A deserved, if hard won, three-point win over League champions Kerry keeps Galway on maximum points in Division One after their fourth successive win in what continues to be the perfect start for Kevin Walsh's team in the top-flight.
For Kerry it's their second defeat in a week and leaves the defending champions mid-table and with plenty to ponder ahead of a trip to Croke Park next Saturday to face Dublin. Galway, meanwhile, will host Monaghan in Salthill on Sunday confident of making it five wins from five after a confident win in Tralee.
Not that Galway had it all their own way, and there was a nervous finish for the visitors as David Clifford and then Stephen O'Brien had shots saved in the 77th minute as Kerry tried to engineer an equalising goal, but the Tribes defence held firm to deny the Kingdom.
Playing with a strong wind advantage in the first half Galway were good value for their four-point lead at the break, with the Kerry defence looking vulnerable in that first period on a few occasions.
Kerry defender Brian Ó Beaglaoich forced a smart save from Ruairi Lavelle in the second minute but Galway's Cathal Sweeney should have done better two minutes later when he was through on goal but was off target with a low shot. Barry McHugh converted the resultant '45' but moments later Sweeney was dismissed for a black card foul.
Eamonn Brannigan fires the ball into the net for Galway! pic.twitter.com/7Yse1LXKKW
— The GAA (@officialgaa) February 25, 2018
The visitors led 0-05 to 0-01 after 14 minutes before David Clifford and Sean O'Shea set up Paul Murphy for a Kerry point, but Eamonn Brannigan's second point from play restored the visitors' four-point lead.
O'Shea and then Clifford converted frees but Galway enjoyed the best of the final ten minutes of the half. Brian Kelly had to be brave to save well from Shane Walsh in the 29th minute as the Connacht side looked to make their overall dominance pay, but a 0-9 to 0-5 half time lead, on the strength of the wind, looked as if it mightn't be enough for the visitors.
McHugh and Clifford traded early second half points, but then Galway struck for the game's only goal in the 40th minute when Brannigan breezed through the Kerry defence to beat Brian Kelly and make it 1-10 to 0-7.
Points from Peter Crowley, Tom O'Sullivan, Clifford and O'Brien made it 0-11 to 1-10 as the momentum shifted back to Kerry, with Galway losing defenders Sean Andy O Ceallaigh and Johnny Heaney to black card dismissals at the same time.
Two more McHugh frees gave the victors a little more breathing space, 1-13 to 0-11, and they still led 1-14 to 0-13 after 73 minutes.
A Daithi Casey point made it a one score game but Kerry couldn't breach the Galway defence for that equalising goal as the westerners held on for their first league win over Kerry since 2003.
Kerry: Brian Kelly, Shane Enright, Jason Foley, Ronan Shanahan, Paul Murphy (0-01), Peter Crowley (0-01), Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Jack Barry, Barry O’Sullivan, Micheál Burns, Sean O’Shea (0-3, 2f), Stephen O’Brien (0-01), David Clifford (0-06, 3f), Paul Geaney, Barry John Keane:
Subs: Matthew Flaherty for R Shanahan (41 min), Tom O’Sullivan (0-01) for B O Beaglaoich (42 min), Éanna Ó Conchúir for BJ Keane (48 min), Daithi Casey (0-01) for M Burns (60), Killian Spillane for P Geaney (67), Brian Ó Seanacháin for B O'Sullivan (71).
Galway: Galway: Ruairi Lavelle, Declan Kyne, Sean Andy O Ceallaigh, Eoghan Kerin, Cathal Sweeney, Gareth Bradshaw, Johnny Heaney, Paul Conroy, Peter Cooke, Sean Kelly, Shane Walsh (0-01f), Eamonn Brannigan (1-03), Patrick Sweeney (0-02), Damien Comer, Barry McHugh (0-08, 5f, 2 '45').
Subs: Gary O’Donnell for C Sweeney (8, black card), Sean Armstrong for P Sweeney (49), David Wynne for SA O Ceallaigh (57, black card), Johnny Duane for J Heaney (57, black card), Ciaran Duggan for P Cooke (64), Thomas Flynn (Athenry) for E Brannigan (71).
Referee: Fergal Kelly (Longford)
