Kerry 2-17 Tyrone 3-8: It ended up like a three-way pinball game in Fitzgerald Stadium yesterday. The board clattered, bells rang, flippers flapped and as it reached a climax with Mark Harte's free in the fifth minute of injury-time, Kerry's ball slid into the gutter and the lights lit up for Tyrone and Mayo.
As the extraordinary denouement to Division One A of the NFL came down to the scores in two matches, there was a chance at one stage that Tyrone - assumed safe and clear at the top - could actually lose out on scoring difference.
Had Harte not scored Kerry would have edged out Mayo for the semi-final spot. One more point and the champions would have pushed Tyrone into second place.
It was that close and all around the ground people struggled to absorb the action on the field and process scores from two venues and calculate the shifting fortunes.
By the end even the most clinical observer must have found their mind wandering from how well fringe players were staking a claim to summer places, the at times astonishingly permissive refereeing and who should be blamed/credited with what was unfolding on a sunny spring afternoon in Killarney.
But that is exactly what the team managements will be doing in the weeks ahead and both Mickey Harte and Jack O'Connor will have something to cheer them as well as plenty to occupy the championship countdown that now starts for all, including the League semi-finalists.
"It's a bit of a downer all right," said O'Connor afterwards, "but I was very happy with the way we played considering we were missing a few players and lost Eoin Brosnan early on. But we conceded three goals and the one in the first half against the run of play was crucial.
"I knew late in the game that every score was vital but we won't go complaining about scoring difference. We showed a great attitude and great work rate from fellas like Paddy Kelly."
Kerry certainly started well and by the 20th minute led by six, 1-5 to 0-2. This promising beginning featured an encouraging spell from Declan Quill, whose summer credentials were pressed before receding a little as the match hurtled towards its helter-skelter conclusion, and a well-taken goal by Dara Ó Cinnéide who clipped in after good work by Colm Cooper and Eoin Brosnan.
As O'Connor said, the loss of Brosnan was a blow, as he had been showing well at centrefield in a late switch for Darragh Ó Sé who was a late withdrawal. By that time, the 26th minute, Seán Cavanagh was beginning to come into it for Tyrone and his runs starting to punish the home side.
It was a mistake by Séamus Moynihan, whose positional sense was excellent but who was otherwise a little at odds with his game and in particular his ball retention, that allowed Cavanagh and Mulligan set up Enda McGinley for the first-half goal referred to by O'Connor, but in a match that swung on a milligram balance you could isolate a hatful of other incidents that might have made the difference.
Mossie Lyons, breaking from the back, could have done better with William Kirby inside but shot wide just before the interval, but Kerry steadied and stretched their much reduced lead to three, 1-7 to 1-4.
In the second half word from Castlebar relayed the news that Mayo were hacking up against Westmeath.
Initially Kerry responded with a couple of points and a break that saw Cooper's shot saved by John Devine and cleared by Ryan McMenamin, but from then on the battle between Cooper and his marker went very much with the home star.
Efforts had to be redoubled when Tyrone strung a move together amidst protests from Kerry that Aidan O'Mahony had been fouled in the build-up and Ryan Mellon finished the sequence with a goal.
The holders then entered their most devastating phase - 1-4 without reply in 10 minutes - with a stirring point from Hassett who drove from his own half and scored from the left wing, a goal from Cooper, touching in a miss-hit free by Ó Cinnéide who made amends with a couple of points of his own.
The sweep and quality of Kerry's play was endangering Tyrone's survival and predictably, the Ulster side hit back. Mellon got a second goal from a penalty after replacement Conor Gormley had been pulled down and Kerry had to start again.
They looked to have secured the necessary margin with a great Ó Cinnéide score with the pressure on, but an unnecessary free, even more needlessly talked into Harte's range, undid all the heroics in the final seconds.
KERRY: D Murphy; M Lyons, A O'Mahony, T O'Sullivan; T Ó Sé (0-1), S Moynihan, B Guiney; E Brosnan (0-1), W Kirby; P Galvin, P Kelly, L Hassett (0-2); D Quill (0-2, one free), D Ó Cinnéide (1-5, two points from frees), C Cooper (1-4). Subs: B Sheehan (0-1) for Brosnan (26 mins), MF Russell for Sheehan (yellow card, 39 mins), R O'Connor (0-1) for Quill (58 mins), E Fitzmaurice for Kelly (65 mins).
TYRONE: J Devine; R McMenamin, C Lawn, S Sweeney; J McMahon, G Devlin, P Jordan; C Holmes, S Cavanagh (0-1); E McGinley (1-0), M Penrose (0-4, two frees), M Murphy; R Mellon (2-0, one penalty), O Mulligan (0-2. one free), M Coleman. Subs: B Meenan for Coleman (yellow card, 48 mins), C Gormley for for McMahon (53 mins), P Donnelly for Mulligan (56 mins), M Harte (0-1, a free) for Penrose (73 mins).
Referee: D Coldrick (Meath).
YELLOW CARDS: Kerry: B Sheehan (38 mins). Tyrone: M Coleman (48 mins)
