Sideline melee sparks Kerry to convincing victory over Tyrone

If Kerry are still harbouring one regret from last week’s trimming by Dublin, it might be that they didn’t start a row early in the first half. Whatever that might or might not have done to stymie the Dubs, a bit of a melee in the 14th minute certainly ignited a fire in Kerry that propelled them to a four-point win over Tyrone in Killarney on Sunday, and an important win at that.

In truth, this was much more comfortable for Kerry than the final margin suggests: Kerry were largely in control from the 30-minute mark on, with Ciaran Daly’s 65th-minute goal putting a sheen of respectability on Tyrone’s afternoon, which was underwhelming to say the least.

Quite what the Tyrone management will make of the performance is one thing, but the result leap-frogs Kerry above the Red Hand county in the divisional standings. Kerry are now into fourth place on the table – behind Mayo and Dublin on scoring difference, and leaders Derry – and certainly not out of the equation of reaching the league final.

That’s for another day, but on this Sunday Kerry boss Jack O’Connor would have demanded a response to that drubbing in Croke Park, and he certainly got it from his players who were far more energetic and on point against Tyrone, albeit the Kingdom looked like they needed the fuel from that first half sideline spat to really get them going.

A confrontation between David Clifford and Conn Kilpatrick – with the former the instigator – drew far more ‘peacemakers’ than was necessary, and after David Coldrick had yellow carded Paudie Clifford, Dara Moynihan and Peter Harte (no booking, bizarrely, for David Clifford), Sean O’Shea pointed immediately from the restart.

That score drew Kerry level, 0-3 apiece, in the 18th minute, and the home team were a transformed one after that.

Those first 14 minutes weren’t exactly what O’Connor would have wanted from his team, despite an early lead point from wing back Sean O’Brien, with Tyrone points from Ciaran Daly, Seanie O’Donnell and Darren McCurry all coming with an élan and a sharpness that suggested another tough outing for the hosts. It never materialised.

Kerry might have had a goal in the ninth minute when Gavin White played in O’Shea but his shot from just outside the small parallelogram was bravely smothered by Niall Morgan to deny the Kerry full forward.

After the near customary getting-to-know-you high-jinks when these counties meet, O’Shea’s 18th-minute equaliser was followed by Kerry points from Paudie Clifford and converted frees from O’Shea and David Clifford.

On the other side, Kilpatrick and Darragh Canavan – after some intricate passing with brother Ruairi – kept Tyrone in touch, with the score 0-6 to 0-5 to Kerry after 26 minutes, but Kerry dominated the final 10 minutes of the half, with scores from David Clifford (2), Paudie Clifford and Adrian Spillane putting the home side 0-11 to 0-6 ahead at half time.

Central to Kerry’s superiority was Shane Ryan’s quick restarts, White and Tadhg Morley pushing up from the half back line, Paudie Clifford’s industry along the ‘forty’ and, of course, David Clifford and Sean O’Shea’s ball winning in the inside line.

Though Clifford the younger ‘only’ scored two points from play (he concerted six frees) there was much in his performance to draw a few oohs and aahs from the large crowd, which will have been somewhat reassured after this performance that their team remains on the right course for the summer.

Two early second half frees from David Clifford eased Kerry into their work for the second half, and by the 59th minute, when Dara Moynihan pitched over a point, Kerry were nine ahead, 0-17 to 0-8, and coasting to victory.

Daly did well to reverse his shot past Shane Ryan for the game’s only goal to punish some sloppy Kerry defending, and when Ruairi Canavan’s point cut the deficit to four points, Kerry had to refocus in the final few minutes to see it out, which they did.

This was a vital win in several respects for Kerry, not least in getting that malfunction against Dublin the previous weekend out of the system. A weekend off will afford Jack O’Connor further time to evaluate and tweak ahead of winnable games away to Roscommon and home to Galway, where four points might be good enough to send them to a League final.

Tyrone play Monaghan next, where a win might be enough to keep them in the top division. Their final game away to Dublin might be much more season defining.

Scorers for Kerry: D Clifford 0-8 (6f), S O’Shea 0-4 (2f), P Clifford 0-3, S O’Brien 0-1, A Spillane 0-1, D Moynihan 0-1

Scorers for Tyrone: C Daly 1-1, D Canavan 0-3, D McCurry 0-2 (1f), N Morgan 0-1 (‘45’), B Cullen 0-1, S O’Donnell 0-1, C Kilpatrick 0-1, R Canavan 0-1

Kerry: Shane Ryan 7, Graham O’Sullivan 6, Jason Foley 6, Paul Murphy 7, Seán O’Brien 7, Tadhg Morley 8, Gavin White 8, Diarmuid O’Connor 6, Joe O’Connor 6, Adrian Spillane 6, Paudie Clifford 7, Conor Geaney 6, David Clifford 8, Seán O’Shea 8, Dara Moynihan 7.

Subs: Tony Brosnan 6 for C Geaney (ht), Ronan Buckley 6 for A Spillane (52), Stefan Okunbor 6 for S O’Brien (61), Stephen O’Brien 6 for D Moynihan (62), Darragh Roche for P Clifford (67), D Casey for J Foley (temp, 70-ft).

Tyrone: Niall Morgan 7, Conall Devlin 6, Pádraig Hampsey 6, Cormac Quinn 6, Ben Cullen 7, Peter Harte 5, Niall Devlin 6, Brian Kennedy 6, Conn Kilpatrick 7, Ciarán Daly 8, David Mulgrew 6, Joe Oguz 6, Darren McCurry 7, Darragh Canavan 7, Seánie O’Donnell 6.

Subs: Ruairi Canavan 7 for Harte (22), Kieran McGeary 6 for D Mulgrew (39), Aodhan Donaghy 6 for C Kilpatrick (inj, 42), Cathal McShane 6 for D Canavan (62), Lorcan McGarrity for D McCurry (67).

REFEREE: David Coldrick (Meath)

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