Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Kerry, and Lachlan Murray, Derry, in All-Ireland SFC Quarter-Final action at Croke Park. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
All-Ireland SFC Quarter-Final
Kerry 0-15 Derry 0-10
By Paul Brennan at Croke Park
An All-Ireland semi-final against Armagh in a fortnight is Kerry prize for winning this All-Ireland quarter-final.
Kerry came to Croke Park to get over the 'dangerous animal' that their manager Jack O'Connor said Derry were, and while the Oak Leaf county gaver as good as they got for an hour of this contest, Mickey Harte's team finally ran out of energy and ideas.
It took Kerry the bones of those 60 minute to fully break free of the clutches of a Derry team that tried in vain to rescue an ailing championship for them, but that finally came to a limp end for the Allianz League Division One champions against Kerry, who defeated them in the All-Ireland SFC semi-final last year too.
A poor first half saw the sides reach the interval at 0-6 each, and all things considered Derry would have been the happier with that. After all, the fear was that their poor form and playing their third game in 14 days might have caught up with them quicker than that against a fresher Kerry side.
David Clifford opened the scoring for Kerry in the second minute and further points from Tony Brosnan and Clifford from a mark put Kerry ahead, 0-3 to 0-2, after 11 minutes.
Derry needed some excellent goalmouth defending to deny Gavin White and then Tadhg Morley a goal around the quarter-hour mark, and then Shane McGuigan fired over two great Derry scores to put his side 0-4 to 0-3 ahead.
In the second quarter Kerry points from Brian Ó Beaglaioch, Joe O’Connor and Paul Geaney, with Brendan Rogers and McGuigan for Derry leaving it 0-6 apiece at the break.
McGuigan won and converted a free early in the second half to put Derry back in front in what was still a dull arm-wrestle of a game, though engaging for the tightness of it, as both sought to join Armagh, Galway and Donegal in the final four.
Kerry re-took the lead with scores from Diarmuid O’Connor and a David Clifford free, but it was still all square when Paul Cassidy knocked over a Derry point in the 51st minute. There were signs that Derry were beginning to tire, and if there was to be a kick from one team Kerry looked the more energetic.
In the end Kerry didn’t have to find much more than one extra gear. Sean O’Shea, Killian Spillane, Tony Brosnan and O’Shea again, from a free, to open up a three-point gap, 0-12 to 0-9, and that was that.
Derry were devoid of legs and ideas, their goalkeeper Odhran Lynch kicking their only score in the final 15 minutes while Kerry franked the win with late scores from O’Shea, Dylan Geaney, and Gavin White.
Scorers for Kerry: D. Clifford (1f, 1m), S. O’Shea (2fs) 0-3 each), T. Brosnan 0-2, B. Ó Beaglaoich, J. O’Connor, P. Geaney, D. O’Connor, K. Spillane, D. Geaney, G. White 0-1 each.
Scorers for Derry: S. McGuigan 0-5 (2fs), B. Rogers 0-2, C. Glass, P. Cassidy, O. Lynch 0-1 each.
Kerry: Shane Ryan; Paul Murphy, Jason Foley, Tom O’Sullivan; Brian Ó Beaglaioch, Tadhg Morley, Gavin White; Diarmuid O’Connor, Joe O’Connor 0-1; Tony Brosnan, Paudie Clifford, Dara Moynihan; David Clifford, Sean O’Shea, Paul Geaney.
Subs: Cillian Burke for D Moynihan (53), Killian Spillane for P Geaney (57), Dylan Geaney for T Brosnan (62), Adrian Spillane for J O’Connor (68), Mike Breen for B Ó Beaglaioch (70+2).
Derry: Odhran Lynch; Conor McCluskey, Chrissy McKaigue, Diarmuid Baker; Conor Doherty, Gareth McKinless, Eoin McEvoy; Conor Glass, Brendan Rogers, Ethan Doherty, Ciaran McFaul, Paul Cassidy; Eunan Mulholland, Shane McGuigan, Lachlan Murray.
Subs: Niall Toner for E Mulholland (39), Niall Loughlin for L Murray (59), Emmet Bradley for C McFaul (65), Cormac Murphy for P Cassidy (65).
Referee: David Coldrick (Meath).
