3-7 for David Clifford as Kerry beat Cavan to advance to All-Ireland quarter-finals
Paul Brennan reports from Fitzgerald Stadium
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED FOR Kerry in their preliminary quarter-final against Cavan, but one assumes the next mission will be considerably tougher, should the Kingdom choose to accept it? They will, of course, but how they will fare against another Ulster team – Monaghan, Tyrone or quite likely Armagh – next weekend is now the big question.
Bouncing back from last week’s nine-point drubbing by Meath with a nine-point win over Cavan in Killarney is the response Jack O’Connor would have wanted from his troops, but it is another victory that comes at a cost. A big one.
If losing centre back Mike Breen before the game to a hamstring issue wasn’t bad enough, seeing Diarmuid O’Connor crumple to the ground at the throw-in and leaving the action three minutes later clutching his shoulder, is enough to give Jack O’Connor nightmares.
With Paul Geaney and Tony Brosnan absent from the panel, and Paudie Clifford only getting 15 minutes at the end of this game, suffice to say Kerry’s problem’s are as troubling heading into the quarter-finals as they were coming into this preliminary.
At least David Clifford is back doing David Clifford things. A hat-trick of goals eased the Munster champions to a nine-point win, and on the surface things are going in the right direction in the Kingdom. But there were as many goal chances squandered – Clifford as culpable as anyone – and there was a spell in the second half when Cavan cut a 12-point deficit to six in with three shots.
Clifford’s first goal arrived in the sixth minute, skinning Niall Carolan along the end line and coolly finishing past Liam Brady to make it 1-2 to 0-2, and he was at it again in the 19th minute when Paul Murphy set him to make it 2-6 to 0-2.
Cavan had Carolan in the sin-bin for the period, but even with their full complement restored, Kerry were much the better side, leading by 10 at the interval, 2-12 to 0-8, with Paddy Lynch scoring all but one point of Cavan’s total.
The Ulster men won the second half by a point, Evan Crowe getting their goal in that little period when they halved that 12-point deficit with help from Jason McLoughlin’s two-pointer and a Pádraig Faulkner point.
It was as close as Kerry came to a scare, but Clifford’s third goal made it 3-16 to 1-15 on the hour mark and the home side saw it out from there.
Vintage Kerry? Not really, but they did what they had to do. They head to Croke Park in a week to face more Ulster opposition, and there’s little doubt but it will be a sterner test.
Scorers for Kerry: D Clifford 3-7 (2 2pt scores, 1 free), S O’Shea 0-4 (1 2pt score, 1 free), S Ryan 0-3 (1 2pt free, ’45’), D Geaney 0-2, G O’Sullivan 0-1, C Geaney 0-1, K Spillane 0-1, T Kennedy 0-1
Scorers for Cavan: P Lynch 0-12 (2 2pt scores, 2 2pt frees, 4 frees, ‘45’), E Crowe 1-0, J McLoughlin 0-3 (1 2pt score), P Faulkner 0-1, R O’Neill 0-1
Kerry: Shane Ryan; Paul Murphy, Jason Foley, Tom O’Sullivan; Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Tadhg Morley, Gavin White; Joe O’Connor, Sean O’Brien; Diarmuid O’Connor, Sean O’Shea, Graham O’Sullivan; David Clifford, Conor Geaney, Dylan Geaney.
Subs: Mark O’Shea for D O’Connor (inj, 3), Dylan Casey for T Morley (43), Paudie Clifford for C Geaney (56), Killian Spillane for D Geaney (56), Evan Looney for G O’Sullivan (temp, 61-ft), Tomas Kennedy for B O Beaglaoich (66).
Cavan: Liam Brady, Niall Carolan, Brian O’Connell, Cian Reilly, Oisin Kiernan, Ciarana Brady, Padraig Faulkner, Jason McLoughlin, Evan Crowe, Gerard Smith, Dara McVeety, Oisin Brady, Cormac O’Reilly, Paddy Lynch, Sean McEvoy.
Subs: Luke Fortune for C Reilly (inj, 8), Cian Madden for S McEvoy (43), Ryan O’Neill for O Brady (56), Ryan Donohue for J McLoughlin (60), Killian Brady for B O’Connell (64)
Referee: Jerome Henry (Mayo).
The 42
