Louth on the receiving end as impressive Kerry flex their muscles

Kerry 5-24 Louth 0-11

Whoever said this All-Ireland group stage lacked drama? Kerry went to Portlaoise on Sunday afternoon hoping to beat Louth under the assumption it would be enough to secure them second place in Group One and a home preliminary quarter-final next weekend.

Instead, they will have their feet up in seven days’ time, looking on as second-placed teams duke it out with those third-placed finishers, the Kingdom having secured top spot by virtue of Cork beating Mayo in Limerick.

The defending champions still needed to improve on their inferior scoring difference in the event of a three-way tie, and on that count Jack O’Connor’s team were taking no chances.

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Events in Limerick and how Group One played out almost reduces Kerry’s 28-point win over Louth to an asterisk. But when the dust settles on an eventful afternoon, all pretenders to Kerry’s All-Ireland crown will sit up and take notice of how they dismantled Louth with five goals and some brilliant football.

Perhaps the only surprise is that it took so long for the Kingdom’s first goal to arrive – 24 minutes – but there was no surprise in where it came from.

An overload in midfield saw Louth caught on the break, and when Tony Brosnan looked up there was David Clifford waiting for a pop pass and the team captain did the necessary.

By that stage Kerry had scored 11 points, Diarmuid O’Connor kicking three from midfield, and Sean O’Shea all menace and purpose on the ‘40′. Clifford’s goal made it 1-11 to 0-2, and four minutes later defender Mike Breen finished O’Shea’s assist to the Louth net to help Kerry to a 2-15 to 0-3 half-time lead.

Not even Mickey Harte was going to derail or deny Kerry on this occasion. Kerry were 2-19 to 0-3 ahead when Graham O’Sullivan played in Paudie Clifford to tap in Kerry’s third goal. It was never going to get any better for Louth – the only question was how bad it would get. In the 52nd minute O’Shea was tripped for a penalty, duly dispatched low past James Califf by David Clifford for Kerry’s fourth.

Just before the hour mark, Paudie Clifford and Diarmuid O’Connor linked up to set up O’Shea for a fifth goal and a 5-24 to 0-11 win, the All-Ireland champions forgoing any charity towards Louth with bigger days on their mind now.

That Kerry did it all without Gavin White (calf) and Paul Geaney (hamstring) would have pleased the management as much as anything, but that pleasure was quickly overridden with news from Limerick. Mayo beaten and Kerry top of the group: did we ever imagine it any other way?

Kerry: Shane Ryan, Graham O’Sullivan, Jason Foley, Tom O’Sullivan (0-2), Paul Murphy, Tadhg Morley, Mike Breen (1-0), Diarmuid O’Connor (0-3), Jack Barry, Dara Moynihan (0-2), Seán O’Shea (1-8, 0-3f, 0-1m), Adrian Spillane, Paudie Clifford (1-2), David Clifford (2-4, 1-0 pen, 0-1m), Tony Brosnan (0-3, 1m). Subs: Brian Ó Beaglaíoch for M Breen (47), Barry Dan O’Sullivan for J Barry (47), Stephen O’Brien for A Spillane (52), Ruairí Murphy for D Moynihan (52), Micheál Burns for D Clifford (54).

Louth: James Califf, Dan Corcoran, Peter Lynch, Donal McKenny, Leonard Grey, Niall Sharkey (0-1), Conall McKeever, Tommy Durnin, Conor Early (0-1), Ciaran Murphy, Ciaran Downey (0-2), Conor Grimes (0-2), Conall McCaul, Sam Mulroy (0-1, 1f), Craig Lennon. Subs: Bevan Duffy for C Murphy (ht), Liam Jackson (0-1) for C McCaul (ht), Anthony Williams (0-1) for D Corcoran (44), Dylan McKeown (0-2, 1f) for S Mulroy (45), Jonathan Commins for P Lynch (66).

Referee: James Molloy (Galway)