Dogged Kerry win arm wrestle

Kerry 1-13 Donegal 1-8: He said afterwards the win enabled Kerry to look up towards play-off possibilities rather than look down at relegation threats, but Éamonn Fitzmaurice will look ahead with relish to anything the spring and summer can throw at him after this.

These are the victories worth far more in real terms than the two league points Kerry ground out at the refurbished Austin Stack Park yesterday. In training terms, yesterday’s 70 minutes is worth half a dozen sessions. It was that productive for Kerry, and scarcely any less for Rory Gallagher as he plans for the minefields of Ulster Championship.

Much was made and will be made of the frenetic first-half. There were so many markers laid down early on that referee Eddie Kinsella would have needed to be in the TMO booth himself to keep track of the shenanigans. Perhaps it was inevitable. Donegal brought an unbeaten record and their customary in-your-face bristle; Kerry were wearing their Aidan O’Mahony not-an-inch game-face.