Antrim Fairytale Over

All Ireland Football Qualifiers Round 4:
Kerry 2-12  Antrim 1-10

Kerry battled their way to a place in the GAA All Ireland Quarter-finals after a hard fought five-point win – 2-12 to 1-10 – over Antrim in Tullamore.

The Kingdom once again failed to reach the standards that we have come to expect of them in recent years and made very hard work of killing off one of the perceived minnows of Ulster football.

However, after a difficult week off the field down in the South west, a victory of any description will have been welcomed greatfully by their manager, Jack O’Connor.

At half-time it looked like Derry were staring down an embarassing defeat after Liam Bradley’s side had established a 1-4 to 1-3 lead.

Tommy Walsh had pounced for an early goal for the Kingdom when he took a pass from the returning Tadhg Kennelly and drove the ball to the back of the net.

Kerry led by 1-2 to 0-1 after a Declan O’Sullivan point but they were soon rocked by an emphatic Antrim response.

James Loughrey made a terrific run and supplied the ball to wing-back Tony Scullion, who did well to round Diarmuid Murphy and score into an empty net.

Kerry were struggling badly in attack and Colm Cooper was drafted in at corner forward in place of Sean O’Sullivan.

However, it was the Ulster side who went in ahead at the break after Ciaran Close pointed with his fist.

Cooper made an immediate impact and he landed two frees after the break to level the game, before Paul Galvin found a crucial goal after good work by Michael Quirke and Donncha Walsh.

Kerry finished off with a flurry of scores to win the game by five points and claim a place in the draw for the All Ireland Quarter-finals.