Two late Kerry goals see Derry fall to defeat at Celtic Park

Derry 1-24

Kerry 5-15

Derry snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, conceding two late goals courtesy of defensive mishaps, and falling to a three point defeat.
In a remarkable game of football, bursting to the seams to high quality scores, the Kingdom wiped out a late three point deficit with those dramatic match winning goals.
Paddy Tally made four changes to the side that disappointed first day out against Tyrone, bringing in Mark Doherty, Cormac Murphy, Ben McCarron and, most interestingly, Neil McNicholl to make his Derry debut between the sticks.
Despite the concession of the only two goals of the half, Derry ran in two points up at the break nailing the last four points of the opening 35 minutes to lead 0-13 to 2-5.
Shane McGuigan got us up and running at Celtic before before a Brendan Rogers two pointer stretched Derry’s early advantage to 0-3 to no score.
However, Kerry were soon back on level terms when Conor Geaney palmed home a goal courtesy of a rapid fire counter attack. Sean O’Shea’s free, punishing Derry indiscipline edged the Kingdom ahead for the first time in the contest.
Anton Tohil, producing his best half of football in a Derry shirt, won the first of a number of kick outs that led directly to an Ethan Doherty point. Barry Dan O’Sullivan pointed before Niall Toner raised a white flag from a difficult angle to leave the scoreboard showing parity at 0-5 to 1-2.
Two in a row from first Conor Geaney and then a second O’Sullivan effort edged Kerry two ahead.
In a wonderfully end to end contest Derry responded once more through Paul Cassidy and a huge effort from Shane McGuigan. Sean O’Shea, with a free, and Niall Toner from distance, cancelled each other out before a second Conor Geaney goal left Kerry three up at 2-5 to 0-8 after 26 minutes.
The hosts, however, would enjoy the happier run into the interval. Ben McCarron’s lovely two pointer, with the big left, ignited the late half scoring splurge. Niall Toner’s third was quickly followed up by a fisted effort from the raiding Diarmuid Baker, courtesy of an outrageous Tohill fetch at centre field. Donncha Gilmore’s ‘mark’ concluded the first half scoring with Derry two points to the good.
Derry hit the first three points in the second half to lead 0-16 to 2-5, as the two sides then went point for point with level scores at 2-15 to 0-21 on the hour mark.
Shane McGuigan scored Derry’s only goal of the contest in the 62nd minute to hand Derry a decent cushion, before Paul Geaney scored his first goal in the 64th minute. Shane McGuigan’s 68th minute point left Derry one up before those two late majors swung victory back to winners Kerry.

Scorers-Derry: S McGuigan 1-4 (1f), N Toner 0-4 (2f), E Doherty 0-3, B Rogers 0-3, (1 TP) D Gilmore 0-2 (1f), C Glass 0-2, B McCarroin 0-2 ( 1 TP), P Cassidy 0-2, D Baker 0-1, L Murray 0-1
Kerry: C Geaney 2-2, P Geaney 2-0, S O’Shea 0-5 (1 TP, 2f), SD O’Sullivan 1-2, D Geaney 0-2, B D O’Sullivan 0-2, S O’Brien 0-1, D O’Connor 0-1

Derry: Neil McNicholl, Diarmuid Baker, Eoin McEvoy, Mark Doherty, Conor Doherty, Brendan Rogers, Donncha Gilmore, Conor Glass, Anton Tohill, Cormac Murphy, Paul Cassidy, Ethan Doherty, Niall Toner, Shane McGuigan, Ben McCarron
Subs: Lachlan Murphy for C Murphy (47), Patrick McGurk for B McCarron (52), Dan Higgins for A Tohil (58), Declan Cassidy for D Gilmore (59), Jody McDermott for D Baker (60)

Kerry: Shane Ryan, Damien Borke, Jason Foley, Tom O’Sullivan, Graham O’Sullivan, Tadhg Morley, Sean O’Brien, Diarmuid O’Connor, Barry Dan O’Sullivan, Paudie Clifford, Sean O’Shea, Ruairi Murphy, Conor Geaney, Killian Spillane, Dylan Geaney
Subs: Donal O’Sullivan for R Murphy (45), Keith Evans for K Spillane (48), Paul Geaney for C Geaney (51), Cathal O’Beaglaioch for B D O’Sullivan (56), Eddie Healy for S O’Brien (62)

Martin McNally (Monaghan)