O’Sullivan rises from bench to rescue Kingdom

Monday, July 16, 2012

Out of Dodge and into the next round, Kerry’s get out of jail card trick just about fooled Westmeath in a horrid affair in Mullingar yesterday.

On St Swithin’s Day, a storm cloud threatened to saturate Kerry football for the next five months never mind the next 40 days.

In the county’s list of close shave qualifiers, this would run a tight runner-up to Sligo’s run against them in Tralee three years ago.

What would have made it just as bad as that occasion was their embarrassment could have transpired in front of a Kerry-dominated 6,620 crowd in Cusack Park.

They went six points down in the 39th minute when Michael Ennis’ foul in the penalty area was punished with an emphatic David Glennon strike from the spot.

They were even forced to bring on a not fully fit Darran O’Sullivan at half time to spare their blushes — but he did just that.

Martin Higgins’ decision to punish Ronan Foley for over-carrying the ball was harsh to say the least. But Westmeath were naive in protesting it too much and Colm Cooper availed of the distraction to find an unmarked O’Sullivan for a vital goal.

With that, the threatening cumulus slowly dispersed. James O’Donoghue pointed and Paul Galvin, showing signs of his old brilliant self, picked off his first of two scores to bring Kerry to within one of Westmeath.

An Eoin Brosnan foul allowed John Heslin to extend the home team’s lead to two but back Kerry came with three unanswered points.

After Tomás Ó Sé had a shot saved by Darren Quinn, Bryan Sheehan punished a foul on Donaghy and O’Donoghue fisted over his second before duly being taken off immediately afterwards.

With the sides tied, a sloppy John Gaffey foul on Brosnan afforded Colm Cooper a scoring free and Kerry were in the lead for the first time since the first minute of the game.

They surrendered it with four minutes to go when Aidan O’Mahony upended substitute David Gavin, Heslin again sticking over the free.

But Kerry, looking so much more urgent than earlier exchanges, returned fire once more, substitute Kieran O’Leary winning a free for Sheehan to slot between the posts and then another replacement Paddy Curtin giving Galvin the chance to slide one over.

Two minutes were put up on the board for injury time and when Galvin was deemed to have fouled the ball early in the second additional minute, Heslin elected to kick for a point to make it a one-point game.

But by the time Brendan Kealy had restarted the game, the time had elapsed, begging the question did Heslin, who was superb throughout, ask Higgins if there was enough time left to go in search of an equaliser or winner?

It matters little now, although the relieved looks on faces in the Kerry camp afterwards showed how squeaky things had been for them.

If they are looking for historical positives, they can look back four years ago to how close Westmeath ran would-be All-Ireland champions Tyrone in an Omagh qualifier.

Yesterday, there were morsels of comfort in how well their defence coped in the second half, conceding just one point from play and the half-back line taking the initiative tocultivate attacks.

But then Westmeath’s rearguard boasted the same stingy record before half time when Kerry looked out of sorts and all out of ideas.

On the long trip back home las night, it may have soothed Kerry to realise Westmeath had to play out of their skins to push them.

As many as six Westmeath players had genuine claims for the man of the match award. For the most part, their full-back line drove Kerry demented and it was a furious captain Cooper who rushed off the pitch and into the dressing room at half time.

It had been he who had scored Kerry’s first point from play in the 31st minute — a damning statistic for such a proven force.

A Cooper free gave Kerry the lead in the opening minute but Westmeath kicked the next four points before Sheehan’s penalty goal after Brosnan had been tripped.

Paul Sharry, whose dynamism shone throughout, added Westmeath’s fifth in the 14th minute and after Heslin and Sheehan exchanged frees Pat Flanagan’s men added two from Heslin (from play) and a Kieran Martin free.

Cooper right-footed Kerry’s first from play, which made it 0-8 to 1-3 at the break.

Westmeath had their own walking wounded in Denis Glennon but he still fashioned a score in the first minute of the second half and then his brother banged in the penalty.

While undoubtedly exciting for the small group of Westmeath supporters , it was a forgettable game to watch with 53 fouls blown up. If Kerry are to retain their 100% qualifier record, they’ll do well to forget it too.

Scorers for Kerry: B Sheehan 1-3 (1-0 pen, 3f); Darran O’Sullivan 1-0; C Cooper 0-3 (2f); J O’Donoghue, P Galvin 0-2 each.

Scorers for Westmeath: J Heslin 0-5 (4f); D Glennon 1-0 (1 pen); K Martin 0-2 (1f); G Egan, D Corroon, R Foley, P Sharry, D Glennon 0-1 each

Subs for Kerry: Darran O’Sullivan for Walsh (h-t); K O’Leary for O’Donoghue (53); P Curtin for Darran O’Sullivan (61); J Buckley for Donaghy (64).

Subs for Westmeath: B Moran for David Glennon (54); D Gavin for D Corroon and D McDermott for Foley (62); P Sheridan for Bannon (64).

Referee: Martin Higgins (Fermanagh).

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