2024 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship – Kerry 2-21 Louth 1-10

Kerry defeated Louth by 2-21 to 1-10 in Round 3 of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship on Sunday June 16th at Laois Hire O’Moore Park Portlaoise.

Comfortable for Kerry as they seal top spot and All-Ireland quarter-final slot

All-Ireland SFC Group 4: Kerry 2-21 Louth 1-10

Report by Brendan O’Brien for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Kerry did what they had to do in the midlands on Sunday afternoon by accounting for Louth, sealing top spot in Group 4 and earning a weekend off before reporting back for duty with an All-Ireland quarter-final at the month’s end.

This wasn’t the 28-point walloping that the Kingdom put on Louth at this same stage and venue 12 months ago, but then nobody expected that given the Leinster side’s improvements and encouraging Leinster final effort against the Dubs.

Kerry were under less pressure this time too having won both of their opening games in the pool and both knew that they had appointments beyond this one whatever transpired. Louth’s second place finish gives them ‘home’ advantage in the preliminary quarters.

All the football played since early April and we’re still painting with context.

Is it pat to say again that that the Championships really only starts now?

Kerry opened with ease and the manner of their first three points suggested it could be a long day for Louth but, credit to the Leinster side, they dug in repeatedly in the early exchanges when the scoreboard threatened to really get away from them.

Their opening goal from Donal McKenny steadied the ship, the defender outjumping Tadhg Morley to a Conor Grimes shot that fell short before finding the net from a prone position after being pulled down by goalkeeper Shane Ryan.

McKenny could have won a penalty later in the half when dragged to the turf but that one went unpunished while the excellent midfielder Tommy Durnin dragged another goal chance wide from a tight angle towards half-time.

That all said a lot about Louth who were doing a lot right but just not nailing the final pass or shot. And they were being put under some pressure at the other end where Kerry were keeping the scoreboard ticking over and having some luck with the high press.

The longest Jack O’Connor’s side went without a score in that opening period was six minutes, their tally of 13 points proof of the joy they had going forward, not least with a long passing game at pace that Louth manager Ger Brennan had warned of last week.

Their only sighting of goal – in a half where they were happy to fist over four points from close enough range – came when Paul Geaney sought to finish off a lightning counter but he was denied by a very good Niall McDonnell save.

Still, Kerry’s five point lead at the break made for a comfortable enough bedrock on a day where the sun shone and any wind was a pleasant presence rather than a tactical consideration and it was never seriously threatened after the restart.

Louth’s failure to finish jobs they started was never more obvious than when Craig Lennon – who has been something of a goal machine lately – did brilliantly to engineer a one-on-one before blazing wide early in the third quarter.

Ciaran Keenan hammered another golden opportunity over the bar from close range at the start of the final quarter but Kerry had found the net at the other end by then with Diarmuid O’Connor following up after Jason Foley’s first effort had been blocked.

That score somehow prompted a mass fracas which led to five yellow cards, three on the Louth side and two for Kerry, but it was a meltdown totally out of keeping with the game before that or anything that followed.

Scorers for Kerry: D Clifford (0-7, 0-5 frees); D O’Connor (1-1); B O Beaglaioch (0-3); T Morley (1-0); P Clifford and J O’Connor (both 0-2); S O’Shea (0-2, 0-1 free); P Murphy, T Brosnan, D Moynihan and T O’Sullivan (all 0-1).

Scorers for Louth: S Mulroy (0-3, 0-2 frees); D McKenny (1-0); C Grimes (0-2); C Lennon, B Duffy, P Mathews, C Keenan and C Byrne (all 0-1);

Kerry: S Ryan; T Morley, J Foley, T O’Sullivan; P Murphy, G White, B O Beaglaioch; D O’Connor, J O’Connor; T Brosnan, P Clifford, D Moynihan; D Clifford, S O’Shea, D Geaney.
Subs: K Spillane for Geaney and C Burke for Brosnan (both 56); M Breen for Morley, D Casey for Foley and BD O’Sullivan for J O’Connor (all 67);

Louth: N McDonnell; D McKenny, D Corcoran, D Campbell; C McKeever, A Williams, C Lennon; T Durnin, B Duffy; P Mathews, C Keenan, C Grimes; R Burns, S Mulroy, C Byrne.
Subs: L Grey for Lennon (50); C Early for Mathews (52); T Jackson for Burns (60); L Jackson for Byrne and P McStravick for Duffy (both 67);

Referee: C Lane (Cork).

Team News

Team Announcement: Kerry vs Louth – All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, Group 4, Round 3

Full team news here: https://t.co/GqO5HM9dyr#WeAreKerry #CiarraíAbú pic.twitter.com/x42VQvwR3O

— Kerry GAA (@Kerry_Official) June 13, 2024

KERRY: S Ryan; P Murphy, J Foley, T O’Sullivan; B O Beaglaoich, T Morley, G White; D O’Connor, J O’Connor; T Brosnan, P Clifford, D Moynihan; D Clifford, S O’Shea, P Geaney

LOUTH: Niall McDonnell; Donal McKenny, Dan Corcoran, Peter Lynch; Conall McKeever, Anthony Williams, Craig Lennon; Tommy Durnin, Bevan Duffy; Paul Mathews, Ciaran Keenan, Conor Grimes; Ryan Burns, Sam Mulroy, Ciaran Byrne.
Subs: Craig Lynch, Chris O’Neill, Peter McStravick, Liam Jackson, Dermot Campbell, Ciaran Murphy, Sean Marry, Leonard Grey, Tadhg McDonnell, Conor Early, Tom Jackson.