Cooper leads the way for dominant Kerry

Kerry secured their second straight win in the Allianz GAA Football National League with a 2-16 to 1-9 defeat of Galway at Pearse Stadium on Sunday.

Galway's utter reliance on Michael Meehan was starkly highlighted as his departure in the 20th minute with a knee injury precipitated an alarming collapse from his team-mates.

Meehan kicked 1-4 before he was forced off the field with a knee injury at a time when the Tribesmen were leading by 1-5 to 0-4. However, the home side would not trouble the scoreboard operator again until Paul Conroy struck a point well into the second half.

At the stage, the game was all but over as a contest as Colm Cooper and Declan O'Sullivan had struck second-half goals for Kerry who coasted to a ten-point win.

Galway took an early two-point lead thanks to points from Diarmuid Blake and Michael Meehan. However, Kerry hit back with four unanswered points of their own, Cooper punishing Galway's indiscipline on each occasion from placed balls.

Michael Meehan was in inspired form in the opening quarter and he kicked two further points as the Tribesmen reclaimed the lead before the Caltra man snaffled a goal in the 21st minute. Meehan watched a long delivery drift into the small square and took advantage of the experimental rules to palm the ball to the back of the net to give Joe Kernan's charges a 1-5 to 0-4 lead.

However, that was to be Galway's last score of the half and it coincided with Meehan's departure in the 19th minute.

Kerry kicked the final two points of the half, the first coming from the boot of Declan O'Sullivan from the right wing, as they narrowed the gap to1-5 to 0-6 at the break.

The Kingdom raced out of the traps on the restart with Cooper grabbing his fourth point to reduce the deficit to just one point. It got better for the visitors when they found the back of the net a minute later through captain on the day Declan O'Sullivan. David Moran picked up a stray, cross field ball from a Galway defender and fed O’Sullivan who had made a 50-yard run, took the ball in his stride and fired to the back of the net.

Cooper then clipped over a beauty from play from 30 yards out before he took his total to 1-6 for the day when he rounded the 'keeper and placed the ball in the bottom corner. Kerry led by 2-10 to 1-5 and the game was over as a contest.

Conroy managed Galway's first point since the 19th minute and added two more late in the game to save a morsel of pride for the home side.

Bryan Sheehan added three late points and Anthony Maher was also on target for Kerry to secure as Jack O'Connor's men romped home to a 2-16 to 1-9 win.