Wolfe Tones 0-14 Kerry 1-14
Kerry pulled of a win in their final regular season game
though Kingdom hearts were their mouths for the final seconds as a Tones
goalbound shot beat goalkeeper, Paudi Bailey, but was saved on the line by
midfielder, Stephen Cunningham. Kerry
had built an early 8 point lead and after 20 minutes looked to be well on their
way, but saw the big lead shrink to one point late in the game. A late goal from Ronan Kennedy proved to be
the winner, and sitting on 7 points, Kerry are at least in with a chance of a
playoff game for the quarter finals.
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| Joe Fitzpatrick launches another first half attack. |
Kerry came out guns ablaze in the first half. The boys from the kingdom popped four points
over the bar before the Tones got off the mark with a Danny Egan point. Five more followed as Kerry dominated
proceedings, and it looked like there was a greater sense of urgency in the
green and gold shirts. Colin Campion,
Darragh O'Brien, and Shane O'Callaghan hit the mark and Kerry's lead grew to 8
points. The Tones eventually woke up and
the Kerrymen could not maintain the fast pace for much longer. Points from Marty Farrell, Egan, and Enda
O'Brien pulled the Tones within four points.
At the break it was 0-11 to 0-7 in Kerry's favour.
The second half saw the Tones enjoy most of the play and
chipped away at Kerry's lead. All of the
spark and endeavor Kerry had in the first 15 minutes had evaporated. The Tones midfield took over, while Kerry did
themselves no favours on a couple of occasions.
In one instance the Kingdom were very lucky not to concede a goal. A turnover coming out of defence resulted in
the Cormac Joyce-Power bearing down in goal, but the Limerick
man's shot was inches over the crossbar.
Kerry's lead shrunk to a single point with less then 10 minutes to
go. Thomas Moolick, John Comerford, and
Joyce-Power accounted for scores as the Tones looked to spoil Kerry's Sunday. There were several misses from the Tones as
Kerry rode their luck, and quite frankly looked out of gas.
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| Sean Driscoll lines up a shot. |
A fracas broke out and resulted in 2 red
cards to key players from each side.
Moolick for the Tones and O'Brien for Kerry were shown the line for
their involvement and it was now a dozen against a dozen. Kerry managed to rise enough to avoid what
would have been a devastating defeat. The
big score came from substitute Ronan Kennedy who got in behind the defence and netted
to put his side 4 points to the good with full time a minute away. There were anxious moments for Kerry in the
injury time minutes as almost every kickout was won by a blue shirt. Enda Smith had moved to the middle of the
field and was under every kickout. Jason
Hickson and Sean Kelly pointed, meaning a goal would tie it for the Tones - and
there very nearly was one. With the
injury time minutes ticking by and Kerry agony being extended, it was almost curtains
for Kingdom before Cunningham came to the rescue. Each side on 7 points, but likely without key
players coming into their first elimination games in a couple of weeks.
Tones: C. Hynes, P.
Jennings, K. Cleere, J. Hickson (0-1), B. McShea, J. Gonoud, T. Moolick (0-1),
J. Comerford (0-1), S. Kelly (0-2), D. Egan (0-2), M. Farrell (0-4), C. Carr,
E. Smith (0-1). Sub: C. Joyce-Power (0-2). Kerry:
P. Bailey, D. Larkin, S. Driscoll, M. Godley, B. Kelliher (0-1), E.
Mullan, I. Whelan, S. Cunningham, C. Campion
(0-3), C. Moriarty, J. Fitzpatrick, D. O'Brien (0-7), S. O'Callaghan (0-2). Subs:
D. Clabby (0-1), R. Kennedy (1-0).
By Rory O'Donnell
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