Deadly Donaghy denies Déise

WATERFORD were on the cusp of a momentous success over Kerry in yesterday’s McGrath Cup quarter-final in Fitzgerald Stadium.

With two minutes remaining the Déise men led 3-4 to 0-11 but then Kieran Donaghy strode forward to alter the course of the game. Utilising the modified square ball rule, Donaghy fielded a high ball in the 58th minute, swivelled and planted a shot in the net.

Sixty seconds later, he delightfully fisted in a long Bryan Sheehan ball for his second goal and then applied the coup de grace in injury-time by sending over a brilliant point from the sideline.

It had been a hectic weekend for Jack O’Connor, with yesterday’s match preceded by a preliminary round victory over IT Tralee on Saturday afternoon. The unblemished record of results was something to savour but the news from the infirmary clouded O’Connor’s mood. David Moran limped off in the first-half with a knock to his leg and more critically new captain Bryan Sheehan was stretchered off late on with a serious ankle injury.

Sheehan looks certain to miss Kerry's opening rounds on the NFL and almost definitely will not lead out Kerry for their glamour League opener against Dublin on February 7 against Dublin and away to Cork a week later after an x-ray revealed damaged ankle ligaments.

The weekend marked the birth of latest raft of GAA experimental rules, yet it was the technicalities of hand-passing rather than thespectacular visual effects of the mark that dominated yesterday’s game. Kerry’s players found the handpass changes problematic.

O’Connor revealed his misgivings about the handpass rule afterwards but the mark did work well for Kerry, with David Moran making fine fetches early on. Waterford prospered from penalties being taken a couple yards close to goal. Michael Donnelly tucked home a neat shot from a 35th minute placed kick, to propel Waterford into a 3-3 to 0-6 lead after a flurry of goals.

Their first had come just before the interval when Tony Grey’s point effort was misjudged by Kerry netminder Ger Reidy and looped into the net. That strike enabled Waterford to draw level 1-3 to 0-6 at half-time and then three minutes after the break, attacker Conor McGrath jinked through before finishing a sublime shot into the far corner.

However, after Donnelly’s goal they endured a 20-minute scoring drought and manager John Owens pinpointed that afterwards a critical shortcoming.

“That was the disappointing aspect that we went so long without a score. But it was a positive enough display. If you’d said to me beforehand that we’d play reasonably well against Kerry, I’d have taken it.”

Kerry’s comeback to victory was engineered not only by Donaghy’s scoring burst but also the methodical point-kicking of Bryan Sheehan who registered six points during the game. The energy of their youngsters also helped, with Barry John Keane and James O’Donoghue both able to reflect on impressive contributions in both matches over the weekend.

Scorers for Kerry: K Donaghy 2-2, B Sheehan 0-6 (0-3f, 0-1 ‘45), K O’Leary 0-2, S Scanlon, J O’Donoghue 0-1 each

Waterford: M Donnelly 1-2 (1-0 pen, 0-2f), T Grey, C McGrath 1-0 each, B Wall 0-2 (0-2f), JJ Hutchinson 0-1.

KERRY: G Reidy; P Reidy, T Griffin, A O’Connell; K Young, A O’Mahony, M Corridan; S Scanlon, D Moran; J O’Connor, B Sheehan, D Walsh; K O’Leary, K Donaghy, P O’Connor.

Subs: BJ Keane for Moran (inj) (27), A O’Sullivan for O’Connell (40), J O’Donoghue for J O’Connor (43), P Corridan for O’Leary (43), K O’Leary for Walsh (54).

WATERFORD: T Wall; J Walsh, Maurice O’Gorman, J Phelan; T Grey, S Briggs, P Ogle; M Ahearne, Michael O’Gorman; W Hennessy, C McGrath, B Wall; M Donnelly, R Ahearne, S Cunningham.

Subs: T O’Gorman for M Ahearne (43), JJ Hutchinson for W Hennessy (50), N Hennessy for Phelan (50), B Phelan for Michael O’Gorman (54).

Referee: D O’Mahony (Tipperary)