Ó Sé the centre of Kerry's excellence

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION ONE  Kerry 0-15 Galway 0-10:WITHOUT EVER reaching the febrile extremes of previous final-day denouements involving Kerry, yesterday's Allianz National Football League Division One clash between the All-Ireland champions and Galway, who started the day as division leaders but ultimately lost out on scoring difference, vaguely teetered for a short while, before Kerry made sure of their place in this year's final where they will face Derry.

Although Galway stayed in touch for much of the match they were comprehensively outplayed. Their hitherto hyper-productive attack was starved of possession and kept on a short lead by an implacable Kerry defence.

But it was at centrefield that the difference between the teams was starkest. Darragh Ó Sé, no more than easing himself back into a year that could yield a fifth All-Ireland medal, nonetheless dominated the middle, taking catches of both kick-outs and fastening on to plenty of loose ball.

"We needed to win," said Ó Sé afterwards, "because it'll be a couple of months before we get another competitive game. Our championship isn't starting until June.

"It was probably the fastest game we've played in the league this year. We knew it would be a good competitive game but we were adamant about not conceding goals because Galway had a good goal scoring record and we didn't. If you give those fellas space they'll decorate you."

Is he nearly back firing on all cylinders? "There's a lot of dirty petrol coming out."

Kerry had strength and time in possession, picking out each other with accurate foot passes, while Galway's moves were laboured and seemed to run out of space, as their opponents closed them down and forced them to rush their options. As a result the supply lines into the forwards, so expertly orchestrated during the campaign by Pádraic Joyce, were rarely in full working order, as defensive pressure told and errors ensued.

This meant Michael Meehan's effectiveness was considerably reduced and he had to be pulled out to the half forwards.

Kerry worked good scoring opportunities and Bryan Sheehan was flawless in his dispatch of placed balls (but suffered a worrying knee injury in injury-time).

In the half forwards, Darren O'Sullivan's pace and Donncha Walsh's strength bothered Galway and at full forward, Kieran Donaghy opened up goalscoring chances but Paul Doherty thwarted him with alert saves and performed another act of deliverance from Eoin Brosnan after half-time.

By the break Kerry had opened a four-point margin, two larger than they needed to overtake their opponents in the league table.

Galway manager Liam Sammon opted against radical surgery but eventually replaced both Niall Coleman and Barry Cullinane at centrefield. Damien Dunleavy, relocated from wing forward, and replacement Mark Lydon effected some improvement in the second half.

Seven minutes after the restart Michael Meehan was set up by Matthew Clancy but slipped while rounding Diarmuid Murphy in the Kerry goal. On the hour Clancy rapped a shot off the crossbar. Had either chance ended up in the net the momentum of the match might have changed.

While regretting the misfortune, Sammon equally acknowledged Kerry too had had goal opportunities. He also knew the primary problems were elsewhere.

"The crucial area was midfield. We struggled all day at midfield. It was only in the latter part of the game that we began to get some grip in that area. I thought we panicked a little bit and kicked a lot of ball badly away. Any time you give the ball to Kerry they were very, very dangerous - just able to build up the field and get those scores.

"In the second half I thought we upped our game an awful lot and the lads we brought on did well. So there are some positives for us out of it and it's good for us to know where we are."

Although the margin dipped within Galway's reach Kerry were always able to find an additional score to stretch the margin. Manager Pat O'Shea was able to bring on Declan O'Sullivan and Colm Cooper as second-half replacements.

"Today was a step-up," said O'Shea. "The field was in very good shape, it was a quick game and I think the performance needed to be improved as well. We were poor against Kildare and we needed to improve. Today from one to nine for about 50 minutes I thought we played exceptionally well and controlled that middle third. That gave us a platform to build on."

The one concern was Sheehan's injury. "It is a worry. He's played all the league and has kicked some crucial scores for us. It looks like it could maybe be a knee ligament - I'm not really sure which one. If it is it could be a couple of weeks but we'll scan it and have a look tomorrow."

KERRY:D Murphy; P Reidy, M Ó Sé, T O'Sullivan; T Ó Sé (0-2), A O'Mahony (0-1), T Griffin; D Ó Sé, S Scanlon; Darren O'Sullivan (0-1), D Walsh (0-1), A Maher (0-1); MF Russell, K Donaghy, B Sheehan (0-7, six frees). Subs: E Brosnan (0-1) for Russell (half-time), Declan O'Sullivan for Maher (47 mins), C Cooper (0-1, free) for Walsh (62 mins), D Bohane for Darren O'Sullivan (70 mins), R Ó Flatharta for Sheehan (71 mins).

GALWAY:P Doherty; K Fitzgerald, F Hanley, D Burke; G Sice (0-1), N Coyne, D Mullahy; N Coleman, B Cullinane; D Dunleavy (0-1), P Joyce (0-2, one free), D Meehan; M Clancy, M Meehan (0-3, two frees), F Breathnach (0-1). Subs: P Conroy (0-1, free) for Coleman (41 mins), C Bane (0-1) for Cullinane, M Lydon for Mullahy (both 50 mins), Cullinane for Breathnach (66 mins).

Referee:Coldrick (Meath).