Allianz Football League Division One round two
Kerry 3-16 Monaghan 0-14
DESPITE being well in contention in the first period, Monaghan ultimately fell victim to three second-half goals from All-Ireland champions Kerry that condemned them to their second defeat of the campaign.
Monaghan boss Vinny Corey admitted his side were punished for their mistakes by the Kingdom.
“We started well and were very happy with our kick-passing. A malaise started to set in before half-time though and there is no better team than Kerry to punish you for something like that,’’ he said.
‘‘Trying to blood a new team in Division One is a tough place to do such a thing but it is something we have to keep doing.”
Corey added that Jack McCarron’s hamstring problem may clear up in time for their next game at home to Donegal.
The first half was a slow-paced affair as both sides packed their defences, but Monaghan set the tone for the first quarter as they led 0-5 to 0-4 after 15 minutes, with Conor McCarthy scoring three points.
Darragh Roche put Kerry ahead for the first time in the 18th minute as they managed to force their way through the visiting defence to lead by four at the break. Micheal Burns scored the final point of the first period as the hosts led by 0-10 to 0-6 at half-time.
Despite Stephen O’Hanlon knocking over three second-half points for Monaghan and forcing a save from goalkeeper Shane Murphy, they could not live with the Kerry attack in the second half when it upped proceedings a few higher levels.
Kerry’s first goal came in the 39th minute when Micheal Burns and Tony Brosnan combined for Darragh Roche to finish from close range to make it 1-12 to 0-7.
Paudie Clifford got his first inter-county run of the year only three weeks after his club Fossa defeated Stewartstown Harps of Tyrone in the All-Ireland Club JFC final and scored 1-1.
His goal after 50 minutes came from a lung-bursting run from inside his own half of the pitch, and even though Rory Beggan got back on his line in time he could not save the strike as Kerry went 2-13 to 0-10 in front.
Monaghan lost Ryan O’Toole to a straight red card for a foul on Kerry substitute Stefan Okunbor in the 55th minute as their challenge petered out with the Kingdom goals.
Man-of-the-Match Donal O’Sullivan crowned his impressive display on his first senior Kerry start with their third goal in injury-time.
Kerry S Murphy; G O’Sullivan, J Foley, T O’Sullivan (0-2); P Warren, T Morley, P Murphy; J Barry, B O’Sullivan; M Burns (0-1), D Moynihan (0-1), A Spillane (0-1); T Brosnan (0-4, 4f), D Roche (1-2), D O’Sullivan (1-3)
Subs P Clifford (1-1) for D Moynihan (46), K Spillane (0-1, 1m) for D Roche and S Okunbor for B O’Sullivan (both 51), G Horan for P Warren (55) and R Murphy for A Spillane (58)
Yellow cards B O’Sullivan (5) and D Moynihan (35 +1)
Monaghan R Beggan; R O’Toole, K Duffy (0-1), R Wylie; C Boyle, D Ward (0-1), K Loughran; K Lavelle, C Lennon; S O’Hanlon (0-3), M Bannigan (0-3, 2f), J Wilson; C McCarthy (0-5, 4f), K Gallagher (0-1), S Carey Subs D Treanor for C Lennon (H/T), G Mohan for J Wilson (40), T McPhillips for K Loughran (54),S Jones for S Carey (58) and S Slevin for R Wylie (68) Yellow cards J Wilson (1),
K Lavelle (35 +1) and D Ward (36) Red Card: R O’Toole (55)
Referee C Lane (Cork)
