Dublin Master the Kingdom with final line in sight
Dublin 0-12 Kerry 0-10
Kerry’s dream of an All Ireland Masters Football Final was dashed today by a Dublin side who showed all their experience to reel in a first half Kerry lead to run out two point winners.
Last years beaten All Ireland finalists looked to be out of sorts at Golden in Tipperary for long stages in the first half as Kerry settled the better and looked full value for their 0-6 to 0-3 lead by the 20th minute.
Dave Curtin commanded the mid field sector in the opening quarter and opened the Kerry account on the 5th minute after Kerry miscued two earlier efforts.
John O’Connor fired over the first of his five points of the day from a free but another effort by Kerry dropping into Dublin keeper Jimmy Keogh’s hand would go down as a missed chance on the wrong side of the ledger
Niall Crossan from a free got Dublin off the mark in the 7th minute but they began to show their star quality as they opened the Kerry defence on two occasions to create goal scoring chances.
Brendan McManamon (brother of Kevin) saw his effort go inches wide after Gary O’Connell and Donal Ryan created the space and time.
Gary O’Connell then saw his effort first bounce off the crossbar before an agile Tony Lyons batted away O’Connell’s second effort.
John O’Connor pushed Kerry two clear once one by the 15th minute before Dublin scored two points on the bounce to level matters up minutes later.
Kerry were still creating chances and O’Connor from a deadball pushed Kerry back into the lead
A brace of points by Frank O’Rahilly saw Kerry open the games largest lead but Dublin were still dangerous and points by Warren Finnegan and Niall Crossan closed the deficit to just a point at the half time break.
Tony Lyons was called on late once again to clear the Kerry line before five time all Ireland winner Denis Bastick misfired with the goal at his mercy.
Donal Ryan had the game level just seconds into the second half as Sean O’Sullivan and Tommy Brennan swapped points to keep the sides on parity at 0-7 each.
However it was the last time that the sides would be level as Kerry struggled to create scoring chances and would go some 15 minutes without rising a white flag.
In the meantime Dublin found scores by Kevin O’Carroll before full back Shane Guickan ran the length of the field to pop for a score as Dublin pushed 0-9 to 0-7 clear.
With the forwards struggling to score it was left to wing back Fergus McAuliffe to end Kerry’s drought without a score with a massive point into the teeth of an increasing wind.
A costly turnover by Kerry saw Dublin and Ryan punish them with a point to keep them two points clear with just ten minutes left.
To their credit Kerry threw the kitchen sink at Dublin but were unable to break down their defensive unit as they were left to shoot from distance.
John O’Connor as he did all day produced a score when needed but Dublin would find the late scores to keep the Kerry challenge at bay as dreams of a Mick Loftus Cup final lay shattered for 2022.
Kerry:
Tony Lyons, Timmy O’Leary, John Enright, John Brosnan, John Sheehan, Eoghan Lawlor, Fergus McAuliffe 0-1, William Kirby, Dave Curtin 0-1, Liam Poff, John O’Connor 0-5 (0-3f), Don Murphy, Frank O’Rahilly 0-2, Sean O’Sullivan 0-1, Terry O’Sullivan
Subs(Roll on), Niall Hobbart, Gene Farrell, Ryan Shannon, Tim O’Donoghue, Shane Dennehy, Dan O’Connor, Mike Coffey, Conor Teahan, Ian McCarthy, John Paul Leahy, Donal Leahy, James Flavin, Donnacha Enright
Dublin:
Jimmy Keogh, Cormac Donohue, Shane Guckian 0-1, Felim Condron, Brian Kirby, Shane O’Sullivan (c) Gary O’Connell, Kevin Golden 0-2, Damian Flanagan, Donal Ryan 0-2, Tommy Brennan 0-3, Brendan McManamon, Warren Finnegan 0-1, Denis Bastick, Niall Crossan 0-2 (0-1f):
Subs (roll on) Ciaran Murray, Sean Breheny, Peter Finn, Jack Spratt, Ian Clarke, Fearghal Purcell, Peter Murtagh, Ciaran McGuinness, Kevin Carroll 0-1, Richie Herity, James O’Connor, Conor McBride, Kieran Groake, Andy Farrell, High McEnerny, Noel Peacock, Eoghan Lee, Brian McGrath
Referee: Derek O’Mahony (Tipperary)
