Kerry too strong for Tyrone in All-Ireland battle
Tyrone’s All-Ireland campaign came to an abrupt halt on Saturday afternoon at Croke Park, as reigning champions Kerry flexed their muscles, with an outstanding 2-18 to 0-12 win.
There is no doubting the quality of Tyrone’s forwards such as Darren McCurry and Darragh Canavan, but it just didn’t happen for them, as they found themselves up against a stifling defence.
In possession for Kerry, Diarmuid O’Connor was imperious in midfield, with Sean O’Shea and David Clifford unplayable at times in the forward line.
Kerry’s Paul Geaney opened the scoring, but Michael McKernan wasted no time in finding a response for Tyrone.
Jack O’Connor’s side benefitted from a spread of different scorers throughout the game, and both Adrian Spillane and O’Shea made their impression on the scoreboard, before Clifford opened his account from a mark.
Traded scores between McCurry (free) and Tom O’Sullivan had Kerry ahead 0-5 to 0-2, before the Canavan brothers announced themselves to Croke Park. First Ruairi popped the ball over the bar, before Darragh grabbed his first. Then, Ruairi brought the crowd to its feet with a magnificent point, after he dummied his way past his marker and sent the ball over off the outside of his boot.
However, that’s as good as it would get for Tyrone.
Few would have predicted what was to come over the next 30 minutes or so, Kerry went on an unbelievable 1-9 to 0-1 run, which began with them grabbing four of the last five points of the half. Those scores came through Paudie Clifford, two David Clifford frees and O’Connor, with a McCurry free Tyrone’s only response during this period.
In the early stages of the second half, Kerry were frustrated with referee Brendan Cawley, as he failed to play advantage, after O’Shea had broke the ball down for David Clifford. Clifford had finished to the net, but the whistle had already gone, and Kerry had to settle for a pointed free from their talisman instead.
Moments later, the roles were reversed as it was David Clifford who was fouled and O’Shea who deposited the free over the bar, and a Spillane point had Tyrone trailing by six.
They needed a goal to settle down, and they nearly had one when Michael O’Neill attempted to fist the ball across for Ruairi Canavan to finish into the net, but Kerry goalkeeper Shane Ryan read the danger and intercepted, before O’Shea pushed the Munster champions’ lead out further.
O’Shea then pointed a ’45 to make it a 0-5 to 0-0 start to the second half for the Kingdom. Despite Tyrone bringing in Cathal McShane off the bench and both Geaney and David Clifford shooting wide from favourable positions, Kerry put the result beyond doubt when O’Connor capped off an immense midfield performance with a duly deserved goal to make it 1-14 to 0-6.
The game was turning into something of a non-event as Tyrone pointed through McCurry (free), McShane and Matthew Donnelly, with a David Clifford response in between.
But Kerry weren’t finished yet dazzling the crowd, and they were in their groove with their second goal, which came on 61 minutes.
David Clifford somehow kept the ball in play, as it headed for the side-line, and found Tony Brosnan with an outrageous chipped pass. He bore down on goal and played the ball to O’Shea on his right, and after the goalkeeper Morgan committed and didn’t make the interception, O’Shea received possession and slotted home to take Kerry’s lead to 12.
In the dying stages, the two sides traded three points apiece, with Stephen O’Brien, O’Connor and O’Shea scoring for Kerry, with McShane, McCurry and Darragh Canavan scoring for Tyrone.
There were late red cards dished out to Kerry’s Paudie Clifford and Tyrone’s Conor Meyler, whilst David Clifford almost added a third goal late in stoppage time, but he was denied by Morgan at full stretch.
MATCH STATS
KERRY: S Ryan; G O’Sullivan, J Foley, T O’Sullivan (0-1); P Murphy, T Morley, G White; D O’Connor (1-2), J Barry; D Moynihan, S O’Shea (1-5, 2f, 1’45), A Spillane (0-2); P Clifford (0-1), D Clifford (0-5, 3f, 1m), P Geaney (0-1).
Subs: S O’Brien (0-1) for Spillane (51), T Brosnan for Geaney (51), B Ó Beaglaíoch for White (58), M Burns for Moynihan (59), M Breen for Foley (64).
TYRONE: N Morgan; M McKernan (0-1), R McNamee, P Hampsey; C Quinn, M O’Neill, P Harte; B Kennedy, C Kilpatrick; C Meyler, R Canavan (0-2), K McGeary; D McCurry (0-4, 4f), M Donnelly (0-1), D Canavan (0-2).
Subs: F Burns for Quinn (34), C McShane (0-2) for R Canavan (45), J Oguz for McGeary (45), S O’Donnell for Donnelly (64), A Clarke for Hampsey (67).
Referee: Brendan Cawley (Kildare).