New-look Kerry were put to the sword by a second-string Clare outfit at rain-swept Ballyheigue yesterday in this one-sided Div 1A tie. Clare will now know that they have some useful reserves for the championship while Kerry will have realised that they were outclassed and belong in a lower division.
Kerry struck for a goal from corner forward John Mike Dooley in the ninth minute which gave them a slender lead but once Barry Murphy sent over two quick points Kerry fell behind and were never in with a shout after that. In fact the first half saw corner forward Murphy secure seven points from play for the visitors, while in the other corner Ken Ralph tormented the Kerry defence with three more.
Clare led 0-11 to 1-4 at half-time with two of the Kerry points coming from Brian O'Donovan and the other two from Michael Slattery and Willie Joe Leen.
The second half was a truly forgettable affair as Clare proceeded to use the game as mere target practice. Liam Doyle got an early point while Ken Ralph followed a point of his own by scoring a goal in the 11th minute to extend Clare's lead to 1-13 to 1-4. The home side were powerless to prevent Clare from plundering score after score with only Tom Cronin, Colm Lyons and Maurice McCarthy putting up any resistance.
When Fergal Hegarty scored Clare's second goal, it was purely academic and incredibly Kerry failed to post a single score until the final minute when a Michael Slattery point saved their blushes.
CLARE: G O'Connell, B Quinn, B Lohan, C Forde; L Doyle (0-1), J Redden, F Flynn; C Lynch (0-1), G Quinn (0-1), F Tuohy; E Flannery (0-1), A Markham, K Ralph (1-7); R O'Hara, B Murphy (0-7). Subs: A Griffin (0-2) for R O'Hara, F Hegarty (1-0) for B Murphy, P McKeogh for F Tuohy, G Malone for J Reddin, B Forde for L Doyle.
KERRY: E Thornton; M Hannafin, C Lyons, A Healy; T Cronin, M McCarthy, A Keane; W J Leen (0-1), C Harty; M Slattery (0-2), I Brick, J Maher; J M Dooley (1-0), J J Canty, B Donovan (0-2). Subs: A Cronin for C Harty, P Cronin for A Healy, S Harty for J Maher, D Slattery for B Donovan.
Referee: S Roche (Tipperary)
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