National Football League
Division One
Dublin 1-19 Kerry 1-19
MICHAEL Darragh Macauley is set to miss Dublin's next two National League assignments against Mayo and Monaghan due to a groin injury sustained in Saturday night’s draw with Kerry.
In a bad-tempered affair at Croke Park, the reigning All-Ireland champions were denied a win in Dessie Farrell’s first competitive game in charge by a late levelling free from David Clifford for last year’s defeated finalists.
By the end of Saturday’s eagerly anticipated curtain-raiser, which was watched by an audience of 42,502 at Headquarters, the hosts were down to 14 men due to Eric Lowndes being sent-off, while the Kingdom had had Shane Enright dismissed and Seán O’Shea and Graham O’Sullivan black-carded.
Four points from eventual man of the match Brian Fenton and a Dean Rock goal from a 30th-minute penalty had given Dublin a narrow 1-10 to 1-9 interval lead, with Clifford firing home a brilliant Kerry major at the midway stage in the first-half.
Paul Murphy levelled matters within seconds of the restart and then pushed Kerry back in front after Shane Ryan denied the Dubs a second goal by crowding out Ciarán Kilkenny and smothering his shot. Substitute Liam Kearney landed the visitors’ third unanswered point and it wasn’t until the 47th minute that Rock registered Dublin’s first second-half score.
O’Shea and Rock traded frees but the pendulum swung in Kerry’s favour 15 minutes from time when Lowndes was given his marching orders for a high tackle on O’Brien, with O’Shea converting the resulting free.
Dublin drew level in in the 70th minute thanks to a Kilkenny mark after substitute Aaron Byrne cancelled out Cillian Spillane's free from a Paul Geaney mark. Scully had the Dubs in front, but Geaney replied from a free in the third of six minutes of injury-time.
Rock’s late free – with Enright dismissed for a second yellow-card offence when fouling Kilkenny - seemed to have earned Dublin the points, but up stepped Clifford to have the final say.
Division Two
Roscommon 2-14 Laois 2-14
LAOIS rescued a draw at Dr Hyde Park yesterday, with two injury-time goals that left hosts Roscommon stunned.
Enda Smith's 62nd minute penalty looked to have swayed the contest in favour of the Connacht champions, but Laois refused to throw in the towel.
Evan O’Carroll, who finished the game with a personal tally of 1-6, kicked a pile-driver from 25 metres beyond Roscommon goalkeeper Colm Lavin as the game ticked into injury-time. And Laois weren’t finished yet as Ross Munnelly’s free in the fourth minute of injury-time made its way through to Kieran Lillis who managed to squeeze the ball through heavy traffic into the net.
Westmeath 2-9 Clare 1-11
A CONVERTED injury-time free from John Heslin was enough to give Westmeath an opening day victory over Clare in a hotly contested game of football Cusack Park.
Clare grabbed the game’s first goal after just six minutes, when Gavin Cooney fired home after Dermot Coughlan’s initial effort was blocked.
David Tubridy scored his second free in the eighth minute to stretch his Clare’s lead to four, but they wouldn’t score for another 27 minutes as Westmeath registered 1-3 without reply.
Killian Daly and Alan Sweeney were both shown straight red cards in the 70th minute, before a Dermot Coughlan score levelled the game for Clare deep in injury-time, only for Heslin to land his late free.
Division Three
Cork 0-20 Offaly 0-13
CORK got their bid for an immediate return to Division Two up and running with a win against Offaly in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday.
Cork had trailed by a point at the interval but they were a different proposition in the second-half, outscoring the Leinster men by 0-12 to 0-4.
Rebels manager Ronan McCarthy introduced Michael Hurley from the bench and he found the target with five points while John O’Rourke (0-2), Tadhg Corkery and Colm O’Callaghan also made the scoresheet following their introductions.
Longford 0-16 Louth 1-10
LONGFORD put in a solid display as they began their Division Three campaign with a three-point win over Louth at Pearse Park yesterday.
Pádraic Davis’ side not only deserved the win but should have won by more, creating two good goal chances in the first-half and kicking seven wides in that period.
Darren Gallagher was impressive from placed balls for Longford and once they had hit the front by two in the 11th minute, they never relinquished their lead.
Division Four
Carlow 0-11 Wicklow 0-9
DESPITE playing virtually the entirety of the contest with 14-men, Carlow overcame Wicklow in their Leinster derby at Cullen Park on Saturday night.
The Barrowsiders lost the services of 2018 Allstar nominee Paul Broderick to a red card in the opening minute following an off-the-ball incident. However, the home side managed to prevail by two points in the end, despite trailing by a point to Davy Burke’s men at the interval.
Waterford 0-10 Limerick 1-10
LIMERICK picked up where they left off in the McGrath Cup with Saturday’s Division Four victory in Waterford, despite ending the game with 13 men.
Adrian Enright hit the back of the net for the Treaty men in the first-half and the sides were tied at 1-3 to 0-6 at the break.
Limerick were three points ahead, 1-9 to 0-9, when Paul Maher walked for two yellow cards in the 57th minute. Robert Childs then saw red in the closing minutes after also being booked twice, but Limerick defended excellently to see the game out and take the win.
London 0-11 Sligo 5-9
LONDON were blitzed by a at Ruislip yesterday afternoon by a visiting Sligo side who were recording their first competitive win in 18 months.
Paddy O'Connor and Pat Hughes scored two goals apiece for the Connacht men, while Darragh Cummins also raised the green flag with his own strike.
Red Óg Murphy, who turned his back on a career in Australian Rules football last year, made his first league appearance for Sligo, scoring two points in his starting role.
