Donegal made it five wins out of five in Allianz NFL Division 1A as they added All-Ireland champions Kerry to their growing list of scalps with a 1-15 to 0-13 victory in Letterkenny.
The Tir Chonaill men marked their first inter-county football outing at Letterkenny's O'Donnell Park since 1977 with a battling win.
Kerry led 0-08 to 0-03, with Mike Frank Russell prominent, but a 33rd-minute goal from Kevin Cassidy helped the hosts cut the deficit to 0-09 to 1-05 at half-time.
However, Kerry could only score four times in the second half as Donegal, inspired by a masterful display from Brendan Devenney who clipped over four late points, powered clear.
The throw-in was switched from 2pm to 2.30pm, as Kerry's flight north had been delayed because of fog. However, the Kingdom made a lightning start when Russell pointed within 90 seconds.
The recalled Kieran Donaghy was involved in the build-up to Kerry's second point, which ended with Declan Quill bisecting the posts. Russell added a third point as Kerry, 1-10 to 0-10 winners against Limerick last time out, showed they meant business.
The league leaders then had a dominant spell, which included scores from Colm McFadden, Devenney, who profited from a Neil Gallagher ball-in, and Rory Kavanagh, to make it 0-04 to 0-03.
Yet by the 24th minute, Donegal found themselves five points in arrears as Kerry's early midfield dominance set up scores for Darragh Ó Sé, Quill (free), Bryan Sheehan, Russell and Mossie Lyons.
The visitors then suffered a hammer blow as Donaghy's day was prematurely ended when the big Tralee men dislocated his shoulder, with Sean O'Sullivan being sprung from the bench.
Kerry goalkeeper Diarmuid Murphy saved his side's bacon on three occasions before Cassidy managed to find the net, two minutes before the break.
Murphy produced two excellent saves from Roper and he also stood tall to deny Devenney when he ran through on goal.
Devenney pointed a free soon after, and wing-forward Cassidy did make the goal breakthrough when he slammed past Murphy after taking a neat pass from McFadden. Points from Darragh Ó Sé and Devenney saw the sides go in at the break with just a single point separating them.
The second half quickly turned into the Brendan Devenney show as the talented full-forward, playing at his own club venue of St Eunan's, took his tally to 0-07 in a talismanic display.
The Kerry defence could not cope with Devenney's movements – both Tom O'Sullivan and Marc Ó Sé were tried as markers on him, but he always seem to have the edge.
Kerry disappointed in the second period with only Quill and defender Tomas Ó Sé (0-02 each) raising white flags.
Ó Sé soloed forward to hit over two successive points in the 47th-minute for a 0-12 to 1-7 lead for the defending champions.
Then points from Devenney and substitute Michael Hegarty brought the sides level for a third time. Two more Devenney points followed before Quill notched Kerry's point.
Roared on by an enthusiastic home crowd, Donegal added further scores through Devenney (0-02) and Ciaran Bonner as Brian McIver's side added Kerry to their list of impressive league scalps which already includes Mayo (the Connacht champions), Tyrone, Dublin (the Leinster champions) and Cork (the Munster champions).
