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.