Allianz Football League Division One

MONAGHAN 2-8 KERRY 1-10

By Paul Brennan at Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney

Monaghan's impressive start to the Allianz League continued with a deserved and important win over Kerry that keeps the Farney men unbeaten after three rounds.

Malachy O'Rourke's team are well positioned with five points from a possible six ahead of a tough trip to Tyrone next Saturday.

For Kerry this was a second home defeat on the trot, and if the Kingdom are to harbour real hopes of getting back to the League final they will need to find some victories and points fast, starting with a win next weekend away to Roscommon.

Only two points from play – none in the second half – is the sort of statistic to annoy Eamonn Fitzmaurice more than worry him at this stage of the year, but Kerry will need to find some way of rebooting their season quickly.

Monaghan won't view this performance as anything other than ordinary either, but O'Rourke has plenty to be pleased about on the back of this win.

Goals in either half from Jack McCarron and Gavin Doogan laid the platform for Monaghan's win, with Doogan's 39th minute goal wrestling the lead off Kerry, and the Kingdom couldn't recover.

That score made it 2-3 to 1-6, after Kerry had edged three points clear courtesy of a James O'Donoghue free. The visitors managed another five points from play thereafter while a underwhelming Kerry could only muster four scores from frees.

The first half, played in blinding sunshine and heavy downpours, was a dull affair, punctuated only by David Moran's brilliant goal in the 15th minute and McCarron's 12 minutes later.

Paul Murphy did rattle an early shot off a Monaghan post, but converted frees from McCarron and goalkeeper Rory Beggan edged Monaghan into an early lead.

A fine Kerry counter-attack ended with Moran crashing the ball past Beggan to give Kerry the lead and Tadhg Morley and James O'Donoghue (free) extended Kerry's lead to 1-2 to 0-2 by the 24th minute.

Paul Geaney fluffed a great chance for a second Kerry goal when he blasted wide with just Beggan to beat, but Murphy and O'Donoghue (free) raised white flags to edge Kerry five clear.

Monaghan persisted with their patient, probing game and in the 27th minute they found the opening when McCarron finished the ball to the net after Brendan Kealy had saved smartly from Conor McManus's low drive.

Kieran Hughes and Geaney (free) exchanged points to see Kerry lead 1-5 to 1-3 at the interval, but playing into a strong wind Monaghan would have been the happier side at the break.

O'Donoghue's free put Kerry three clear, but Doogan's goal cancelled out that lead and from there to the end it was a cagey affair. Kerry huffed and puffed, but struggled to find the openings and scores, while McCarron and McManus scored a brace each, and Kieran Hughes added a fifth to see Monaghan over the winning line.

Kerry's bad day at the office was compounded by the sending off of Bryan Sheehan who was issued a red card mere seconds after coming on as a 65th minute substitute when in his very first involvement he was dismissed.

Scorers for Monaghan: Jack McCarron 1-3 (1f), Gavin Doogan 1-0, Conor McManus 0-2, Kieran Hughes 0-2, Rory Beggan 0-1 (f).

Scorers for Kerry: James O'Donoghue 0-3 (3fs), Paul Geaney 0-3 (3fs), David Moran 1-0, Tadhg Morley 0-1, Paul Murphy 0-1, Barry John Keane 0-1 (f), Brendan Kealy 0-1 (f).

**MONAGHAN: **Rory Beggan, Fintan Kelly, Drew Wylie, Ryan Wylie, Kieran Duffy, James Mealiff, Colin Walshe, Darren Hughes, Kieran Hughes, Karl O’Connell, Shane Carey, Gavin Doogan, Conor McCarthy, Jack McCarron, Conor McManus. Subs: Neil McAdam for C Walshe (30 mins), Owen Duffy for D Hughes (HT), Ryan McAnespie for J Mealiff (HT), Conor McCarthy for O Duffy (45 mins), Thomas Kerr for D Malone (65 mins).

KERRY: Brendan Kealy, Shane Enright, Mark Griffin, Killian Young, Tadhg Morley, Peter Crowley, Ronan Shanahan, David Moran, Jack Barry, Jonathan Lyne, Paul Murphy, Kevin McCarthy, Jack Savage, Paul Geaney, James O’Donoghue.

Subs: Stephen O'Brien for J Savage (HT), Stephen O'Brien, Barry John Keane for P Geaney (50 mins), Adrian Spillane for K McCarthy (52 mins), Anthony Maher for J Barry (b/c, 55 mins), Darran O'Sullivan for P Crowley (61 mins), Bryan Sheehan for D Moran (65 mins).

REFEREE: Derek O'Mahony (Tipperary).