David Clifford starred for Kerry in the Munster SFC Final against Clare at Fitzgerald Stadium. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Munster Senior Football Championship Final
Kerry 4-20 (4-2-16) Clare 0-21 (0-2-17)
By Paul Brennan at Fitzgerald Stadium
Four first half goals tilted this Munster final irreversibly the way of the defending champions as Kerry wrapped up an 86th provincial with considerably more ease than they might have expected against Clare.
Kerry got the start Clare would have desperately wanted, with the Kingdom scoring goals in the fourth and seventh minutes from David Clifford to run up a 2-4 to 0-1 lead by the ninth minute. There really was no way back for Clare at that stage, with manager Peter Keane getting a sharp reminder of how devastating a team Kerry still are, four years after he was manager of his native county.
It was a tough return to Killarney for Keane, and equally so for the Clare players who had ran Kerry to seven points in last year’s Munster final in Ennis.
Kerry scored the first of 21 scores after just 25 seconds, with Sean O’Shea converting a rare two-point score for the Kingdom. Four minutes later Clifford had the first of his pair of goals when Tony Brosnan played him in and he skipped past three defenders before placing the ball tight inside the post.
Three minutes later Clifford struck again, poking the ball in from close-range after Micheal Burns was initially denied in a scrappy build-up in which Clare were at sixes and sevens in defence.
Points from O’Shea and Paul Geaney made it 2-4 to 0-1 after nine minutes.
Clare responded scores from Aaron Griffin, Mark McInerney (a ‘45’) and Keelan Sexton, but Kerry were relentless and unerring, with Sean O’Shea scoring a two-point free to make it 2-7 to 0-4.
A black card for Clare’s Emmet McMahon compounded their woes in the 16th minute and by the time he returned Kerry had added another two goals.
Dylan Geaney played a perfect pass across for Burns to collect and tap in, and two minutes later Paul Geaney intercepted a Clare pass, played a one-two with Clifford, and then set up his Dingle club mate Barry Dan O’Sullivan to make it 4-7 to 0-5.
In the 27th minute Clare won a penalty from a foul on Keelan Sexton, who drove the spot kick over the bar. It summed up Clare’s lack of cutting edge and efficiency and at half time Kerry were 4-10 to 0-7 ahead.
Clare won the second half by four points, but Kerry's focus had shifted further up the summer road by then,
It took Kerry 16 seconds to score after the restart, with Dylan Geaney kicking a point, but Clare had the next five points, which included two two-point frees from McMahon.
Clifford scored a two-pointer from play in the 54th minute to make it 4-16 to 0-14, and Dylan Geaney restored Kerry’s 15-point lead, but the final quarter was just to be endured and played out.
Clare rallied with late scores from Manus Doherty, McInerney and McMahon, but it all finished as expected: Kerry successfully defending their Munster title, and Clare with plenty to consider ahead of their All-Ireland series starts in a fortnight.
Scorers for Kerry: D Clifford 2-5 (2p, 1f) S O’Shea 0-8 (1 2p, 1 2pf, 2f), B D O’Sullivan 1-1, P Geaney 0-4 (1f), M Burns 1-0, D Geaney 0-2
Scorers for Clare: E McMahon 0-8 (2 2pf, 3f), M McInerney 0-6 (2f, 1 ‘45’), B McNamara 0-2, K Sexton 0-2 (1 pen), D Walsh 0-1, A Griffin 0-1, M Doherty 0-1
Kerry: Shane Murphy, Dylan Casey, Jason Foley, Tom O’Sullivan, Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Mike Breen, Gavin White, Joe O’Connor, Barry ‘Dan’ O’Sullivan, Tony Brosnan, Seán O’Shea, Micheál Burns, David Clifford, Paul Geaney, Dylan Geaney (Dingle).
Subs: Tadhg Morley for J Foley (temp, 27-32), Killian Spillane for S O’Shea (52), RuairiMurphy 5 for T Brosnan (52), T Morley for M Breen (54), Mark O’Shea for B D O’Sullivan (56), Keith Evans for M Burns (58), Evan Looney for B Ó Beaglaoich (temp, 64-ft).
Clare: Eamon Tubridy, Manus Doherty, Cillian Brennan, Ronan Lanigan, Cillian Rouine, Ikem Ugwueru, Alan Sweeney; Brian McNamara, Daniel Walsh; Aaron Griffin, Emmet McMahon, Dermot Coughlan, Keelan Sexton; Eoin Cleary, Mark McInerney
Subs: Conor Meaney for A Sweeney (54), Shane Griffin for D Walsh (54), Evan Cahill for K Sexton (58), Rory McMahon for C Rouine (63), Darragh Burns for E Cleary (67)
Referee: Noel Mooney (Cavan).
