Kerry 0-17
Donegal 1-10

Kerry drew first blood at Croke Park this afternoon when they held off a determined Donegal in a pulsating second half to claim the Tom Markham Cup for the first time since 1994 and the 12th time in all.

After a low-key first half, at the end of which Jack O'Connor's charges led by 0-8 to 0-6, this final exploded into life in the second period when, after falling six points behind, Donegal hit an unanswered 1-2 to reduce the deficit to the minimum, 1-10 to 0-14, with five minutes remaining.

But a classy Kerry outfit weathered the storm and sealed a long overdue All-Ireland success in the grade with three late points from corner back Tom O'Sullivan, substitute Jordan Kiely and Killian Spillane.

Appearing in their first All-Ireland minor final and having remained unbeaten since their U16 days, Donegal gave it everything and will wonder what might have been had goal-scorer Jamie Brennan's shot not hit the post midway through the second half.

But overall, Kerry were the better team with wing forward Michael Burns receiving the man of the match award. Their performance was decorated with some wonderful scores and superb defending, particularly in the final quarter when Donegal threw the kitchen sink at them.

Unusually - although not surprisingly given that the same two counties are involved in the senior decider - a big crowd was in for the start of the minor final. Jamie Brennan had the first-time finalists ahead inside two minutes, only for Matthew Flaherty to level immediately.

Killian Spillane (free) and Stephen McBrearty traded points before midfielder Caolan McGonagle restored Donegal's advantage. But Kerry got the next three points per Michael Burns (two) and Barry O'Sullivan to move into a 0-5 to 0-3 lead.

McBrearty narrowed the gap with his second point before Tomas O Se made it 0-6 to 0-4 in the Kingdom's favour. Cian Mulligan left the minimum in it again, but Kerry replied with two Spillane points, the first of which was a sublime effort from play and the second from a free.

John Campbell thumped over a 40-metre free from his hands at the other end to leave the Ulster champions two adrift at the break.

Attacking the Hill 16 end for the second half, the Munster champions moved further in front when sub Jordan Kiely split the posts in the 32nd minute. Midfielder Barry O'Sullivan powered through to put four points between the teams for the first time before Lorcan Connor - whose electrifying solo run moments earlier came to nothing - opened Donegal's second half account from a free.

McBrearty had a poor wide before Spillane restored Kerry's four-point lead when his free from the right dropped over the crossbar. Spillane and substitute Liam Carey both registered wides before Campbell left a goal in it again, 0-8 to 0-11, with an excellent point on the turn.

Donegal were pressing strongly at this stage and were desperately unlucky not to regain parity when Jamie Brennan's shot came back off the upright. In the blink of an eye, Kerry swept down the field for Carey to raise his first white flag.

It took two pieces of brilliant defending for Kerry to keep the Donegal attack at bay before Carey restored their five-point lead with 11 minutes remaining.

When Kerry goalkeeper Shane Ryan landed a long-range free to push the winners six clear, 0-14 to 0-8, a minute later, it looked all over bar the shouting, but Declan Bonner's men refused to wilt and got themselves back in the game when Brennan made up for his earlier miss with a clinical left-footed finish to the top right hand corner of the net after being set up by Christian Bonner.

That score brought the Donegal supporters to life and they were on their feet again when captain Niall Harley and Connor (free) added points to make it a one-point game.

But Kerry refused to panic, even after Donegal goalkeeper Danny Rodgers prevented a point from his opposite number Ryan with a tremendous catch above his crossbar.

Corner back O'Sullivan cracked over a sublime score before sub Ciaran Diver shot wide at the opposite end. A glorious pass from Burns set up Kiely for a breath-taking score before Spillane followed up with the insurance point.

The drama didn't end there as the busy Shane Ryan needed to be on his toes to deny Donegal wing back Cian Mulligan a goal at the death.

Scorers - Kerry: K Spillane 0-5 (3f), B O'Sullivan, M Burns, L Carey, J Kiely 0-2 each, M Flaherty, T O Se, S Ryan (1f), T O'Sullivan 0-1 each. Donegal: J Brennan 1-1, S McBrearty, L Connor (2f), J Campbell (1f) 0-2 each, C Mulligan, N Harley, C McGonagle (1f) 0-1 each.

Kerry - S Ryan; B O Beaglaoich, D O'Donoghue, C Coffey; B Sugrue, A Barry, T O'Sullivan; B O'Sullivan, M O'Connor; M Burns, B Rayel, M Flaherty; K Spillane, L Kearney, T O Se Subs: L Carey for Coffey (29), J Kiely for Kearney (h-t),R Wharton for Sugrue (40), S O'Sullivan for O Se (50), I Parker for Rayel (60).

Donegal - D Rodgers; D Monagle, S McMenamin, C Gillespie; E Ban Gallagher, T McCleneghan, C Kelly; M Carroll, C McGonagle; C Mulligan, S McBrearty, E O'Donnell; J Brennan, J Campbell, L Connor. Subs: N Harley for Kelly (37), G McBride for O'Donnell (48), C Bonner for Gallagher (51), C Diver for Harley (57).

Ref - F Kelly (Longford).

Tweet

Most Read Stories