Football

Tyrone pay penalty for poor first-half display against Kerry

Allianz Football League: Division One: Kerry 0-11 Tyrone 0-7

A WINNING start for Kerry under their new senior manager Peter Keane but a bitterly-disappointing opening for Dr McKenna Cup winners Tyrone as they were made to pay for a terrible first-half display.

It was one of Keane’s starlets at Minor level, Sean O’Shea, who was the main architect of the Kingdom’s win, scoring more than half (six) of the Kingdom’s 11-point winning total.

A very defensive-minded first period saw Kerry outmuscle and dispossess the Red Hand County plenty of times in possession, but they could only muster five scores for their efforts.

The game was a difficult one for neutral eyes but one with a great deal of intensity as both tried to outwit and outmuscle each other in what were difficult and greasy conditions at times.

O’Shea scored the game’s first score in the 10th minute with a free while it would be another 10 minutes before he scored a second free.

Stephen O’Brien should really have punished Niall Morgan in the 17th minute with the Tyrone goalkeeper far from his goalmouth and a score at his mercy.

However, O’Brien incredibly drove the ball wide from close range.

Morgan scored Tyrone’s solitary first-half point with a free in the 27th minute but Tiernan McCann and David Mulgrew left scoreable chances after them to increase that total.

A misunderstanding of the new rule in relation to sideline balls also saw the visitors punished by David Gough as well as the Kingdom on another occasion for the same offence.

Dara Moynihan scored the match’s first point from play in the 31st minute as an interception from Paul Geaney in the build-up as the 2016 All-Ireland Minor Final man-of-the-match scored a second before the half-time whistle in an impressive senior debut to make it 0-5 to 0-1.

Last year’s All-Ireland runners-up were much more competitive in the second period with Kieran McGeary giving them a better outlet as they brought the margin to a slender two points as the game entered injury time. Darren McCurry slotted over four frees as Mattie Donnelly and Peter Harte also found the target for Tyrone.

The hosts crucially just seemed to have an answer for everything they tried in their comeback however, Tom O’Sullivan point in the 45th minute and Jack Barry’s effort (set up by O’Shea in the 53rd) in the main, were important in them holding onto the lead.

Injury time belonged to O’Shea however as he put over a sideline ball 35 metres in from the stand side of the Killarney venue to the dressing room end.

A mistake from the resulting kick-out by Morgan was punished with O’Shea getting Kerry’s insurance score in the final of four added minutes.

The result meant that Kerry have won their opening round game in the Allianz League for the third year in a row and they now focus on a trip to Kingspan Breffni Park next Sunday to face further Ulster opposition in Cavan.

Tyrone will do much head scratching after a dismal first-half display but one that they were the authors of their own downfall in as they host Mayo in Omagh on Sunday as well.

They fail to end the decade with a League win over the Kingdom however after their last success in the competition at home back in 2010.

Kerry: S Ryan; P Crowley, J Sherwood, B Ó Beaglaíoch; T Morley, P Murphy, T O’Sullivan (0-1); J Barry (0-1), A Spillane; J Lyne, S O’Shea (0-6, 4f, 1sl), S O’Brien; D O’Connor, P Geaney, D Moynihan (0-2)

Subs: G Crowley for Morley (44), G O’Brien for P Geaney (57), M Geaney (0-1) for Lyne (62) and K Spillane for S O’Brien (69)

Tyrone: N Morgan (0-1, 1f); L Rafferty, R McNamee, HP McGeary; T McCann, R Brennan, M McKernan; B Kennedy, D McClure; M Donnelly (0-1), P Harte (0-1), N Sludden; D McCurry (0-4, 4f), D Mulgrew, C McShane

Subs: K Coney for Mulgrew (H/T), K McGeary for Rafferty (38), D Canavan for Sludden (52) and C Meyler for HP McGeary (65)

Yellow Cards: P Harte (Tyrone, 31), A Spillane (Kerry, 43), J Barry (Kerry, 60), S O’Shea (Kerry, 67) and D Moynihan (Kerry, 70)

Black Cards: None

Red Cards: None

Referee: D McGough (Meath)

Attendance: 12,921

Allianz Football League: Division One: Kerry 0-11 Tyrone 0-7

REGARDLESS of pre-match thoughts of Tyrone having an experience advantage over Kerry in advance of yesterday, Mickey Harte felt that Kerry were always going to benefit from giving some fresh blood their chance in Killarney.

“Anyone looking beyond fact Kerry have won last five All-Ireland Minor titles is being foolish,” the Tyrone boss said.

“We know ourselves the benefit of having underage success can have towards senior level afterwards and they were well set-up today.

“They won it in the first-half with the scores they got from putting us under pressure, but we missed a few scoreable chances that might have made things different.”

Harte had hoped the Red Hand County’s more seasoned campaigners might have made a difference in the second period.

“Kerry just seemed to pick off the scores when they needed them,” he added.

“I must give credit to the referee David Gough in how consistently he refereed it for both sides.

“It’s not often you come out of a game with no concerns on that front, but it made for an enjoyable contest that was played at a honest intensity.

“Provincial warm-ups are just that because they are nothing like the intensity today.

“Division One is the next level after Championship Football and it is much more intense now that it was when I started out.

“The only consolation I would take is that we will probably play a lot worse this year and get far more out of games than we will from today.

“Home games are important for us now as we are unlikely to get too much on the road.”

Kerry manager Peter Keane meanwhile was pleased to take the win especially in a home game: “Especially when you are starting out with one of the most difficult games you can have in the competition.

“I wouldn’t have been overly concerned if we lost though because ultimately our process is to try and build something,” he said.

He felt the greasy conditions contributed a lot to the low scoring first-half fare as he was delighted the late flurry before the break gave them a four-point lead at half-time.

“We’re delighted with our debutants and certainly there are players in the panel we want to give more of them too.

“Defensively I want us to be hard to beat and even though we turned over the ball 13 times in the first 20 minutes we are still not there physically.

“I’m happy though with how smart we were with the ball in not trying to run into walls of contact.”

Results elsewhere had little concern for Keane on the opening day when asked about Dublin’s defeat.

“We’ll focus on our own,” the Kerry boss said.

“We have a crazy amount of football, three matches in 13 days, to contend with not to mind Sigerson Cup games.

“Half of our panel is made up of the minor-winning sides from 2014 to 2017 so there’s a lot we want to see of them.”