Dublin 1-11
Kerry 0-4
Dublin enjoyed a successful trip to Killarney as they recorded an emphatic victory over Kerry this afternoon.
Jim Gavin continued his fine start to his debut league campaign as manager as Dublin built on last Saturday’s success against Cork.
Bernard Brogan struck 0-7 while substitute Craig Dias fired home a late goal as they claimed the scalp of Munster opponents once more.
And even being reduced to 14 men when Michael Darragh MacAuley was dismissed in the second-half failed to halt Dublin’s drive to success against a struggling Kerry side.
It compounded an adverse weekend on the football front for Kerry boss Eamonn Fitzmaurice after he had lined out for his club Finuge in last night’s All-Ireland IFC final loss to Cookstown in Croke Park.
Today’s game in Fitzgerald Stadium failed to provide any respite. Fitzmaurice was looking for a response from his players after last week’s humbling defeat to Mayo in Castlebar, a game where Kerry endured a scoring drought of 42 minutes.
Yet this afternoon saw them fail to make much headway on the scoreboard again as they did not get off the mark until the 21st minute when Paddy Curtin pointed after Dublin had reeled off six points without reply.
The urgency of Kerry’s situation was reflected in the introduction of stars like Kieran Donaghy and Declan O’Sullivan but they failed to help the Kingdom make inroads against a strong Dublin rearguard.
Kerry will be hoping to recover for their next clash against Kildare in three weeks time and the return of established players will certainly assist them in that regard as the league progresses.
However Dublin have no such worries after a dominant and formidable display. Their inside attacking duo of Brogan and Paddy Andrews fired 0-10 between them and they were central to their side’s victory.
Dublin raced into an early 0-6 to 0-0 lead and were ahead by 0-8 to 0-2 at the interval. Kerry rallied in the second-half briefly and when Michael O’Donoghue converted a free, they were only 0-9 to 0-4 adrift.
But despite Kerry accruing the advantage of an extra man when MacAuley was sent-off, Dublin took control with Dias smashing the ball to the net after great work by Brogan to help force a turnover and set up the chance while the St Oliver Plunkett’s Eoghan Ruadh attacker rounded off Dublin’s success with a late point.
Scorers for Dublin: Bernard Brogan 0-7 (0-3f), Paddy Andrews 0-3, Craig Dias 1-0, Philly Ryan 0-1 (0-1f)
Scorers for Kerry: Paddy Curtin Tomás O Sé, James O’Donoghue (0-1f), Michael O’Donoghue (0-1f) 0-1 each.
DUBLIN: Stephen Cluxton; Johnny Cooper, Rory O’Carroll, Kevin O’Brien; Darren Daly, Ger Brennan, Jack McCaffrey; Michael Darragh McAuley, Cian O’Sullivan; Paul Flynn, Diarmuid Connolly, Ciaran Reddin; Tomas Brady, Paddy Andrews, Bernard Brogan.
Subs: Philly Ryan for Connolly, Craig Dias for Reddin, Darragh Nelson for Daly, Paddy Quinn for Flynn.
KERRY: Brendan Kealy; Marc Ó Sé, Aidan O’Mahony, Peter Crowley; Jonathan Lyne, Tomás Ó Sé, Killian Young; Anthony Maher, James Walsh; Michael Geaney, Darran O’Sullivan, Michael O’Donoghue; James O’Donoghue, Patrick Curtin, Barry John Keane.
Subs: Kieran Donaghy for Walsh, Declan O’Sullivan for Keane, Barry John Walsh for Michael O’Donoghue, Bryan Sheehan for Geaney, Conor Cox for Curtin.
Referee: David Coldrick (Meath)
