David Clifford hits hat-trick as Kerry come from behind to win in Tyrone

At one stage in the second half, Tyrone led by seven points while Kerry had two players, Joe O'Connor and David Clifford, black carded. 

HE'S BACK: In his first start of the league for Kerry, David Clifford scored 3-3 in the Kingdom's victory over Tyrone. Picture: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

AFL Division 1:  Kerry 3-13 (3-0-13) Tyrone 2-13 (2-3-7)

Escape from Ulster, Part 2 for Kerry as they somehow scrapped the two points and David Clifford bagged a hat-trick of goals in Pomeroy’s Plunkett Park.

Five points and two men down to black cards including Clifford, they appeared to be facing a third consecutive defeat only to repeat their late heroics in Derry city earlier this month.

Tyrone didn’t score from the 52nd minute onwards as Kerry timed their run perfectly to move away from the relegation zone and the last of Clifford’s goals was vital in that fightback.

Similar to the Dublin game in Tralee last week, it appeared Kerry were going to regret not converting goal openings. Two minutes into the second half, Niall Morgan denied David Clifford after brother Paudie squared the ball to him.

Kerry fired over a free after advantage was afforded to Paudie Clifford but another chance for his sibling went abegging two minutes later when his right-footed shot spanked the crossbar.

65 nóim #TYRvKER @TyroneGAALive 2-13 @Kerry_Official 3-10

Cad é mar cúl faighte ag cé eile ach David Clifford!😱

Clifford returns after a black card and slots his third goal of the game!

BEO/LIVETG4 AR @TG4TV 📺 @AllianzIreland #AllianzLeagues #GAABEO pic.twitter.com/WlJrWod62q

— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) February 23, 2025

Tyrone capitalised in the 45th minute when Darragh Canavan found the net. Mark Bradley hand-passed the ball across and Ciarán Daly played decoy for the returning Errigal Ciarán man to score.

Tyrone went seven points ahead a couple of minutes later. Clifford added his second goal in the 49th minute, Paul Geaney again involved in providing the opportunity.

Points followed from Geaney (free) and Diarmuid O’Connor to make it a two-point game. However, Kerry hit the self-destruct button with black cards, first for Joe O’Connor for denying Darragh Canavan a goal-scoring opportunity. Mark Bradley’s 52nd minute penalty kick for the infringement was saved by Shane Ryan but he followed up on the parry to raise a green flag.

David Clifford was also sent to the sin bin but Tyrone failed to score in the period they were two men up. Instead, Kerry reduced the gap to three and soon after his return to the fray Clifford completed his hat-trick in the 66th minute.

Michael McKernan, so good from long-range in the first half, dropped a relatively easy strike short. Clifford made no mistake with two frees and Graham O’Sullivan put the icing on the cake in the final minute.

Kerry’s start was the healthier. They had four points racked up by the ninth minute and it wasn’t until a minute later that Tyrone picked off their opening score, the first of a brace of first-half two-pointers by McKernan.

Tyrone lost Eoin McElholm to a black card in the seventh minute for a deliberate foot-block but the home side outscored them two points to one in the 10 minutes they were numerically disadvantaged.

Although Tyrone’s breaks from turnovers were thwarted at times by the wind affecting even hand-passes and bad bounces, McKernan recorded his second orange flag in the 16th minute.

Conn Kilpatrick struck over a third two-pointer to send Tyrone two clear in the 18th minute before Joe O’Connor responded at the other end. The next three scores were all white flag efforts by Tyrone, the last of them a Darragh Canavan free after he was earlier introduced from the bench.

A dynamic Mattie Donnelly was causing Kerry much difficulty and won two converted frees, the second of them in the 31st minute a two-point version from Canavan.

David Clifford ended a 11-minute spell without a Kerry score two minutes from the end of the half when he slid the ball past Niall Morgan. The Fossa man’s handling of a hand-pass in from Paul Geaney was as vital as the strike.

Scorers for Tyrone: D. Canavan (1-4, 1 tpf, 0-2 frees); M. McKernan (0-4, 2 tps); M. Bradley (1-1); C. Kilpatrick (1 tp), D. McCurry (2 frees) (0-2 each).

Scorers for Kerry: D. Clifford (3-3, 0-2 frees); P. Geaney (0-3, frees); B. Ó Beaglaoich, D. Geaney, P. Clifford, J. O’Connor, D. O’Connor, D. Casey, G. O’Sullivan (0-1 each).

TYRONE: N. Morgan; A. Clarke, N. Devlin, P. Teague; F. Burns, M. McKernan, R. Brennan; B. Kennedy (c), C. Kilpatrick; M. O’Neill, M. Donnelly, C. Daly; D. McCurry, M. Bradley, E. McElholm.

Subs for Tyrone: D. Canavan for M. O’Neill (22); R. Canavan for D. McCurry (47); S. O’Donnell for F. Burns (52); P. Harte for M. Donnelly (59); K. McGeary for E. McElholm (66).

Black card: E. McElholm (7-17).

KERRY: S. Ryan; D. Bourke, J. Foley, D. Casey; G. O’Sullivan, M. Breen, B. Ó Beaglaoich; D. O’Connor (c), J. O’Connor; D. Lyne, P. Clifford, R. Murphy; D. Clifford, P. Geaney, D. Geaney.

Subs for Kerry: C. Geaney for D. Geaney (47); B.D O’Sullivan for D. Lyne (57); M. Burns for P. Geaney (65); P. Murphy for B. Ó Beaglaoich (69).

Black cards: J. O’Connor (52-62); D. Clifford (53-65).

Referee: P. Neilan (Roscommon).