Kerry 1-21 Tyrone 2-11
Kerry will meet Dublin in next weekend’s NFL Division One final after sweeping to a 1-21 to 2-11 win over Tyrone in Killarney.
Michael Geaney’s early goal set the tone and Kerry had built up a 1-12 to 0-6 lead by the interval, with Paul Geaney converting five frees, while Tyrone failed to score from play.
Peter Harte hit two goals, one from a penalty, but the Kingdom had too much firepower for the Ulstermen.
In front of a crowd of 8,125, Kerry had the ball in the net inside the opening two minutes, David Moran picking out Michael Geaney with a clever pass and the Dingle man finishing with precision to the bottom corner of Mickey O’Neill’s net.
With Mark Griffin bossing his personal duel with Sean Cavanagh, the Red Hands were lacking in ideas up front and failed to score from play while playing with the wind in the opening half.
It was Kerry who showed all the invention, with Donnchadh Walsh putting in a massive shift and complementing his foraging and creativity with three excellent points from play.
Paul Geaney converted five frees from five attempts and as the margin widened, the afternoon became ever more frustrating from a Tyrone point of view, as they headed towards a third straight defeat.
Michael Geaney, Stephen O’Brien and Barry John Keane tagged on points as the Munster men opened out a ten-point lead.
Tyrone did carve a couple of goal chances, but Brendan Kealy saved well from Darren McCurry and Peter Harte - the latter adding a couple of frees late in the half.
At the break, Kerry led by 1-12 to 0-6 and the Red Hands lost attackers Kieran McGeary and Niall Sludden to black cards early in the second half.
But they struck for a goal for only the second time in the current league campaign - Peter Harte collecting a Frank Burns pass to smash the ball to the roof of Kealy’s net in the 44th minute.
Defenders Tadgh Morley and Paul Murphy found the space to push forward for scores and the Kingdom had soon recovered from the concession of the goal, their ten-point cushion restored.
Tyrone finally registered their first point from play in the 60th minute through substitute David Mulgrew and in the 66thminute they grabbed a second goal.
Ronan Shanahan, who had already been booked, was shown black and red for hauling down Frank Burns and Kerry were down to 14 men, with referee Marty Duffy also awarding a penalty, which Harte netted.
But they were never going to overhaul Kerry’s comfortable lead and Walsh capped a triumphant afternoon with his sixth score from play.
Tyrone managed just 1-2 from play, with Mulgrew hitting a second score near the end.
Kerry: B Kealy; F Fitzgerald, M Griffin, R Shanahan; P Crowley, T Morley (0-01), P Murphy (0-01); D Moran, A Maher; M Geaney (1-02), K McCarthy, D Walsh (0-06); BJ Keane (0-02), P Geaney (0-06, 6f), S O’Brien (0-01).
Subs: B Sheehan (0-02, 2f) for McCarthy (46), J Lyne for Crowley (49), D O’Sullivan for Keane (51), J Barry for Maher (58), G Crowley for Fitzgerald (64), D Daly for O’Brien (68)
Tyrone: M O’Neill; A McCrory, P Hampsey, C McCarron; T McCann, R McNabb, P Harte (2-04, 1-0 pen, 0-4f); C Cavanagh, P McNulty; C McCann, N Sludden, K McGeary; M Bradley, S Cavanagh (0-05, 5f), D McCurry.
Subs: C Meyler for McCurry (h-t), J Munroe for C McCann (h-t), F Burns for McGeary (BC 37), D Mulgrew (0-02) for Bradley (42), C McShane (BC 44), R Brennan for McNabb (68)
Referee: M Duffy (Sligo).
