A rainy night in Tralee served up a cracker of a game last year in Round 3 of the Allianz Football League
In the build up to the 2020 Allianz League we’re going to delve back into the archives and pull out some memorable games from over the years. Dublin and Kerry have entertained fans 49 times in the National Football League. So as we approach their 50th league fixture we take a quick look back to last year’s Round 3 game.
The weather conditions in Austin Stack Park were a lot to be desired, but a youthful Kerry side pushed Dublin all the way. With the game all square right to the death, Peter Crowley stole the victory with a fisted 74th minute winner.
It wasn’t to be a good night for the reigning league champions, with Kerry beating them for only the fourth time in 11 league meetings over a decade. And similar to the drawn game between the sides two years before, this match wasn’t lacking in pace or passion.
There was certainly a sense that Peter Keane was trying to lay down a marker. But Kerry had to dig deep despite Dublin being reduced to 14 men for the final quarter.
Goal for Kerry! Stephen O’Brien blasts to the net. Watch it live right now on @RTE2 and full highlights on Allianz League Sunday (9.30p) tomorrow
Live updates: https://t.co/6QJdOefUXC #RTEgaa pic.twitter.com/tfXumNcTj1— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) February 9, 2019
Kerry use the Stack crowd to their advantage
Leading by five points after 42 minutes, and backed by the majority of the 12,000, Kerry were in pole position. But Dublin kept their best football for the last quarter as the champions reeled their opponents in.
Even the loss of Mick Fitzsimons to a second yellow card on the hour barely derailed Dublin in that last 15 minutes, but the absence of the Cuala defender left them more open at the back as Kerry pressed for that winner in additional time.
It was helter-skelter stuff from the first whistle. Kerry showed early intent with Jack Sherwood getting forward to open the scoring inside two minutes. And that high tempo never relented. An early Dean Rock free settled the visitors but Kerry kept the foot down and led by two points on three occasions by the 20th minute only for Dublin to half the deficit each time.
Goal for the Dubs! It’s the perfect response from Con O’Callaghan who weaves his magic in front of the travelling support. Watch it live right now on @RTE2 with full highlights on Allianz League Sunday (9.30pm) tomorrow
Live updates: https://t.co/6QJdOefUXC #RTEgaa pic.twitter.com/ohDM4rWN6T— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) February 9, 2019
Big resounding response from the home side
Kerry’s response to that was a Stephen O’Brien goal to make it 1-06 to 0-05. However the celebrations only lasted a minute when Con O’Callaghan sailed through and slipped a low shot past Shane Ryan to make it a one-point game again.
Four unanswered points followed from Kerry, but Dublin struck back with a Paul Mannion goal to help make it 1-11 to 2-06 in Kerry’s favour at the break.
Following the restart another four unanswered Kerry points saw them lead 1-15 to 2-07 after 42 minutes. But there was never a sense that Kerry had put Dublin away.
Scores from James McCarthy, Paul Mannion and Dean Rock cut the gap to two points before Dublin were reduced to 14 with Fitzsimons’ red card. This though brought the best out of the Dublin with points from Brian Fenton, Mannion and two from Cormac Costello. They’d levelled it at 1-17 to 2-14 before Crowley fisted the winner to keep Kerry on maximum points from three games.
Dublin Scorers:
Paul Mannion 1-02 (1f)
Dean Rock 0-05 (4f)
Con O’Callaghan 1-00
James McCarthy 0-03
Cormac Costello 0-02 (1f)
Brian Fenton 0-01
Darren Gavin 0-01
Kerry Scorers:
Peter Crowley 0-01
Jack Sherwood 0-01
Tom O’Sullivan 0-01
Sean O’Shea 0-08 (0-07f, 0-01 ’45’)
Dara Moynihan 0-02
Paul Geaney 0-02
Gavin O’Brien 0-01
Stephen O’Brien 1-01
Tommy Walsh 0-01
Dublin:
Evan Comerford
Michael Fitzsimons
Eoin Murchan
John Small
Eric Lowndes
Jonny Cooper
James McCarthy
Brian Fenton
Darren Gavin
Brian Howard
Con O’Callaghan
Niall Scully
Dean Rock
Cormac Costello
Paul Mannion
Dublin Substitutions:
Paddy Andrews for Lowndes (HT)
Jack McCaffrey for J Cooper (47)
Michael Darragh Macauley for Gavin (62)
Kevin McManamon for D Rock (62)
Paul Flynn for Scully (62)
Kerry:
Shane Ryan
Peter Crowley
Jack Sherwood
Brian Ó Beaglaíoch
Tadhg Morley
Paul Murphy
Tom O’Sullivan
Jack Barry
Adrian Spillane
Diarmuid O’Connor
Sean O’Shea
Dara Moynihan
Paul Geaney
Gavin O’Brien
Stephen O’Brien
Kerry Substitutions:
Tommy Walsh 0-01 for O’Connor (HT)
Mark Griffin for Spillane (53)
Gavin Crowley for Geaney (55)
David Moran for Morley (60)
Mikey Geaney for O’Brien (70)