All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Quarter-Final – Kerry 7-16 Kildare 0-10

Kerry defeated Kildare by 7-16 to 0-10 in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Quarter-Final on Sunday August 2nd at Croke Park.

Kerry hit seven goals in an incredible victory

ALL-IRELAND SFC QUARTER-FINAL: KERRY 7-16 KILDARE 0-10

By Arthur Sullivan for GAA.ie

Seven Kerry goals in a surreal second half at Croke Park saw the All-Ireland champions utterly outclass a bereft Kildare and cruise into the All-Ireland semi-finals with a winning margin of 27 points.

Kerry led by seven points at the break after a comfortable first half, but few could have envisaged what was to unfold in the second half for Kildare. Kerry hit seven goals – yes, seven – after the interval to completely humiliate Kildare and march through to the All-Ireland semi-finals in incredible fashion.

While Kerry will be delighted with a truly virtuoso display, they also have a major worry over James O’Donoghue, who was forced off through injury late in the first half. The worry is that it is a recurrence of a shoulder injury that has troubled before, but that is not known for certain yet.

Back to the good news though. Five of the Kerry goals came within 15 minutes of the restart. Of the seven after the break, Colm Cooper got two and Darran O’Sullivan got two, with the other three coming from Donnchadh Walsh, Stephen O’Brien and Barry John Keane. There were some big Kerry hauls – Cooper hit 2-3, O’Sullivan 2-1, Stephen O’Brien 1-4 and BJ Keane 1-3 – Fitzmaurice will have plenty of calls to make before the semi-final.

Walsh got the first goal to make it 1-10 to 0-4 after 39 minutes, and that was effectively the end of the game. Kildare fell apart, leaving huge space inside their 45 metre line, but Kerry were utterly ruthless in the way they exploited it. Cooper, O’Sullivan, Barry John Keane and then Cooper again all found the net in the space of five minutes and Kerry led 5-11 to 0-6 with the game yet to enter the final quarter.

Further Kerry goals followed before the end from Stephen O’Brien and Darran O’Sullivan and the suffering finally ended for Kildare when the referee blew after one minute of injury-time, leaving Jason Ryan to contemplate an astonishing defeat. Kerry were in total control at the interval, having found scores far easier to come by than Kildare, who created very little in the opening 35 minutes.

Kildare didn’t score in the opening quarter, despite having the majority of the possession, whereas Kerry picked off scores easily enough, and led 0-4 to 0-0 after 17 minutes. O’Donoghue had one within 15 seconds, with Paul Geaney and O’Brien (2) were also on target in the opening quarter.

A mini Kildare revival early in the second quarter saw them get back to within two points of Kerry, the stylish Niall Kelly hitting two points alongside one from Alan Smith to leave it 0-5 to 0-3 after 22 minutes. However, the remaining 15 minutes of the half belonged to Kerry. O’Brien, who kicked four points in an outstanding first half, was unaccountably given space time and time again by the Kildare defence, and he punished the Leinster side for this.

O’Donoghue, Geaney and Cooper were also on target in this period as Kerry got on top, but Kerry were dealt a blow on the 30 minute mark was O’Donoghue, after a very productive display, was forced off with what looked like a wrist injury but which could be related to that troublesome shoulder which required surgery in the off-season.

The Footballer of the Year was brought down by Kildare goalkeeper Mark Donnellan after powering clean through on goal, but replays suggested that Donnellan had tackled O’Donoghue fairly. Nonetheless, he was forced off, replaced by BJ Keane. It didn’t disturb Kerry too much in any event – Geaney kicking his second of the half to leave them 0-10 to 0-7 up before half-time.

Had Kildare known what was to happen in the second half, they would have happily taken a seven point loss. However, the goals started to flow almost as soon as the second half began and this was a dark day for Kildare – one they will be desperate to forget, but which they will surely remember forever.
***
Scorers for Kerry: C Cooper 2-3 (1f), D O’Sullivan 2-1, S O’Brien 1-4, BJ Keane 1-3, D Walsh 1-0, J O’Donoghue 0-3 (1f), P Geaney 0-2

Scorers for Kildare: N Kelly 0-2, A Smith 0-2, P O’Neill 0-2, E Doyle 0-1, E O’Flaherty 0-1, O Lyons 0-1, F Dowling 0-1

KERRY: Brendan Kealy; Marc Ó Sé, Aidan O’Mahony, Shane Enright; Jonathan Lyne, Killian Young, Paul Murphy; Anthony Maher, David Moran; Stephen O’Brien, Bryan Sheehan, Donnchadh Walsh; Paul Geaney, Colm Cooper, James O’Donoghue. Subs: BJ Keane for J O’Donoghue (31), Darran O’Sullivan for P Geaney (42), Peter Crowley for M Ó Sé (50), Paul Galvin for D Walsh (54), Johnny Buckley for B Sheehan (54), Tommy Walsh for A Maher (60).

KILDARE: Mark Donnellan; Ciarán Fitzpatrick, Mick O’Grady, Ollie Lyons; Kevin Murnaghan, Eoin Doyle, Emmet Bolton; Tommy Moolick, Paul Cribbin; Eoghan O’Flaherty, Niall Kelly, Pádraig O’Neill; Eamonn Callaghan, Alan Smith, Cathal McNally. Subs: Peter Kelly for E Callaghan (43), Fergal Conway for K Murnaghan (51), Pádraig Fogarty for N Kelly (54), Mark Sherry for C McNally (57), Fionn Dowling for T Moolick (62), G White for E Bolton (67)

Preview: All-Ireland SFC Quarter-Final – @Kerry_Official v @KildareGAA, Croke Park, Sunday, 2pm: http://t.co/ccsRIwKH02

— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 31, 2015

Team News

The Kerry Team v Kildare is as follows: http://t.co/SF7CJtwJzh http://t.co/PRRmMnFlDn

— Kerry GAA (@Kerry_Official) July 30, 2015

The Kerry Senior Football Team to play Kildare in the All Ireland Quarter Final in Croke Park on Sunday next at 2pm shows one change in personnel from the side that lined out against Cork in the Munster Senior Football Championship Final Replay in Killarney.
Stephen O’Brien, introduced in the Munster Final, is named in the half forward line in place of Johnny Buckley.
The team, captained by Kieran Donaghy is as follows:

1. Brendan Kealy Kilcummin
2. Marc Ó Sé An Ghaeltacht
3. Aidan O’Mahony Rathmore
4. Shane Enright Tarbert
5. Jonathan Lyne Killarney Legion
6. Killian Young Renard
7. Paul Murphy Rathmore
8. Anthony Maher Duagh
9. David Moran Kerins O’Rahillys
10. Stephen O’Brien Kenmare
11. Bryan Sheehan St Marys
12. Donnchadh Walsh Cromane
13. Paul Geaney Dingle
14. Kieran Donaghy (C) Austin Stacks
15. James O’Donoghue Killarney Legion
Fir Ionaid
16. Brian Kelly Killarney Legion
17. Colm Cooper Dr Crokes
18. Johnny Buckley Dr Crokes
19. Barry John Keane Kerins O’Rahillys
20. Michael Geaney Dingle
21. Peter Crowley Laune Rangers
22. Fionn Fitzgerald Dr Crokes
23. Paul Galvin Finuge
24. Darran O’Sullivan Glenbeigh-Glencar
25. Tommy Walsh Kerins O’Rahillys
26. Jack Sherwood Firies

Kildare team: 1. Mark Donnellan Maynooth; 2. Ciaran Fitzpatrick Kilcock, 3. Mick O Grady Celbridge, 4. Ollie Lyons Celbridge; 5. Kevin Murnaghan Moorefield, 6. Eoin Doyle Naas, 7. Emmet Bolton Eadestown; 8. Tommy Moolick Leixlip, 9. Paul Cribbin Johnstownbridge; 10. Eoghan O Flaherty Carbury, 11. Niall Kelly Athy, 12. Padraig O Neill St Laurences; 13. Eamon Callaghan Naas, 14. Alan Smith Sarsfields, 15. Cathal McNally Johnstownbridge.