There was All-Ireland semi-final revenge for Derry in Tralee on Saturday evening as Mickey Harte's determined side ran out dramatic one-point winners in a capacity Austin Stack Park to ensure their return to Allianz League Division 1 got off to the best possible start.
Derry, who welcomed back Glen All-Ireland-winning trio Conor Glass, Ethan Doherty and Ciaran McFaul, showed no signs of a lack of experience at this level as last year’s Division 2 runners-up took a double-score lead into the half-time break – 0-08 to 0-04 – before a late Shane McGuigan free won the game for the visitors after the two sides were level twice in the second half.
McGuigan starred for Derry with 0-07 with second-half goals from Conor Geaney and Dylan Casey not enough to salvage a result for Jack O’Connor’s side.
Kerry’s edge in terms of experience and home advantage was a prominent talking point in the week leading up to this National Football League opener, with talk of a Derry revenge for last year’s two-point All-Ireland semi-final defeat also on the cards as the weekend drew in.
Mickey Harte’s side seemed to pay no heed to such talk, however, as they settled into this game the very same as if they were playing a championship match at the height of the summer season, moving the ball around slickly and controlling the match through physicality, and endless movement both on and off the ball.
As expected, Derry got an early stronghold of the midfield battle as the experienced duo of Glass (above) and Brendan Rogers controlled proceedings against Kerry’s not so experienced combination of Joe O’Connor and Seán O’Brien, and early scores from Glass, full-back Christopher McKaigue, McGuigan, and Conor Doherty gave the Ulster champions a 0-04 to 0-02 lead midway through the opening half.
Derry’s first score of the league came from Glass, before Seán O’Shea levelled it up for the Kingdom.
With Derry starting off with 15 behind the ball inside the opening quarter, Kerry decided to go direct, long, and early, and this tactic paid dividends when makeshift full-forward Seán O’Shea caught an inch-perfect high ball kicked in by Dara Moynihan before drawing the sides level with six minutes on the clock.
Kerry, in the absence of the Clifford brothers, struggled to get a foothold on the game at this stage, however, and when Derry captain McGuigan slotted over a close-range free in the 22nd minute – his third point of the evening – Harte’s side had opened up a well-deserved four-point lead – 0-06 to 0-02.
Both sides exchanged points before half-time with Rogers slotting over arguably the point of the evening as the Slaughtneil man curled the ball off his left from what looked an impossible angle right on the verge of the break.
Harte’s charges cruised into a six-point lead – 0-10 to 0-04 - five minutes into the second half as McGuigan and Gareth McKinless boosted the visitors’ chances of victory.
However, Derry were temporarily reduced to 14 when Ciaran McFaul was shown a back card – a 10-minute period during which Kerry reduced the lead to three thanks to Dylan Geaney and two Seán O’Shea frees.
Derry, who were back up to their full cohort of 15 at this stage, got their first score in almost a quarter of an hour when McGugian pointed 15 minutes from time to make it a four-point game.
As the Derry defence tired, Odhran Lynch superbly saved a Conor Geaney effort on goal – a sign of things to come for the stretched Derry full-back backline.
We have the opening goal in Tralee as Conor Geaney finds the net with Odhran Lynch way out from his goal.
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) January 27, 2024
📺 Watch live @RTE2 & @RTEplayer https://t.co/ZfZ9mA9XTY
📱 Text updates https://t.co/juIuTjQrk8
📻 Updates on Saturday Sport @rteradio1 pic.twitter.com/rJOcRpRjE9
Kerry got their reward 13 minutes from time when substitute Conor Geaney raised the game’s first green flag to reduce the deficit to just one.
With just six minutes remaining on the clock, corner-back Dylan Casey burst forward and found the net to bring the sides level for only the third time.
When Graham O’Sullivan tapped over a close-range mark on the edge of time added on, it looked likely both sides would share the spoils, but up stepped the impressive McGuigan, who led by example all evening, to cooly slot over the winning point – a well-taken close-range free.
Mickey Harte's Derry taste victory over Kerry, sealed by Shane McGuigan at the death.
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) January 27, 2024
📺 Watch live @RTE2 & @RTEplayer https://t.co/ZfZ9mA9XTY
📱 Text updates https://t.co/juIuTjQrk8
📻 Updates on Saturday Sport @rteradio1 pic.twitter.com/Z7GYSsOCNZ
Kerry: Shane Ryan; Graham O'Sullivan (0-01, 0-01m), Jason Foley, Dylan Casey (1-00); Brian Ó Beaglaíoch, Tom O’Sullivan, Gavin White; Joe O’Connor, Seán O’Brien; Dara Moynihan (0-01), Dylan Geaney (0-01), Cillian Burke; Killian Spillane, Seán O’Shea (capt.) (0-05, 0-04f), Micheál Burns.
Subs: Barry Dan O’Sullivan for O’Brien (29 minutes), Paul Murphy for Beaglaíoch, Conor Geaney (1-00) for Burns (both half time), Stephen O’Brien for Burke (45 minutes), Diarmuid O’Connor for Spillane (49 minutes)
Derry: Odhran Lynch; Conor McCluskey, Christopher McKaigue, (0-01) Diarmuid Baker; Padraig McGrogan, Gareth McKinless (0-01), Conor Doherty (0-01); Conor Glass (0-01), Brendan Rogers (0-01); Ethan Doherty, Declan Cassidy (0-01), Ciaran McFaul (0-01); Niall Loughlin, Shane McGuigan (capt.) (0-07, 0-06f), Paul Cassidy.
Subs: Niall Toney (0-01) for Cassidy (48 minutes) Cormac Murphy for Loughlin (60 minutes).
Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan)
