Paudie Clifford, Kerry, and Jason Irwin, Monaghan, in All-Ireland SFC action at Fitzgerald Stadium. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
All-Ireland SFC Group Four
Kerry 0-24 Monaghan 1-11
By Paul Brennan at Fitzgerald Stadium
Kerry ambled to a 10-point win over Monaghan to get the Kingdom's All-Ireland SFC Group Four campaign off to a winning start, a win that might have been expected, though not, perhaps, quite as easy as this.
Monaghan hadn't played in six weeks, and it showed. They were rusty to the point of not being able to craft any bit of vim or vigour, while Kerry carried their solid form from their Munster Championship win through to this contest, and the result was a one-sided affair.
From Paudie Clifford’s opening score after 12 seconds, Kerry never looked in danger of losing this game, even though Monaghan mined an equaliser a minute later and Shane Ryan had to save smartly from Conor McCarthy two minutes after that.
That was about as threatening as Monaghan looked all afternoon, and by the time they kicked their second point, from Micheal Bannigan in the 19th minute Kerry were 0-9 to 0-1 ahead.
Paul Geaney was among the early scorers, as was David Clifford, but perhaps the time and space Kerry were afforded by a very rusty and lifeless Monaghan was best illustrated in defenders Paul Murphy and Tom O’Sullivan (2) coming forward to kick points.
By half time Kerry were 13 points ahead, 0-15 to 0-2, and the only surprise is that Monaghan won the second half.
Geaney kicked four more from play after the break, and the Clifford brothers, Sean O’Shea and Murphy extended Kerry’s lead to 0-21 to 0-6 when Monaghan scored the game’s only goal on the hour mark.
Conor McCarthy’s high shot was batted down by Shane Ryan with Mohan first to react and smash the ball to the Kerry net, but it was small consolation for a Monaghan team that showed all the rustiness of a team that hadn’t played in six weeks, and a team low on confidence after their relegation from Division One earlier in the season.
The final 10 minutes ran its course, Sean O’Shea adding three late scores, as Kerry move on to a meeting away to Meath in Navan in a fortnight, while Monaghan bring Louth to Clones the same weekend.
Scorers for Kerry: P Geaney 0-5, D Clifford 0-5 (3fs), S O’Shea 0-4 (3fs), T O’Sullivan 0-3, P Murphy 0-2, T Brosnan 0-2, P Clifford 0-2, D Moynihan 0-1
Scorers for Monaghan: G Mohan 1-1, M Bannigan 0-2, R Beggan (f), R O’Toole, C McCarthy, S O’Hanlon, C McManus (f), D Ward, A Woods (m), J Wilson (m) (0-1 each)
Kerry: Shane Ryan, Paul Murphy, Jason Foley, Tom O’Sullivan, Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Tadhg Morley, Gavin White, Diarmuid O’Connor, Joe O’Connor, Tony Brosnan, Paudie Clifford, Dara Moynihan, David Clifford, Seán O’Shea, Paul Geaney.
Subs: Cillian Burke for Moynihan (50), Barry Dan O’Sullivan for J O’Connor (50), Armin Heinrich for Ó Beaglaoich (55), Stephen O’Brien for Brosnan (55), Darragh Roche for Geaney (66)
Monaghan: Rory Beggan, Ryan Wylie, Barry McBennett, Ryan O’Toole, Karl O’Connell, Killian Lavelle, Conor McCarthy, Gary Mohan, Micheal McCarville, Stephen O’Hanlon, Micheal Bannigan, Michael Hamill, Jason Irwin, Sean Jones, Conor McManus.
Subs: Dessie Ward for McCareville (HT), Andrew Woods for Jones (ht), Ciaran McNulty for McBennett (46), Joel Wilson for O’Connell (50), Thomas McPhillips for Ward (53).
Referee: Sean Hurson (Tyrone).
