THIS Division One clash at O'Raghallaigh Park, Kingscourt, yesterday, proved remarkable in many ways. Both teams overcame terrible underfoot conditions to provide a real thriller for the 3,000 crowd. However, Cavan will be kicking themselves for not taking the points, as they shot 16 wides in the course of the hour as against five for Kerry.
Those statistics give an idea of the trend of the game, which Cavan dominated for the most part, but sadly lacked the finishing power to kill off Kerry's challenge.
Kerry will be somewhat relieved to reach the quarter finals, as they looked decidedly sluggish in the early stages and trailed at half-time by 0-6 to 0-4. Their usual top marksman, Maurice Fitzgerald, got their opening two points from frees, but then a great save from goalkeeper, Peter O'Leary, from Peter Reilly, denied Cavan a goal after nine minutes.
Cavan battled back from a 0-3 to 0-1 deficit with points from Peter and Jason Reilly and in a contest which was played with championship fervour, James O'Shea's shot for goal hit the crossbar.
Cavan took the lead for the first time right on half time from a Ronan Carolan free followed by another point from Peter Reilly. At this stage Cavan must have felt confident - even their two point lead was scant reward for their efforts.
Kerry tried to turn things around and switched Maurice Fitzgerald from his attacking role.
Points from James O'Shea, Denis O'Dwyer and John Crowley levelled the scores entering the final quarter. There was tremendous excitement from the large Kerry contingent when Dara O Se scored the lead point. When Pa Laide stretched the lead to two points with two minutes remaining Cavan's hopes were dashed and Kerry were into the quarter finals.
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