May 26 - Senior Football: Galway v Kerry

Kerry 1-5 Galway 0-6

Kerry ground out a win over a disappointing Galway in their first outing of the season.  Kerry did enough to win the points as Galway sputtered through most of he hour.  Aaron Hickey in the middle of the field and Colin Campion at center forward did well for Kerry.  Galway launched a late effort to get something from the game, but it was not enough as the Kingdom took their first points of the season.

Kerry opened their season with a win over Galway

Playing with the favour of a stiff breeze, Kerry dominated the first period as Galway struggled to find any kind of rhythm to their game.  Kerry held firm at the back and did not allow Galway a score over the first period, while their own forwards tallied a goal and three points.  It could have been more, but with minutes left in the half, Martin O'Connor pulled off a point blank save from Colin Campion to deny Kerry a second goal.  Kerry's goal came courtesy of a penalty taken by Joe Fitzpatrick.  Campion won the penalty as he was tripped while about to shoot.  Galway tried to play a short passing game but might have been better advised to try the longer ball into a starved Kevin Cummins to feed on as time and again play broke down in the final third of the field.  At the break it was 1-3 to no score for the Kingdom.

Galway got on the scoreboard in the second half thanks to two points from Jamie Kehoe; a comeback seemed like an impossible task at that stage.  Aaron Hickey and Joe Fitzpatrick maintained the gap between the teams with a point each.  With time ticking away the outcome seemingly decided, Galway made a late push.  Kehoe, Donal Redmond, and Danny Reddin each pointed to leave a goal in it as Kerry waited out the clock.  Galway had a late chance to level the scores, but Kehoe's close range shot was deflected over the bar, and with that the final whistle sounded.  A win is a win from a Kerry standpoint, while it will be back to the drawing board for Galway to figure out how to get more out of their next game.

Galway:  M. O'Connor, P. Cummins, S. Gallagher, S. Conneely, P. Ryan, D. Redmond (0-1), JJ Doyle, E. Kavanagh, P. Nolan, J. Campion, J. Kehoe (0-4), K. Cummins, D. Reddin (0-1).  Kerry:  P. Bailey, M. Godley, D. Dunne, C. Schwer, S. O'Driscoll, D. Clifford, I. Whelan, A. Hickey (0-1), J. Dooley, C. Campion (0-2), P. Doyle, D. Collins, J. Fitzpatrick (1-2).

By Rory O'Donnell