AT BEST, it was ferocious and at its worst it was ugly as Kerry inflicted a five-point defeat on Donegal in Tralee.
Kerry 1-13 Donegal 1-08
Peter Crowley’s goal and eight expert points from Bryan Sheehan steered Kerry to victory, but goals and points served only to form part of the subtext on what was a bitter afternoon in more ways than one.
Alan Fitzgerald and Leo McLoone were sent off in the first half, with six yellow cards, two black cards and 59 frees having referee Eddie Kinsella at the centre of attention.
Picture caption: Players from both sides get involved in an altercation during the first half. Picture by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Donegal stayed in touch through a wonderful Michael Murphy goal in the 56th minute,, but they just couldn’t claw their way back.
There has been no recent love lost between these teams and the mercury broke the glass here from as early as the seventh minute when Fitzgerald saw red.
The Kerry full-forward was given his marching orders for striking out at Neil McGee, after the Donegal full-back had held the Castlegregory man by the finger.
An earlier shemozzle broke out as Murphy and Kieran Donaghy contested a throw-up, with close-on a three-minute delay as the tempers boiled and Marc Ó Sé required a jersey change.
The lines were drawn in the sand at that juncture and cynicism was rife in the air. Mothering Sunday it might have been, but there was little room for being mothered here.
McGee didn’t reappear for the remainder of the first half as Donegal medics patched up the Gaoth Dobhair man, who returned for the second stanza.
The Donegal manager, Rory Gallagher, was fuming at half-time. Gallagher and Frank McGlynn let their feelings be known to Kinsella as they parted ways at the interval.
There was as much happening off the ball as on it and Donegal felt that Kerry had got off lightly in a fraught and terse first half during which as many as six strikes were captured on TG4’s cameras, with the footage likely to be reviewed by the CCCC in due course.
By then, Donegal – who gave a first League start to Eoghan Ban Gallagher – were also playing with a reduced number as McLoone was given a straight red for an altercation with Aidan O’Mahony, who’d clashed with Murphy in the 26th minute.
In an ensuing scrap, it was remarkably that only McLoone was cited by Kinsella, but the red card prematurely ended his afternoon.
Shane Enright and Denis Daly were given black cards within seconds of each other in the 24th minute, but the introduction of Colm Cooper softened the blow.
In between the skirmishes, football occasionally broke out and it was Kerry who led by four at half-time.
Five points from Sheehan, a ’45 and four frees that included one sweet effort from around 50 metres, had Kerry 0-7 to 0-3 in front.
Two Murphy frees had Donegal in touch at the 14th minute, but Sheehan’s free, in between two fisted points from Donnchadh Walsh, had Kerry holding a slender 0-3 to 0-2 advantage.
Four from Sheehan, between the 19th and the 29th minutes, put Kerry in control, but Patrick McBrearty drilled over for Donegal, who saw late efforts from Rory Kavanagh and Hugh McFadden crash off the upright.
The pot was spilling onto the hob when Kinsella called for the ball.
Donegal levelled the game early in the second half with two from McBrearty and one each from Murphy and Neil Gallagher – who was on as a replacement for Hugh McFadden at the break.
Ten minutes into the new half, Doengal conceded a goal as Donaghy, in space, fed the galloping Crowley, who shrugged off a tackle from Odhrán Mac Niallais before firing past Peter Boyle.
Just when the game seemed to have crept away from them, Donegal hit back as Murphy plucked Eoin McHugh’s sideline ball from the sky right in front of Kerry ‘keeper Brian Kelly.
The Donegal captain turned and blasted high to the net. It was a goal that showed the Glenswilly man’s touch of class.
A comeback was possible, but Sheehan, Barry John Keane and Colm Cooper hit the points as Kerry scored their second win in a row.
Cooper’s point was the first Kerry kicked from play, with Donnchadh Walsh fisting three points and Sheehan converting eight from placed balls.
It was that sort of day in the Tralee trenches.
Kerry: Brian Kelly; Marc Ó Sé, Mark Griffin, Shane Enright; Peter Crowley, Aidan O’Mahony, Fionn Fitzgerald; Kieran Donaghy, Bryan Sheehan; Denis Daly, Paul Murpy, Donnchadh Walsh; Darran O’Sullivan, Alan Fitzgerald, Stephen O’Brien. Subs: Padraig O’Connor for Enright (black card, 27), Colm Cooper for Daly (black card, 27), Johnny Buckley for Donaghy (59), Barry John Keane for O’Brien (59), Brendan O’Sullivan for Crowley (68), Aidan Walsh for O’Sullivan (70).
Donegal: Peter Boyle; Eamonn Doherty, Neil McGee, Paddy McGrath; Eoghan Ban Gallagher, Ryan McHugh, Anthony Thompson; Rory Kavanagh, Michael Murphy; Martin O’Reilly, Hugh McFadden, Eoin McHugh; Odhrán Mac Niallais, Patrick McBrearty, Leo McLoone. Subs: Neil Gallagher for McFadden (half-time), Martin McElhinney for Doherty (half-time), Christy Toye for Thompson (54).
Referee: Eddie Kinsella (Laois).
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