Flynn masterclass not enough as Kildare's relegation to Division 2 confirmed with Kerry defeat

Kerry 0-19

Allianz NFL Division 1

Kerry condemned Kildare to a sixth straight defeat in Division 1 on Saturday night as the reigning champions turned on the style as they eased to a comprehensive victory in Austin Stack Park. The Lilywhites were in need of a win to have any hope of avoiding relegation from the top tier, but Kerry, who had slight fears of the drop themselves, put together a composed display to ensure that their visitors would be playing Division 2 football in 2019.

On a bitterly cold night in Tralee, those of a Kildare persuasion who toasted Ireland’s Grand Slam victory were hoping to follow that up with what would have been a rare Lilywhite win in the Kingdom, but any hopes of that were left hanging by a thread at the break thanks to the 0-11 to 0-5 half-time deficit the away side faced. Add to that the loss of Kevin Feely through injury in the 28th minute, and the task was a mountainous one for Cian O’Neill’s men.

Daniel Flynn turned in a scintillating scoring performance, notching six fine points from play, but that was the main positive for Kildare despite the Lilywhites showing much more fight in adversity than they did in their last game against Mayo.

The first 20 minutes of this game summed up Kildare’s season as a whole so far as they showed the propensity to dominate a game and look highly threatening, yet still fall behind and be picked off on multiple occasions. There were encouraging signs early on as Niall Kelly, Fergal Conway and Danie Flynn all looked lively, but it was Kerry who opened the scoring with a point from Barry John Keane following a free-flowing move. Kildare then hit their stride with three lovely points in a row, the first of which came from Kevin Feely after he traded a one-two with Niall Kelly from a free.

Tommy Moolick then sent the Lilywhites into the lead when he pointed at the end of a lighting quick counterattack, before Kelly angled over a tidy point after Kerry lost the resultant kickout.

That was as good as it ever got for Kildare though, and, like against Mayo six days previous, the visitors lost their way and the opposition assumed complete control. Kerry went on to kick 10 out of the net 11 points, sending them into the half-time break with a near unassailable lead. David Clifford gave Mick O’Grady a torrid night at the back, running the Celbridge man all over the place and showing all the class that he possesses, while also kicking two fabulous points from frees and getting on the end of a wonderful pass from Dáithí Casey to knock over a score from play.

In the Kingdom’s period of dominance, Micheál Burns, Kevin McCarthy, Paul Geaney, Paul Murphy and Casey all raised white flags with efforts from play, while Daniel Flynn’s fisted point was the only resistance that Cian O’Neill’s side could offer in that spell. They did at least close out the half with a score as the Johnstownbridge man sent over a point in the 33rd minute, though it looked at least a yard wide.

It was last year’s All-Star nominee who led the charge for Kildare in the second half, kicking some sumptuous points from play to keep the Lilywhites within touching distance of their opponents, but Kerry were always capable of taking enough scores to keep their noses in front.

After Geaney opened the second half scoring for Kerry it was the away side that kicked the next three points, with Flynn starting and finishing that spree either side of a lovely point from Ben McCormack. Kerry, sensing a slight uprising, responded with a neat score from Keane, but another booming score from Flynn ruled that one out. Paddy Brophy then floated over an exceptional score to narrow the gap to three points, but Kerry reasserted their control thereafter through points from Clifford and substitute David Moran. Brophy was issued a black card during that spell for a needless foul on Paul Murphy, and despite Flynn adding a sixth point to his tally and Fionn Dowling lofting over a nice score, Kerry ran home comfortable winners in the end.

Scorers for Kerry: D Clifford 0-6(4f), P Geaney 0-3(1f), K McCarthy, S Murphy, D Casey, BJ Keane 0-2 each, P Murphy, M Burns and D Moran 0-1 each.

Scorers for Kildare: D Flynn 0-6, F Dowling, M O'Grady, N Kelly, P Kelly, B McCormack, K Feely, T Moolick, P Brophy 0-1 each.

Kerry

Shane Murphy; Brian Ó’Beaglaoich, Jason Foley, Ronan Shanahan; Paul Murphy, Peter Crowley, Fionn Fitzgerald; Jack Barry, Barry O’Sullivan; Michael Burns, Dáithí Casey, Kevin McCarthy; David Clifford, Paul Geaney, Barry John Keane.

Kildare

Mark Donnellan; Peter Kelly, David Hyland, Mick O’Grady; Johnny Byrne, Eoin Doyle, Kevin Flynn; Kevin Feely, Tommy Moolick; Fergal Conway, Keith Cribbin, Paddy Brophy; Ben McCormack, Daniel Flynn, Niall Kelly.