Late Shane McGuigan free gets Derry off to the perfect start!

Derry 0-15

Kerry 2-8

An injection of pace from Cormac Murphy pulled Derry to victory on Saturday night in Tralee.

At the end of a frantic and messy second half, the Rossa man – on his league debut – sped through to win a free and Shane McGuigan slotted over his seventh of the night.

It got Derry off to a winning start on their return to the top flight in a game they controlled for long spells.

After trailing 0-2 to 0-1, Derry – with the aid of the wind – bossed much of the first half to lead 0-7 to 0-4 at half-time.

McGuigan, Chrissy McKaigue and Conor Doherty added scores for the visiting team that Derry had penned in.

Jack O’Connor emptied the bench to get a hold of the game and but a vital Odhran Lynch saved denied Jason Foley.

Goals from Conor Geaney and Dylan Casey pulled the Kingdom back level 0-13 to 2-7, after 63 minutes.

Ciaran McFaul and Graham O’Sullivan (mark) traded scores late on.

Shane Ryan had a chance to win the game for Kerry but he pulled his shot wide.

There was still time for Murphy’s run and the late Derry winner to give the Oaks the perfect start.

Kerry: Shane Ryan; Graham O'Sullivan (0-1m), Jason Foley, Dylan Casey; Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Tom O'Sullivan, Gavin White; Joe O'Connor, Seán O'Brien; Dara Moynihan (0-1), Dylan Geaney (1-1), Cillian Burke; Killian Spillane, Sean O'Shea (0-5, 4f), Micheál Burns

Subs: Barry Dan O’Sullivan for S O’Brien (28), Paul Murphy for B Ó Beaglaoich (HT), Conor Geaney (1-0) for M Burns (HT), Stephen O’Brien for C Burke (43), Diarmuid O’Connor for K Spillane (47)

Yellow card: S O’Shea (62)

Derry: Odhran Lynch; Conor McCluskey, Chrissy McKaigue (0-1), Diarmuid Baker; Conor Doherty (0-1), Gareth McKinless (0-1), Paudi McGrogan; Conor Glass (0-1), Brendan Rogers (0-1); Ethan Doherty, Declan Cassidy (0-1), Ciaran McFaul (0-1); Niall Loughlin, Shane McGuigan (0-7, 6f), Paul Cassidy (0-1)

Subs: Niall Toner (0-1) for P Cassidy (47), Cormac Murphy for N Loughlin (58)

Black card: C McFaul (45)
Yellow cards: C McKaigue (33), P McGrogan (35)

Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan)