KERRY ON A HIGH

MONAGHAN 1-12
KERRY 3-14
Venue: Pairc Grattan, Inniskeen

Monaghan’s wait for a first win of their Allianz NFL Division One continued with a sobering defeat against table-toppers Kerry at a blustery Inniskeen last Sunday. Monaghan failed to put wind advantage to good use in the first half and they were made to pay, as a ruthless Kerry side who hit just three wides in total stretched their unbeaten league run to 12 games.

The game was effectively decided in a dominant spell either side of half-time by Kerry, who outscored Monaghan by 2-7 to 0-1 between the 25th and 50th minutes to take complete control. Jack O’Connor’s side were able to pick off a couple of soft goals on the counter-attack in the second half, as star forwards David Clifford and Seán O’Shea racked up a combined total of 3-5.

Monaghan had Conor McManus available after his successful appeal against the red card he picked up in the draw with Armagh, but they sorely missed the influence of Jack McCarron, Ryan McAnespie and Conor McCarthy on a day where they were punished for a series of uncharacteristic errors. Kerry’s sharp-shooters had an effective…