Allianz Football League Division 1 – Kerry 2-16 Donegal 1-8

Clever Kerry scupper Donegal’s game plan

Kerry 2-16 Donegal 1-08

By Kieran McCarthy for the Irish Examiner newspaper

It’s a result that will certainly pleasethe football purist. While it’s flirting with the realms of sensationalism to brand Kerry’s emphatic hammering of Donegal in a surprisingly one-sided Division 1 contest yesterday as a victory for football, this double-scores rout at Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney was important in its own right. On a day when Kerry took outright ownership of top spot in the division, the Kingdom played with a swagger and style that an off-colour Donegal simply couldn’t match, and which now leaves the Ulster champions in deep relegation trouble. Bar the opening five minutes when Donegal raced 0-3 to 0-0 clear — with Patrick McBrearty, Anthony Thompson and Michael Murphy all on target — the visitors were outplayed, outfought and, crucially, out-thought by what Kerry manager Jack O’Connor branded as “clever” football.

“No matter how much you get bodies back, with a bit of clever rotation of the ball you can always get men free. We worked very hard and spoke a lot about that this week, about being clever on the ball and shipping the ball to the support runner,” O’Connor said. “Moving the ball quick is vital in a game like this, if you start soloing the ball into tackles and losing the ball, obviously that’s playing into their strengths. Our use of the ball was clever today.” So much was made of the contrasting styles of both teams in the lead up to the game but it was only the home side that turned up, as Donegal endured a miserable afternoon, compounded by Eamonn McGee’s second-half red (two yellows). For a team whose foundation is built on its strong defensive base, to ship 2-16 is a serious blow.

“This is the first time it’s happened to us in the last two years. It’s going to happen sometime and if it’s going to happen anywhere, this is the place. You have to take lessons and move on. Mayo in Ballyshannon next Sunday is a good test of us now to see if we can bounce back and try and get something from that game,” Donegal boss Jim McGuinness reflected. With Donegal well off the pace and almost wiped out in midfield where Bryan Sheehan and Anthony Maher’s partnership continues to blossom, it’s hard to accurately judge just how impressive Kerry were, but there are plenty of positives to take into next weekend’s away trip to Cork. Vying for top of the list was a much-improved, and badly needed, performance from Kieran Donaghy; easily his best game of the year.

In a two-minute first-half spell, Donaghy swung over two super efforts from distance, each to a huge roar of approval from the terrace, that left Kerry 1-6 to 0-5 in front, with Patrick Curtin blasting home a fantastic goal, after 17 minutes, that owed much to the work-rate of Paul Galvin. By half-time, Kerry’s advantage had swelled to 1-8 to 0-6, as Bryan Sheehan — top scoring with 1-7 — continued to punish Donegal from placed balls and Barry John Keane did his bit to highlight the new wave of young players currently sweeping the Kingdom.

Of the fresh faces, it was wing-back Peter Crowley that stole the show, hugely impressive in defence and attack, while Brian McGuire’s continued improvement is strengthening Kerry’s options. “It’s fantastic that those young fellas are mad for road. Peter and Brian have been going great guns, Patrick Curtin was a revelation today, Barry John Keane played well, James O’Donoghue was doing really well until he pulled a hamstring last week. That’s great for us because there is no question that we needed to find new players,” Jack O’Connor said. And it was one of those young guns, Curtin, who was fouled for Kerry’s early second-half penalty that Bryan Sheehan tucked away, and after points from McGuire and Sheehan, again, the Munster men led 2-10 to 0-6.

A brace of Michael Murphy points — their best player on the day — kept Donegal alive, if only just, though when the classy forward converted his side’s penalty midway through the half, it raised the hope of a more competitive contest. It was the falsest of dawns. A game that has promised so much and ultimately delivered very little, from a competitive viewpoint, petered out to its inevitable conclusion, as five points on the spin sealed an emphatic Kerry win. With Colm Cooper, Tomás Ó Sé, Donnchadh Walsh and James O’Donoghue all to return, Jack O’Connor has a welcomed selection headache, while Jim McGuinness has problems of a different kind.

Scorers for Kerry: B Sheehan 1-7 (7f, 1-0 pen), P Curtin 1-1 (1f), K Donaghy, A Maher 0-2 each, B J Keane, B McGuire, P Galvin, P Crowley 0-1 each.

Donegal: M Murphy (3f, 1-0 pen) 1-5, P McBrearty 0-2, A Thompson 0-1.

KERRY: B Kealy; M Ó Sé, D Bohan, K Young; P Crowley, E Brosnan, B Maguire; A Maher, B Sheehan; P Galvin, Darran O’Sullivan, K Donaghy; BJ Keane, Declan O’Sullivan, P Curtin.

Subs: S Enright for D Bohane (ht, inj); A O’Mahony for M Ó Sé (61); K O’Leary for BJ Keane (63); D O’Callaghan for Declan O’Sullivan (67); S Scanlon for B Sheehan (67).

DONEGAL: P Durcan; F McGlynn, N McGee, P McGrath; A Thompson, K Lacy, L McLoone; R Kavanagh, N Gallagher; M McHugh, R Bradley, E McGee; C McFadden, M Murphy, P McBrearty.

Subs: D Walsh for L McLoone (ht); M O’Reilly for R Bradley (ht); C Toye for M McHugh (59).

Referee: Syl Doyle (Wexford)