Treaty compound Kerry misery with commanding victory

Niko Kozlowski of Treaty United in action against Sean O'Connell of Kerry during the SSE Airtricity Men's First Division match between Treaty United and Kerry FC at Markets Field in Limerick. Pic: Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile

SSE Airtricity First Division: Treaty Utd 3 (Tarmey 45’ (P), Kozlowski 57’, Vrljicak 75’) Kerry 0

Treaty United capped off a horrible week for Kerry FC with a commanding 3-0 win over their Munster rivals at Markets Field.

The first half was a story of a missed penalty before a converted one to leave the Shannonsiders with a narrow lead at the break. A dominant second-half performance, including an ex-Kerry forward scoring, capped off a wonderful evening on the pitch for Treaty United.

In a week where so much of the talk was off the pitch for Kerry, it was a good chance to do their talking on it, but right from the opening stages, the Limerick men were on top.

Just 10 minutes into the tie, the hosts had a huge chance to take the lead from the spot. 

Richkov Boevi strode forward from left back and delivered a cross which inadvertently came off the inside of the post, causing chaos in the box. The Kerry defence's attempted clearance came up off the hand of one of their own, and referee Declan Toland immediately signaled for a penalty.

Up stepped Lee Devitt, but Kingdom keeper Tim Oliver-Hiemer guessed correctly and parried away to safety.

The best Kerry chance of the first half came four minutes from the interval when Daniel Okwute cut inside then out again to fool his marker before smashing across the box to find Joe Adams who drilled towards the bottom corner but Corey Chambers was down to save.

Just 60 seconds before half-time, the deadlock was broken. 

Treaty United were given a shot at redemption from the spot after Niko Kozlowski was fouled in the box by O’Connell, and instead of Devitt it was David Tarmey who stepped up, who was able to find the corner of the net to give the Shannonsiders the lead.

Kozlowski, who was fouled for the penalty earlier, found himself splitting the defence and slotted past the on-rushing Hiemer into the corner.

Treaty United bagged a third with 15 minutes to play. Some lovely play off the right ended up with a low ball across the box which was smashed home by ex-Kerry striker Trpimir Vrljicak.

Elsewhere, there was no separating Finn Harps and Longford Town, while Bray were one-nil winners at Athlone. 

TREATY UNITED: Corey Chambers; Evan O’Connor, Richkov Boevi, Robbie Lynch, Ben Lynch; Eoin Martin, Steven Healy; Karl O’Sullivan, Lee Devitt, Niko Kozlowski; David Tarmey.

Subs: Yoyo Mahdy for Tarmey (64), Trpimir Vrlicjak for Kozlowski (64), Ben Lee for Healy (70), Conor Wilson for Devitt (86), Valerii Dolia for O’Sullivan (86).

KERRY: Tim-Oliver Hiemer; Alex Dunne, Niall Brookwell, Chris McQueen, Sean O’Connell; Carl Mujaguzi, Sean McGrath, Ronan Teahan; Daniel Okwute. Luke Palmer, Joe Adams.

Subs: Eemeli Honkola for Palmer (HT), Oran Crowe for McGrath (61), Ryan Kelliher for Mujaguzi (61), Cian Brosnan for Adams (61), Kevin Williams for Dunne (74). 

Referee: Declan Toland.