Kingdom have no answer to O’Neill-Hurley double act
Eamonn Fitzmaurice will much to ponder this evening after he saw his Kerry side slump to a 3-17 to 2-9 loss to Cork in Páirc Uà Rinn. The game was arguably the match of the Allianz League to date after five goals were scored in the opening 25 minutes.
Colm O’Neill struck after less than 60 seconds, while the game’s second green flag was raised by John O’Rourke five minutes later to lift Cork into a 2-1 to 0-2 lead. That was until Kieran Donaghy struck back with a goal for the Munster champions to kickstart their afternoon.
However, Cork kept their foot on the throat of their Munster rivals and Brian Hurley set up O’Rourke for his second just moments after Paul Murphy received a black card with Killian Young replacing the Rathmore man.
Fitzmaurice also made two other early changes, bringing on Tommy Walsh at centre-forward for Bryan Sheehan and Peter Crowley came on for Jack Sherwood at number six. The move paid off immediately as Walsh struck his first goal since his return from Australia to get Kerry right back into the game as they trailed by four points at the break, 3-6 to 2-5.
There were no further green flags in the second half but Cork piled on the scores as their counter-attacking threat had the Kerry defense all at sea. The movement and pace from wing-backs Jamie O’Sullivan and Tomas Clancy, as well as the accuracy from Brian Hurley and Colm O’Neill, were a joy and Kerry could do little to compete with the Rebels.
In Letterkenny, Donegal’s failure to score for 25 minutes of the second half was their undoing as they lost out to Monaghan by 0-9 to 1-4.
The sides were deadlocked at half-time, 0-4 each after Monaghan’s scoring threat was hampered by the dismissal of Conor McManus for a black card after a foul on Neil McGee. Despite conceding a goal to Donegal and Michael Murphy after 45 minutes, Monaghan totally took over and with Paul Finlay accurate from a number of frees they held on for the win with the highlight of their scoring a long-range free from goalkeeper Rory Beggan.
The other game in Division One saw Mayo edge Derry by 2-12 to 1-13 in Celtic Park. The visitors led by 1-7 to 0-6 at the short whistle as Mark Ronaldson made the most of free from Cillian O’Connor that came off the post to slam home to the net.
Mayo took over after half time and looked on course for a comfortable win with Mickey Newman scoring their second goal of the day five minutes before the end. There was some late drama as Derry struck for a green flag of their own but Mayo held on for an important win.
In Division Two, Down edged a thrilling game against Galway by a single point in Páirc Esler. The home side are now top of the standing after winning by 1-17 to 1-16 in a match that saw the visitors led for the majority of the 70 minutes.
The Connacht side led by 1-10 to 0-7 at half-time thanks to Patrick Sweeny’s goal but Donal O’Hare’s shot to the net from his saved penalty inspired the home side in the latter stages. They scored six unanswered points, including the winning score from a free by Paul Devlin, to secure another precious two points.
In the other game in Division Two, Laois got the edge on Roscommon with a 2-17 to 0-16 win in O’Moore Park having led by 0-9 to 0-7 at the break.
In Division Three, Sligo hammered Louth by 2-26 to 2-9 in Markievicz Park. Cristoir Davey’s early goal set the tone for the home side as they led by 2-16 to 1-4 at the break.
Wexford edged Limerick by 1-16 to 2-12 in their clash in Wexford Park. Ben Brosnan proved to be the hero for the home side as two late frees helped his side to a vital win
The race to escape the bottom tier also saw a number of entertaining games. In a local derby Carlow and Wicklow ended deadlocked at 0-9 each in Netwatch Cullen Park, while Antrim proved too strong for a struggling London side with a 1-12 to 1-8 win in Cargin.
Offaly and Leitrim played out an entertaining draw in Tullamore with a final score of 2-13 to 1-16 while Longford got the better of Waterford with a 1-21 to 1-10 win in Pearse Park.
