND 1

Kerry 0-24

Monaghan 1-11

THE All-Ireland SFC Group Phase got up and running in Killarney on Saturday afternoon only for it to fall flat on its face within 15 or so minutes. Or, more to the point, Monaghan fell flat on their faces, never raising as much as a canter, not to mind a gallop, as Kerry sauntered to what may well be their easiest win of the entire year.

Fifteen minutes is what it took for the Kingdom to ease into a 0-7 to 0-1 lead, a gap that had more than doubled to 13 points, 0-15 to 0-2, at half time. Suffice to say, there isn’t much more telling on this poor attempt at an All-Ireland Championship match, though there is no fault attached to Kerry in that.

The home side were tuned in, sharp, cohesive, fit, strong, together, accurate – alive: Monaghan were none of those things.

It is six weeks since Monaghan last played competitively – an Ulster Preliminary Round loss to Cavan – and if a little rustiness might have been acceptable and excusable, there could be no accounting for how bad the visitors were here.

Paudie Clifford pointed Kerry into the lead 12 seconds in, but somewhat remarkably – given what was to come – Monaghan were back on terms a little over a minute later when Micheal McCarville played a long ball in for his midfield partner to Gary Mohan to claim a mark, which he converted.

Two minutes later Conor McCarthy popped a long ball over the Kerry defence for Karl O’Connell to gather and bear down on goal, but Shane Ryan was out and down smartly to smother the Monaghan’s wing back’s low shot.

It was an early warning shot across Kerry’s bow, and one which they took heed of. It would be another 15 minutes until Monaghan would score again – even really threaten to score – as Kerry went into point-kicking overdrive.

David Clifford converted a couple of frees, Paul Geaney and Tony Brosnan scored from the attack, Paul Murphy and Tom O’Sullivan (2) came up from the defence to score, and by the time Micheal Bannigan kicked Monaghan’s second point in the 19th minute they were 0-9 to 0-2 behind.

It was more of the same in the second quarter with the Clifford brothers, Brosnan, Murphy, Sean O’Shea and Dara Moynihan on target to leave Kerry with that unassailable 13-point lead at half time.

David Clifford’s point extended the Kerry lead early in the second half, and while Monaghan hit back with a couple of scores from sub Andrew Woods from a mark, and Conor McCarthy, it was all simply a case of seeing the clock out – all 30 minutes of it still to run.

Geaney tapped over four points – he rewarded his first Championship start of the year with five points from play – , Tom O’Sullivan came forward for his third score, and Kerry were 0-21 to 0-6 ahead when Mohan scored the game’s only goal. Conor McCarthy went for a point, the ball dropped short, Shane Ryan palmed it down from over the crossbar and Mohan lashed the ball back past the goalkeeper. Small consolation.

Monaghan mined another couple of scores, but Sean O’Shea embellished his performance with three late scores, and it all petered out to the inevitable win everyone expected Kerry would get. The paucity of the Monaghan challenge might have caught one or two by surprise, but other than that it was all fairly predictable stuff.

KERRY: Shane Ryan, Paul Murphy 0-2, Jason Foley, Tom O’Sullivan 0-3, Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Tadhg Morley, Gavin White, Diarmuid O’Connor, Joe O’Connor, Tony Brosnan 0-2, Paudie Clifford 0-2, Dara Moynihan 0-1, David Clifford 0-5 (3f), Seán O’Shea 0-4 (3f), Paul Geaney 0-5. Subs: Cillian Burke for Moynihan (50), Barry Dan O’Sullivan for J O’Connor (50), Armin Heinrich for Ó Beaglaoich (55), Stephen O’Brien for Brosnan (55), Darragh Roche for Geaney (66)

MONAGHAN: Rory Beggan 0-1 (f), Ryan Wylie, Barry McBennett, Ryan O’Toole 0-1, Karl O’Connell, Killian Lavelle, Conor McCarthy 0-1, Gary Mohan 1-1 (01m), Micheal McCarville, Stephen O’Hanlon 0-1, Micheal Bannigan 0-2, Michael Hamill, Jason Irwin, Sean Jones, Conor McManus 0-1 (f). Subs: Dessie Ward 0-1 for McCareville (ht), Andrew Woods 0-1 (m) for Jones (ht), Ciaran McNulty for McBennett (46), Joel Wilson 0-1 (m) for O’Connell (50), Thomas McPhillips for Ward (53).

REFEREE: Sean Hurson (Tyrone)