Kerry recovered from a rusty first half to blitz Down by 4-18 to 0-19 in this hard-fought Allianz Hurling League Division 2A clash at Austin Stack Park.

The Kingdom trailed the visitors 0-11 to 0-9 at the interval, but after Down had increased their lead on the restart with a Ronan Costello point, Kerry took control with Shane Nolan moved to corner forward and Mikey Boyle switched to midfield.

Two rapid goals in the 41st and 42nd minutes from Maurice O’Connor after Daniel Collins robbed a Down defender and Fionan Sullivan after his initial effort was saved by superb Down ‘ keeper Stephen Keith proved the turning point.

This changed the course of this game as Kerry assumed complete control and they added a succession of points to be out of sight by the water break 3-17 to 0-13, with Maurice O’Connor scoring his second goal.

Down never rose a gallop as Kerry used all seven subs, but lost Brandon Barrett to a serious-looking leg injury and Nolan had the final say when he drilled home a penalty after Tim Prenter was sin-binned for a foul on Donal Hunt.

Points from Fionan Mackessy, Daniel Collins and Shane Nolan had the side s level on the 15th minute, but by the water break Down led 0-5 to 0-4 with Paul Sheehan unerring from placed balls adding three more.

Meanwhile, at Dr Cullen Park in Carlow, Marty Kavanagh hit 2-9 as the home side got new manager Tom Mullally off to a winning start in HL Division 2A with a comfortable 3-19 to 0-17 victory over neighbours Wicklow.

The home side were never headed having rattled off the first five points, all from play, from Chris Nolan, John Michael Nolan, Craig Wall and Kavanagh.

The first-half scoring was a case of Carlow versus Christopher Moorehouse, as the Garden County full-forward hit all of their scores from placed balls, the Bray Emmet’s club man having himself earned a number of the frees he converted. Carlow, picking off their points at regular intervals went in at half time 0-13 to 0-8 in front.

Wicklow tried hard but came up against a superior force – and Eamon Scallon manager and newly-appointed coach Eoin Larkin, with nine All-Ireland senior medals between them, have a job on their hands to make an impact in this division.

Carlow stamped their authority in the second half, led by the outstanding Kavanagh and his two goals were supplemented by a third from Ross Smithers .

A late flurry of three points from Wicklow sub Andy O’Brien gave his side a better look on the scoreboard. But they were a well beaten side. There was no application of the new hurling rules by Galway referee Shane Hynes, who did a good job.

In Division 2B, a Keith Higgins-inspired Mayo got their league campaign off to an impressive start at MacHale Park, Castlebar, with a 0-21 to 1-16 win over Derry.

Mayo were always that bit sharper, particularly in the first half and were good value for their five-point interval lead (0-10 to 0-5) but it should have been lot more but for 13 first half wides as against six for Derry.

Shane Boland was unerring from frees with four of those points while all but one of Mayo’s forwards got on the scoreboard. However, the best score of the half came from Mayo ‘keeper Gerald Kelly, who fired over from his own 20m line after a quick one-two with Stephen Coyne.

Derry picked off three rapid points to close the gap within four minutes of the restart but Mayo responded immediately going seven points clear before the second water break.

However, a goal from Niall Ferry had Derry just a point in arrears heading into added time but a superb point Boland followed by an excellent effort one from substitute Brian Hunt saw Mayo hold strong.

Donegal came back from the brink for a priceless win over Roscommon in Letterkenny.

With the clock in injury time, Roscommon – powered by Cathal Dolan’s 1-5 – were in front by three points.

Ronan McDermott finished from close range to draw Donegal level before long-range points by sub Niall Cleary and Declan Coulter sealed victory for the home side.

Manager Mickey McCann said: “The only time the scoreboard matters is at the end. We’ve showed that we don’t give up. In years gone by, we might have thrown in the towel. We under-performed, but that could be a vital two points.”