Kerry snatched a late winner – the latest possible – against Roscommon to get their Allianz Football League title defence off to winning ways, though it needed a heroic score in the final second from teenager Tomás Kennedy to rescue an untidy Kingdom side in Killarney.
A draw looked almost certain – and neither team would have bemoaned a point at that stage – with five seconds left in the game, with Kerry awarded a free out on the sideline.
Sean O'Shea took a punt to nothing to put the ball into the mixer, where Kennedy pulled it down and punched it over the bar as the hooter sounded.
The Roscommon players very unhappy as they felt time was up.
Drama to the very last play, but a win Kerry could hardly say they deserved. Having blown a six-point lead in the first half, and seven-point advantage in the second, Kerry needed their 19-year-old to punch the winner against a promoted Roscommon team that certainly punched above their weight in a compelling contest.
David Clifford scored 1-08 for the Kingdom, including a second half penalty, but for once he was overshadowed by a team mate, in this instance Kennedy, whose contribution of 1-3 somehow felt more important.
Clifford took just 10 seconds to open his and Kerry’s account, and by the sixth minutes it was 0-02 apiece in a lively opening. And then Kerry took over with six unanswered points from Clifford (2), Kennedy (2), Micheal Burns and Tadhg Morley, as Roscommon – missing their entire St Brigids contingent – struggled to settle into their rhythm.
And then just like that they did. Daire Cregg and Eoin Colleran mined important scores before Diarmuid Murtagh bundled the ball over the goal line in the 27th minute, and then Cregg’s point had it all squad, 1-05 to 0-08, after 31 minutes.
Kerry had gone 16 minutes without a score but the drought ended with Kennedy pulling down Tony Brosnan’s under-hit two-point effort to slash in a goal from a tight angle, and the home side were somewhat fortunate to take a 1-09 to 1-06 lead into the interval.
It was still a three-point game, 1-12 to 1-09, after 47 minutes when Brosnan was fouled for a penalty and Clifford converted from the spot. Sean O’Shea’s converted mark put Kerry seven ahead.
Roscommon were not for lying down though. Cregg came up with six points, Murtagh converted a free, and sub Jack Duggan scored two excellent points as Roscommon regained the lead, 1-18 to 2-14.
Clifford and Murtagh traded two-point scores, but just as the draw looked inevitable, Kerry and Kennedy had one last play, with the latter’s score on the hooter greeted with as much dismay by Roscommon as it was by relief in the Kingdom.
Kerry: Shane Murphy; Evan Looney, Jason Foley, Dylan Casey; Armin Heinrich 0-01, Mike Breen, Tadhg Morley 0-01; Seán O'Brien, Liam Smith, Joe O'Connor 0-01, Seán O'Shea 0-01 (0-01m), Micheál Burns 0-02, David Clifford 1-08 (1-00 pen, 1 tp, 0-01f, 0-01m), Tomás Kennedy 1-03 (0-01m), Tony Brosnan 0-01.
Subs: David Roche for T Morley (temp, 21-23), Cillian Trant for L Smith (49), Killian Spillane for T Brosnan (57), Ruairí Murphy for M Burns (61), Donagh O’Sullivan for S O’Brien (67), Eddie Healy for T Morley (69)
Roscommon: Aaron Brady, Patrick Gavin, Caelim Keogh, Eoin McCormack, Eoin Ward, Ronan Daly, Senan Lambe, Keith Doyle 0-01, Conor Ryan, Dylan Ruane, Enda Smith 0-01, Darragh Heneghan, Diarmuid Murtagh 1-06 (1 tp, 1 tpf, 0-01f), Daire Cregg 0-09 (1 tp, 0-03f), Eoin Colleran 0-01.
Subs: Jack Tumulty for E Colleran (47), Paul Carey for D Ruane (55), Jack Duggan 0-02 for K Doyle (57), Ciaran Lennon for Smith (61), Richard Hughes for D Heneghan (64)
Referee: Brendan Cawley (Kildare)
