Donegal's power play rocks the Kingdom
Monday March 26 2007
Kerry 0-13
NFL Division 1A
ALLIANZ League football came to O'Donnell Park, Letterkenny for the first time in 30 years yesterday and left Donegal with a day to remember as they ground the All-Ireland champions into submission with a powerful surge in the final quarter.
It was the ideal tonic for manager Brian McIver who only recently got out of hospital as he watched his well tuned troops run up their fifth straight win to remain on top of Division 1A.
They did it with a powerful finish in which they out-scored Kerry by 0-8 to 0-1 over the final quarter.
The manner in which they achieved it was hugely impressive and left their supporters in the 5,000 crowd beginning to dream in the bright spring sunshine that something special will unfold this year.
Kerry led by 0-8 to 0-3 after 22 minutes but once Donegal started to cut down on their error rate they dug their way back into contention.
Cracking
The loss of Kieran Donaghy after 20 minutes was a massive blow to Kerry as it left them without a target man which, in turn, seriously restricted their scoring openings against a vigilant defence.
At the other end, Brendan Devenney turned into target-man and finisher as he tormented the Kerry full-back line.
He scored 0-7, 0-4 from play, in one of those magical performances that he does so well on his better days.
Ciaran Bonner, Brian Roper, Colm McFadden and sub Michael Hegarty also troubled a Kerry defence which would have been left embarrassed only for the first half intervention of goalkeeper, Diarmuid Murphy who brought off three great saves in the space of four minutes.
First, he stooped a goal-bound rasper from Roper in the 27th minute before denying him a second time two minutes later when he turned a drive out for a '45'. And a minute later he saved again, this time from Devenney.
But not even the giant Kerry goalkeeper could hold out indefinitely and he was finally beaten in the 34th minute when Donegal midfielder, Kevin Cassidy sent a cracking shot high into the net. It cut Kerry's lead to a point and, equally importantly, convinced Donegal that a big prize awaited them if they held their nerve.
"We showed Kerry a bit too much respect early on. They were spraying balls around at will and on another day, they'd destroy you. Thankfully we were able to hold on until we got our game in order," said Cassidy.
Darragh Ó Sé, imperious throughout, was at the heart of Kerry's early impetus which also featured some excellent point-taking from Declan Quill and Mike Frank Russell.
However, once Donegal began to pick up more ball around midfield where Neil Gallagher and Cassidy were busy and inventive, they made good headway.
Kerry led by 0-9 to 1-5 at half-time and by 0-12 to 1-8 after 52 minutes before Donegal drew level in 55th minute and took the lead for the first time a minute later when Devenney curled over an excellent score.
Donegal were still a point ahead (1-11 to 0-13) after 62 minutes and really asserted themselves over the home stretch, with Devenney and Bonner each kicking two points which went unanswered.
Kerry offered no excuses for what was the second defeat of their campaign with manager, Pat O'Shea acknowledging that Donegal were the better side when it mattered most.
"Any day you concede 1-15 it's most unlikely you'll win and that's what happened us today. We started well but didn't maintain it and in fairness to Donegal they played some excellent football in the second half in particular. They took their scores well and denied us chances at the other end.
"It was always going to be a tough game for us to win and so it proved. We still have a lot of work to do and that was obvious out there today," he said.
He will be concerned that the forward line scored just 0-5 from play with another 0-5 coming from midfielder, Darragh Ó Sé (2) and wing-backs, Tomas Ó Sé (2) and Mossie Lyons (1).
Kerry's half-forward line made little impression once Barry Dunnion, Barry Monaghan and Paddy Campbell secured the defensive bolts and with the supply lines to Russell and Quill dug up, it was inevitable that Kerry's scoring rate would drop.
"Donegal came on really strong in the final quarter. They were very hungry for victory today and made us pay for nearly every mistake. They were the better side," said Pat O'Shea.
SCORERS - Donegal: B Devenney 0-7 (3f), C Bonner, C McFadden (1f) 0-3 each, K Cassidy 1-0, R Kavanagh, M Hegarty 0-1 each. Kerry: D Quill 0-4 (2f), MF Russell 0-3, D O Se, T O Se 0-2 each, M Lyons, B Sheehan 0-1 each.
DONEGAL - P Durcan; N McGee, P Campbell, K Lacey; P McConigley, B Monaghan, B Dunnion; N Gallagher, K Cassidy; R Kavanagh, B Roper, C Toye; C McFadden, B Devenney, C Bonner. Subs: M Hegarty for Roper (53), K McMenamin for McFadden (63), A Sweeney for Toye (66), E McGee for Monaghan (71).
KERRY - D Murphy; M O Se, T O'Sullivan, P Reidy; T O Se, A O'Mahony, M Lyons; D O Se, T Griffin; B Sheehan , S Scanlon, D Walsh; D Quill, K Donaghy, MF Russell. Subs: S O'Sullivan for Donaghy (20), P Galvin for Walsh (32), Darren O'Sullivan for S O'Sullivan (58), B Guiney for T O Se (58).
REF - V Neary (Mayo)
- Martin Breheny
