Gooch saves Kerry from Blues

Kerry 0-13 Dublin 0-13

At the same venue yesterday it was the Kingdom’s turn to be lucky when their draw with Dublin, combined with the result from Castlebar, meant they squeezed out the All-Ireland champions by means of a single point in scoring difference.

“Funny the way things go,’’ reflected Kerry manager Jack O’Connor afterwards. While Dublin who forced the draw through Conal Keaney’s injury-time free, Colm Cooper had a significant say in the outcome, contributing one score and setting up another.

On the field, while a minute’s silence was observed in memory of his late father Mike, who died during the week, Cooper was introduced 12 minutes into the second half, much to the delight of the home followers in the attendance of 8,078.

“I’d pay money to see that fellow play,’’ said Dublin manager Paul Caffrey afterwards. “After the week he had it was a credit the way he played. He is one of the GAA’s real talents.’’

Caffrey wasn’t happy with the outcome: “The overriding view in the dressing room was one of disappointment. It was a match we should have won. But, we didn’t get the goal that we craved.’’

Jack O’Connor was more upbeat, pleased to be able to look forward to at least one more competitive match (against Laois). “In fairness to Dublin they certainly came down with the right attitude. They were very competitive. We got through by the skin of our teeth (this time), but we’ll take it.’’

Dublin were without Ciaran Whelan (though replacement Shane Ryan was superb) and Mossie Quinn (whose free-taking expertise was missed), Kerry had to replace the injured Mike McCarthy, while Mike Frank Russell started instead of Cooper. Seamus Moynihan came in for his first game of the campaign and was outstanding at centre-back.

With Dublin enjoying a wind advantage in the first half, there was little enough between the teams over the opening quarter, with scores level twice up to the 13th minute. That was just after Dublin missed the first of three serious goal chances (the third from a penalty), when Alan Brogan rounded Tom O’Sullivan and hit his effort straight at goalkeeper Diarmuid Murphy.

Kerry weren’t creating too many openings in attack, with Cooper’s ball-winning ability was obviously missed. Part of the reason was that they never managed to dominate at midfield, but there was an improvement after Paul Galvin started to penetrate, Eoin Brosnan began to link with the backs and Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s hard work began to pay off.

Dublin’s forwards were not over-impressive either, although Mark Vaughan’s free-kicking was good, as was Conal Keaney’s kicking later.

Kerry’s improvement saw them open up a four-point gap a few minutes later, but two quick scores (including one from Sherlock in the 30th minute, their first from play) brought Dublin back into contention and at the break Kerry’s lead was down to a single score, 0-7 to 0-6.

With Tomas Ó Sé unable to continue after picking up a leg injury earlier on, Kerry brought in Sean O’Sullivan, who did well at half-forward before also being forced off. Paul Galvin was switched to wing-back but it didn’t prevent him from supporting the attack (as well as scoring at a vital stage of the game).

After just 25 seconds, Dublin won a penalty when Diarmuid Murphy upended Cullen, but the keeper saved Vaughan’s rising shot. Cullen had a chance of goal three minutes later only to handpass the ball into the net. Despite these disappointments Dublin hit a rich vein of form and they were quickly on level terms and in front for the first time in the 43rd minute - only to see Moynihan tie the scores for the fourth time.

Soon afterwards, Cooper was brought in at right corner-forward (wearing number 30 on his back) and was influential after a Vaughan free and Brogan point from play gave Dublin added encouragement. First the Crokes man set up Ronan O’Connor for a score and then pointed himself.

After that, the game could have gone either way. Kerry substitute Brian Sheehan showed calmness in kicking over an angled free in the last minute. But, Dublin still had plenty of fight left and earned a deserved equaliser from Keaney.

“They looked to have the legs on us for long stretches in the second half,” said O’Connor. “It was understandable, because we have only being doing one night a week in training.’’

Scorers: Kerry: P. Galvin and M.F. Russell (0-1 free) 0-3 each; R. O’Connor 0-2; D. O’Sullivan, C. Cooper, S. O’Sullivan, S. Moynihan and B. Sheehan (free) 0-1 each. Dublin: M. Vaughan 0-5 (0-4 frees, 0-1 ‘45); C. Keaney 0-4 (0-3 frees); A. Brogan 0-2, J. Sherlock and S. Ryan 0-1 each.

KERRY: D. Murphy; T. O’Sullivan, M. Ó Sé, A. O’Mahony; M. Lyons, S. Moynihan, T. Ó Sé; D. Ó Sé, K. Donaghy; P. Galvin, E. Fitzmaurice, E. Brosnan; D. O’Sullivan (capt.), R. O’Connor, M. F. Russell. Subs: S. O’Sullivan for T. Ó Sé injured, second half); C. Cooper for Donaghy (47th); P. Kelly for O’Sullivan (injured, 58th); Darren O’Sullivan for Russell (63rd); B. Sheehan for O’Connor (66th).

DUBLIN: S. Cluxton; N. O’Shea, B. Cahill, D. Henry; P. Casey, C. Goggins, P. Griffin (capt.); S. Ryan, D. Magee; B. Cullen, J. Sherlock, D. Lally; M. Vaughan, C. Keaney, A. Brogan.Subs: R. Cosgrove for Lally (61st minute); D. O’Callaghan for Sherlock (63rd); B. Brogan for Vaughan (72nd).

Referee: B. Crowe (Cavan). * Brian Crowe did a very good job of refereeing.