RYAN, Shane (Rathmore)
ouldn’t have done much more than what he did do for Brian Hurley’s goal and other than that had little to do. Was assured and confident on his restarts. A fine game.
O BEAGLAOICH, Brian (An Ghaeltacht)
One of his finest ever games in the green and gold his graph continues to tick upward. Scored that sensational goal and quietened Brian Hurley once moved on to him.
FOLEY, Jason (Ballydonoghue)
A bit of a tricky opening quarter for the Ballydonoghue man. No point in pretending he wasn’t under the cosh from Hurley, improved thereafter and still has credit in the bank.
O’SULLIVAN, Tom (Dingle)
There’s a reason this man sometimes plays in the forwards for Dingle, he scored two great points, but again was solid at the back keeping Danno Ó Duinnín quiet.
BREEN, Mike (Beaufort)
The Beaufort man just looks to the manor born at the minute. Hasn’t put a foot wrong all season and against looked solid picking up Ruairí Deane at least some of the time.
MURPHY, Paul (Rathmore)
The captain has finally managed to nudge his way back into the starting fifteen and showed again that he’s worth his place marking Luke Connolly for the most part.
WHITE, Gavin (Dr Crokes)
White’s performance on Sunday was probably underappreciated. Won an amount of ball at kick-out time (including four breaks), kept his man quite and got forward as ever.
MORAN, David (Kerins O’Rahillys)
The Strand Road man is once again proving a pivotal player for Kerry. Turned over a bit of ball early on, but once he got on top of that was key in driving the Kingdom on.
O’CONNOR, Diarmuid (Na Gaeil)
Hopefully the injury he suffered just in front of the Michael O’Connor terrace in the first half isn’t too serious. Other than that he didn’t have much time to get into the game.
BARRY, Jack (Na Gaeil)
Once his Na Gaeil colleague departed the scene it was incumbent on Barry to step up and step up he did in style. Won four kick-outs, kicked two points and looked in top form.
O’SHEA, Seán (Kenmare Shamrocks)
Was definitely in hard luck not to pick up the man of the match award. On any other day the performance he gave was worthy of it. His finish for his goal showed his awareness.
O’BRIEN, Stephen (Kenmare Shamrocks)
Never anything that whole-hearted the Kenmare Shamrocks man worked his socks off again and was involved in a lot of Kerry’s best play. Kicked a point. More to come.
CLIFFORD, David (Fossa)
Here’s something we never thought we’d write, but Clifford had a poor game. Missed some chances and generally found Seán Meehan a most tricky marker to shake off.
GEANEY, Paul (Dingle)
Give this man a sniff of goal and that’s what he’ll do, bury it. Got about two and a half chances, got three shots off and scored two goals. The man is a predator.
CLIFFORD, Paudie (Fossa)
What an addition to the side this guy has been. Has been nothing short of sensational and again was man of the match. Assists well, scores well, works hard. Top man.
Substitutions
Kerry had a busy day on the substitution front with no less than three players getting game time for blood subs – Tommy Walsh, Graham O’Sullivan and Micheál Burns. Only Walsh came on as a permanent sub and played really well, getting a popular point right at the death. Killian Spillane again looked hungry for action once introduced, has to be edging closer to a starting berth. The other Templenoe trio of Gavin Crowley, Adrian Spillane and Tadhg Morley looked well on it after being introduced.
Management
Peter Keane wouldn’t have been at all happy with the way things were panning out in the opening quarter and really earned his corn in the first water break. The switches he made all seemed to work out well – Brian Ó Beaglaoich going on to Brian Hurley most notably, but also subtle changes on the half-back line, plus a reorganisation necessitated by the departure through injury of Diarmuid O’Connor at around the same time and the introduction of Killian Spillane. A good day on the line for the management team.