Two home defeats in a row has put a serious dent into Kerry's league title ambitions but it's Monaghan who are riding high as their unbeaten start to the campaign remains intact after a deserved one-point win in Killarney.
Goals in either half from Jack McCarron and Gavin Doogan laid the foundation for the Farney men's 2-08 to 1-10 victory, a result that sees Malachy O'Rourke's team collect five points from a possible six after three rounds.
For Kerry it was another grounding defeat on the back of the recent loss to Mayo in Tralee, and Eamonn Fitzmaurice's men will need to win away to Roscommon next weekend if they are to maintain real hopes of making a League final.
Doogan's goal four minutes into the second half levelled matters, 2-03 to 1-06, after Kerry had edged three points clear, having led by two at half time, and tellingly the Kingdom didn't lead again in the match.
Another damning statistic is that Kerry didn't score from play in the entire second half; indeed, they only managed two points from play, one of those from defender Tadhg Morley.
The first half was a drab affair, played in intermittent sunshine and heavy showers. Paul Murphy rattled the Monaghan post early on, but converted frees from McCarron and goalkeeper Rory Beggan edged Monaghan into an early lead.
David Moran finished off a slick Kerry counter-attack with a crashing goal to give Kerry the lead and Tadhg Morley and James O'Donoghue (free) extended the home side's lead to 1-02 to 0-02.
Paul Geaney had a great chance to double Kerry's lead in the 20th minute but he pulled his shot wide with just Beggan to beat, though Murphy and O'Donoghue (free) found the target to push Kerry five clear.
Monaghan remained patient and they got their reward in the 27th minute when Conor McManus drew a fine save from Brendan Kealy but McCarron picked up the rebound and smashed the ball to the net to drag the visitors back into the contest.
Kieran Hughes and Geaney (free) exchanged points to see Kerry lead 1-05 to 1-03 at the interval, but playing into a strong wind Monaghan would have been the more encouraged side at half time.
Doogan's goal arrived just after another O'Donoghue free had extended Kerry's lead to three, and from there to the end it remained a tight, tentative affair, with Kerry struggling to find scores.
McCarron mined another brace of points, as did Conor McManus, and Kieran Hughes picked off his second from play to see Monaghan home.
A bad day for Kerry was compounded when Bryan Sheehan was sent off on a straight red mere seconds after coming on when he was involved in something with Kieran Hughes in his first involvement.
Kerry: Brendan Kealy (0-01f), Shane Enright, Mark Griffin, Killian Young, Tadhg Morley (0-01), Peter Crowley, Ronan Shanahan, David Moran (1-00), Jack Barry, Jonathan Lyne, Paul Murphy (0-01), Kevin McCarthy, Jack Savage, Paul Geaney (0-03f), James O’Donoghue (0-03f).
Subs: Stephen O'Brien for J Savage (HT), Stephen O'Brien, Barry John Keane (0-01f) for P Geaney (50 mins), Adrian Spillane for K McCarthy (52 mins), Anthony Maher for J Barry (b/c, 55 mins), Darran O'Sullivan for P Crowley (61 mins), Bryan Sheehan for D Moran (65 mins)
Monaghan: Rory Beggan (0-01f), Fintan Kelly, Drew Wylie, Ryan Wylie, Kieran Duffy, James Mealiff, Colin Walshe, Darren Hughes, Kieran Hughes (0-02), Karl O’Connell, Shane Carey, Gavin Doogan (1-00), Conor McCarthy, Jack McCarron (1-03, 0-01f), Conor McManus (0-02).
Subs: Neil McAdam for C Walshe (30 mins), Owen Duffy for D Hughes (HT), Ryan McAnespie for J Mealiff (HT), Conor McCarthy for O Duffy (45 mins), Thomas Kerr for D Malone (65 mins)
Referee: Derek O'Mahony (Tipperary)
