Hard-fought draw leaves both sides facing nervy finale

THE high cost to both sides of dropping a point in this physical encounter on Saturday evening may not be fully appreciated until after next weekend’s final series of games in the Allianz Football League.

Whatever about losing the chance of making the play-offs, the real challenge now is to retain their Division One status, which Pat O’Shea and Mickey Harte readily concede in advance of their respective meetings with Dublin and Mayo.

While both managers had particular reasons to regret the outcome, it was especially galling for O’Shea, who was once more forced to field an under-strength side. Bryan Sheehan uncharacteristically missed a scoreable free at the start of six minutes of injury time and that was followed by a bad wide from Declan Quill, who had been their best forward. And that was after Kerry had bossed the second half, limiting the visitors to a single score.

O’Shea wasn’t happy either that seven of his players picked up yellow cards (before Tyrone’s Colm McCullagh received a straight red just before the final whistle) — saying that some of them were for “silly, round the neck” challenges. But, just like Harte in his after-match comments, he was also looking in the positive side.

“Games like tonight and next week are going to tell us a lot about whether the hunger is back,’’ he commented. “After this performance, and going forward, the players are beginning to come back to themselves — and realise it’s going to be a hard year but hopefully a good year.”

Tyrone showed four late changes, one of which saw Owen Mulligan return in place of flu victim Stephen O’Neill. Harte — sensing that some people might describe the game as “a war of attrition”, suggested that the draw was worth more to Kerry than his side, but overall was happy with what he said was their best performance so far. “We have lost our chance of qualifying which is a pity. But if we stay in Division One we will be happy. That is the challenge, to beat Mayo,’’ he remarked.

Starting without Paul Galvin, Kerry opted to play Tommy Griffin at centre-back, Bryan Sheehan at midfield and chosen wing-back Daniel Bohan at right half-forward. However, it was Tyrone who made the better start and while scores were very hard to come by, they were to succeed in preventing Kerry from taking the lead until seven minutes from the end of normal time.

They were in front by 0-3 to 0-1 after 13 minutes and largely because of their strength in defence they continued to force the pace.

It was noteworthy that Marc Ó Sé was keeping a tight rein on Mulligan, who only found his form in the second quarter, and that Tomas Ó Sé was very involved on the wing outside him. Further forward, Kerry suffered because of a lack of penetration in the half-forward line, while Seamus Scanlon was ineffective at full-forward. On the credit side, Quill threatened regularly and Mike Frank Russell worked hard to win good ball.

Sheehan’s best work came through his free-taking, which was typically reliable and mainly responsible for keeping the team in touch on the scoreboard. Griffin, for his part, won some good possession deep in defence, but didn’t command the centre.

With both Quill and Scanlon hitting the post inside the first 20 minutes, Tyrone were denied a goal when Diarmuid Murphy made a very good save from promising newcomer Niall Gormley late in the half. However, looking the slicker side, they turned over 0-8 to 0-6 in front, with only two of the Kerry scores coming from play.

Remarkably, the next score didn’t come until 21 minutes into the second half, from Quill, fed by Darren O’Sullivan, and it was to be followed by another from the same player in the 61st which levelled the scores for the third time. Finally, Kerry edged in front through Marc Ó Sé — but their lead lasted a mere four minutes, with substitute Colm Kavanagh equalising in the 67th minute.

Kerry’s second-half control stemmed from an improved display overall, with Darragh Ó Sé now dominant and Scanlon more gainfully employed alongside him. Tyrone’s attack saw little of the ball, but they defended resolutely, with Dooher often dropping back to his full-back line. However, Kerry were largely toothless in attack with Kieran Donaghy an obvious loss and Colm Cooper’s continuing absence even more keenly felt.

Tyrone lost good chances of scores through Dooher and full-back Peter Donnelly (from a 45), but in the end it was Kerry who passed up the best chances of settling the issue.

“We felt we created some scoreable opportunities — particularly late in the game — which we would normally score,’’ said a disappointed O’Shea.

Scorers for Kerry — D. Quill 0-4 (0-1 free); B. Sheehan 0-3 frees; S. Scanlon and M. Ó Sé 0-1 each.

Tyrone: C. McCullagh 0-2 frees; N. Gormley 0-2; R. Mulgrew, Joe McMahon, M. Penrose, O. Mulligan and C. Cavanagh 0-1 each.

KERRY: D. Murphy; M. Ó Sé, T. O’Sullivan, P. Reidy; T. Ó Sé, T. Griffin, A. O’Mahony; D. Ó Sé, B. Sheahan (capt.); D. Bohan, E. Fitzmaurice, D. Walsh; D. Quill, S. Scanlon, M.F. Russell.

Subs: Darren O’Sullivan for Griffin (inj., 32); P. Galvin for Walsh (half-time); S. O’Sullivan for Fitzmaurice (60); P. O’Connor for Russell (65); M. Lyons for Reidy (67).

TYRONE: P. McConnell; R. McMenamin, P. Donnelly, C. Gourley; D. Harte, C. Gormley, Justin McMahon; Joe McMahon, R. Mellon; B. Dooher (capt.), M. Penrose, R. Mulgrew; N. Gormley, C. McCullagh, O. Mulligan.

Subs: D. McCaul for Gourley (50); C. Kavanagh for Penrose (61); T. McGuigan for Mulgrew (68); C. Holmes for Joe McMahon (inj., 73).

Referee: P. McGovern (Galway).