Kerry and Roscommon registered 0-15 apiece in a pulsating All-Ireland minor football championship final at sun-drenched Croke Park. Both sides served up some scintillating football and the capacity crowd was entranced throughout an absolutely fascinating contest. The match was tattooed with excellent scores, particularly from Kerry captain Paddy Curran and Roscommon pair Conor Devaney and Donal Shine. Eoin Kennedy had the first chance but kicked wide after only ten seconds and Kingdom captain Curran also missed the target from a relatively straightforward free 90 seconds later. Roscommon took encouragement from that nervous Kerry start and Conor Devaney fired them into the lead with an excellent fourth-minute point. Wing back Shane Enright and David Moran added to Kerry's alarming early wides tally and Tommy Walsh - who was totally dominating midfield exchanges - picked up a yellow card. Curran finally opened Kerry's account with a point at the end of a jinxing run in the eighth minute and a sublime pass from the Kerry full forward then set up Daniel O'Shea for the lead point. The prolific Curran - who is in his third year as a minor - dissected the posts to make it 0-3 to 0-1 in the twelfth minute. A minute later, Curran took his third point with a curling left-footed free. Donal Shine had kicked two wides during that Kerry scoring run but the Roscommon No.12 kept his cool to expertly convert a free off the ground at the end of the first quarter. But Kerry's response was simplicity personified: Curran clipped over his fourth point and Kennedy danced through the Roscommon defence to put four points between them. In the 19th minute, Gary Sayers arrowed a wonderful point over the bar to make it 0-7 to 0-2, with the Munster champions threatening to run riot. Substitute Keith Waldron pulled one back for Roscommon and Curran hit an uncharacteristically wild wide before earning a '45', which David Moran stroked nonchalantly over the bar two minutes from the break. Roscommon - who had replaced their full back and midfielder Keith Higgins in an effort to gain a foothold in the game - looked dead and buried but they gave themselves hope with a run of three great points in the closing moments of the first half: Shine (2) and Devaney floated over lovely scores and the half-time whistle sounded with Kerry leading by 0-8 to 0-6. The Kingdom had controlled the first half, with the giant Walsh outstanding, and must have been very disappointed to only lead by only two at the interval. Fintan Cregg closed the gap to just one point with a nice left-footed point from play in the fourth minute of the second half and Shine levelled with his fourth point - a massive kick - 30 seconds later. Devaney stormed through the Kerry rearguard to put the Connacht champions back ahead in the 38th minute and the unerring Shine (free) made it 0-10 to 0-8 with 39 minutes played. Roscommon had wind in their sails as David O'Gara kicked another superb point - their eighth in succession - to put his side three clear - 0-11 to 0-8. Curran converted a free to end Kerry's worrying barren spell and substitute Pa Curtin was on hand to close the gap to a single point again with about 13 minutes of normal time remaining. Seconds later, Curran tied matters up at 0-11 apiece. Ros 'keeper Mark Miley came off his line well to deny Curran possession and Sayers then had a great chance to settle the issue: the Kerry No.13 found himself in a one-on-one with Miley in the 49th minute but dragged his low shot wide and just inches outside the left post at the Hill end. Awesome midfielder Walsh kicked an inspirational point from distance nine minutes from time but Devaney replied almost instantly with an equally-superb point from play. Curran edged Kerry back in front but Shine equalised with a monstrous free from the deck three minutes from the end. There were even more twists at the end of a thrilling contest: Devaney seemed to have given Roscommon victory when he clipped over a 60th-minute free but Moran levelled with a point from play on the stroke of full time. Unbelievably, seconds later, in injury time, Curran struck the lead point for Kerry. But Roscommon refused to give up and left corner forward O'Gara produced a deserved leveller in the third minute of added time. The final whistle sounded with the teams locked on 15 points apiece. A draw was a fair result and both sides delivered exceptional entertainment from start to finish. Kerry - T Mac an tSaoir, B Russell, M Maloney, D O'Se, S Enright, A Greaney, B Costello, T Walsh 0-1, G O'Driscoll, J Buckley, D O'Shea 0-1, D Moran 0-2, G Sayers 0-1, P Curran 0-8, E Kennedy 0-1. Subs: P Curtin 0-1 for O'Se, S Brown for Russell, J Doolan for Sayers, W Devane for Buckley Roscommon - M Miley, PGleeson, M McLoughlin, S Ormsby, P Domican, D Flynn, C Garvey, D Keenan, K Higgins, C Devaney 0-5, J McKeague, D Shine 0-6, P Garvey, F Cregg 0-1, D O'Gara 0-2. Subs: N Carty for McLoughlin, K Waldron 0-1 for Higgins, A O'Hara for P Garvey, C Smith for McKeague Referee - S Doyle (Wexford) Tweet

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