Kerry make their desperation count

Kerry 0-11 Down 1-05

The Kingdom ticked all the boxes Saturday night in Tralee of a young side weighed down by the jersey and the loss of four straight National League matches – early encouragement replaced by second half apprehension and anxiety. It took Declan O’Sullivan early and substitute Paul Galvin late on to steer them to two league points, made all the more welcome by Mayo’s loss to Kildare. If it was a display that hardly offered vindication for the new green and gold wave, there were cameos from the likes of Fionn Fitzgerald and substitute Mark Griffin that suggested Fitzmaurice’s regeneration project is on an upward curve. Whether it is rising fast enough to bring down Cork, Division One’s form team, at Austin Stack Park next Sunday is another thing.

Conor Counihan’s side will provide a far more robust examination of Kerry’s shallow well of confidence than Down did on Saturday. “Everything that could go wrong, went wrong,” explained Mourne manager James McCartan afterwards as first Daniel McCartan cried off in the warm-up before centre-back Aidan Carr had to limp off before half-time. Kerry led 0-8 to 0-1 at the break, with the returning Declan O’Sullivan and Donnchadh Walsh probing up front. Darran O’Sullivan and Johnny Buckley (from frees) were the primary beneficiaries of the former’s toil.