Classy Down dethrone Kingdom

All-Ireland SFC Quarter Final:
Down 1-16 Kerry 1-10

Down are through to the semi-finals of the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship after an emphatic 1-16 to 1-10 defeat of reigning champions Kerry at Croke Park on Saturday.

The Mourne men made a blistering start to lead by six points in the opening 11 minutes and they never surrendered their advantage in a thrilling contest.

Kerry had Donncha Walsh sent off in the second half at a point when they were starting to make inroads into Down’s lead, but James McCarten’s men were clinical in the closing stages and finished the game with a spell-binding attacking display to dump the Kingdom out of the Championship.

Although they controlled the game, they had goalkeeper Brendan McVeigh to thank for a pair of wonderful saves. The Down goalkeeper denied Kieran Donaghy with two brilliant second half stops, the second of which came in the 64th minute after some Colm Cooper magic had set up the big full-forward whose shot was blocked, all but ending their challenge.

Down needed a good start and they got just that. They were a goal up inside a minute. Micheál Quirke, back in the Kerry team at midfield, surrendered possession to Paul McComiskey, whose foot pass found Mark Poland and the centre-forward finished emphatically past Brendan Kealy.

Down have made a habit of sprinting out of the blocks and they scored three more points without reply to lead by 1-3 to 0-0 by the 11th minute. Benny Coulter, Ambrose Rogers (’45) and a sublime effort from McComiskey had the Mourne men in the kind of position they could only have dreamed about.

Meanwhile, the Kerry wides were coming as steadily as the rain. Captain Bryan Sheehan was guilty of squandering three good chances to open the champions’ account in the first 14 minutes. Eventually, the St Mary’s man hit the target, when Donaghy – who had a quiet opening half due to Dan Gordon’s exceptional marking job – set him up with an easy opportunity, which he belted over.

Kerry, unable to get their hands on the ball in the opening stages, finally started to win ball around the middle third. Cooper looked dangerous, but he was starved of possession until he found space, executed a classy dummy bounce and kicked from an angle to add Kerry’s second. When Cooper knocked over two scores from frees, the Kingdom were right back in the game, trailing by 1-3 to 0-4 after 22 minutes.

Jack O’Connor’s side then looked to have taken the lead when a brilliant passing move resulted in Killian Young smashing home past Brendan McVeigh. Referee Joe McQuillan, however, had noticed an illegal handpass from Donncha Walsh in the build-up and he goal was disallowed.

It looked like a minor blip, but it proved to be more costly, as Down once again enjoyed a period of complete dominance up to the half-time whistle. They had gone 17 minutes without a point as Kerry slowly eroded their lead, but it was the Ulster side who finished the half with four successive scores to re-establish a six-point lead.

Martin Clarke, who was operating in a free role, kicked two scores in a row, including a fine effort after a brilliant exchange with Coulter, while Poland finished the half as he had started it, scoring two points to leave McCartan’s side with one foot in the semi-finals.

Donncha Walsh, already booked in the first half, was sent off for a second yellow card when he caught Poland with a high tackle in the 46th minute. A man and six points down, Kerry were staring into the abyss.

It might have been all over in the 51st minute, but McComiskey had a goal diallowed by the referee. Coulter had wriggled through on goal and found his team-mate with a hand pass – illegally it transpired – before the diminutive Down forward punched the ball into the empty net.

Three minutes later, Kerry had a great chance to come right back into the game, but Donaghy was denied by McVeigh, who blocked with his feet after the big Kerry full-forward had been sent clear on goal by Cooper. Sheehan sent the reultant ’45 over the bar and Kerry were within three points.

However, Down, who had thrown away a big lead in their Ulster semi-final defeat to Tyrone, proved they are the genuine article with a stunning finish to the game. Conor Maginn, Coulter and Ronan Murtagh were all on target as Down kicked four successive points to move back into a seven-point lead.

Cooper temporarily stemmed the tide with a free, but Down were relentless and finished with three more points without reply to secure a convincing win. A late David Moran penalty was little more than consolation for the Kingdom.

Down: B McVeigh; D McCartan, D Gordon, D Rafferty; D Rooney, K McKernan, C Garvey; A Rodgers (0-2, 0-1 ’45), K King; D Hughes, M Poland (1-2, 0-1f), P McComiskey (0-2), B Coulter (0-3), J Clarke, M Clarke (0-4, 0-2f, 0-1 ’45).

Subs: C Maginn (0-1) for Clarke, R Murtagh (0-1) for McComiskey, B McArdle for Rooney, P Fitzpatrick (0-1) for King, R Sexton for Poland.

Kerry: B Kealy, M O Se, T Griffin, T O’Sullivan, A O’Mahony, M McCarthy, K Young, S Scanlon, M Quirke, Darran O’Sullivan, Declan O’Sullivan, D Walsh, C Cooper (0-7, 0-5f), K Donaghy, B Sheehan (0-3, 0-1f, 0-1 ’45).

Subs: D Moran (1-0, 1-0 pen) for Quirke, BJ Keane for Scanlon, K O’Leary for Darran O’Sullivan, A O’Connell for O’Mahony, D Bohan for Young, A Maher for Sheehan.