Kerry 2-16 Offaly 1-21
A second yellow card picked up by Kerry’s sweeper John Buckley a minute before halftime proved a major factor in Offaly’s two point win over the Kingdom in this keenly contested Division 1B game, played at the Austin Stack Park, Tralee, on Sunday afternoon.
Offaly now qualify to play Tipperary in the league quarter-finals, while Kerry were left cursing their luck as they face a relegation battle against Laois next weekend.
Kerry were well in the contest at halftime thanks to 1-3 from outstanding full-forward Padraig Boyle and the free taking of Shane Nolan, but six points from Shane Dooley (5 frees) who was being well shackled by Daniel Collins, saw Offaly retire at the interval 0-15 to 1-9.
Kerry, despite being a man short, outscored Offaly in the second half but they shot sevenwides and had an goal bound effort from Jordan Conway saved by the Offaly defence at a crucial juncture.
Offaly got a vital goal from Stephen Quirke in 54th minute when they were hanging on to a one point lead and Kerry came up short despite a last minute Shane Nolan goal.
KERRY: M Stackpoole; J O'Connor, T Murnane, S Weir; D Collins, B Murphy, D Dineen; P O'Connor, J Goulding; S Nolan, P Kelly, C Harty; J Conway, P Boyle, J Buckley. Subs: M O'Leary for P Kelly ( 47), B O'Leary for C Harty ( 56), K Carmody for J Goulding ( 56), T Casey for P O'Connor ( 64). Scorers: S Nolan ( 1-6, 5 frees, 1'65), P Boyle ( 1-5), B Murphy, P O'Connor, C Harty, J Conway and K Carmody ( 0-1 each).
OFFALY: J Dempsey; P Rigney, M Cleary, B Conneely; P Geraghty, D Shortt, S Gardiner; A Treacy, D King; S Ryan, S Dooley, O Kelly; S Cleary, C Kiely, E Nolan. Subs: E Grogan for S Gardiner ( 28), P Murphy for B Conneely ( 43), S Quirke for S Dooley ( 43), J Mulrooney for P Geraghty ( 51), P Camon for E Nolan ( 65). Scorers: S Dooley ( 0-6, 5 frees), C Kiely ( 0-5, 2frees), S Cleary ( 0-4), S Quirke ( 1-0), D King and E Nolan (0-2 each), B Conneely and P Geraghty ( 0-1 each).
Referee: S Cleere ( Kilkenny)
