Kerry’s double destroyers Shane Brick and John M Dooley blasted Kerry into the Christy Ring Cup semi-final with a 15 points win over Derry.
Dooley hit all four of the Kindom goals, but he was outshone by the elegant Brick, who helped himself to a 15 points haul with an awesome display of finishing.
Kerry got off to a dream start with a goal from Dooley after just 30 seconds. The corner forward was first to get his hands to a Tom Murnane delivery from deep, and turned to squeeze the sliothar home at the near post.
Playing into the wind, the Oak Leafers took some time to get going, but after Oisin McCloskey had opened their account from a free, they reeled off a string of points to go level by the 16th minute.
McCloskey and Ruairi Convery were on target from frees, with the
latter hitting Derry's first point from play. They dominated for a 20 minute period, during which Kerry scored just one point, and it was McCloskey who edged the Ulster side in front for
the first time in the 23rd minute.
But Kerry came good in the final few minutes of the half, with former Tipperary player Evan Sweeney hitting a couple of excellent points, and Shane Brick on target from a free to give them a 1-6 to 0-8 interval lead.
Derry went back in front within two minutes of the restart when
Convery scrambled home a goal. Kerry were forced to move corner forward Sean Young into goal when John Healy suffered an injury, and the stand-in keeper was beaten within minutes when substitute Malachy Scullen flicked to the net.
But Kerry turned on the power in the final 25 minutes, with Brick
firing over a series of wonderful long range scores.
There was no way back for Derry when Dooley smacked home two goals in the space of a minute for his hat-trick, and he made it four when he booted to the net in stoppage time.
