Derry 1-9
Kerry 3-13

Kerry were in impressive form at Celtic Park yesterday as they saw off Derry by double figures to bag their first two points of the National Hurling League Division 3A campaign.

Kingdom debutant Darragh O'Connell struck for 2-4 over the 70 minutes which went a long way towards killing off the lethargic hosts.

The corner-forward's first goal came in the 26th minute of this encounter and surged John Meyler's team towards a 1-9 to 0-4 lead at the interval, which looked to have them on their way to the points.

After the restart, Shane Brick, O'Connell, John Griffin and Mike Conway all added points for the visitors, before Derry rallied in the third quarter with an Oisin McCloskey goal from the penalty spot and points from Paddy Henry, Alan Grant and Gareth O'Kane to narrow the gap to just a goal.

Crucially though, Kerry registered a goal through John Mike Dooley in the next attack and it saw the game swing in their favour come the final quarter, as O'Connell raised his second green flag of the afternoon in injury-time.

Kerry - JB O'Halloran; C Hearns, A Healy, A Keane; J Godley, L Boyle, T Murnane (0-1); M Conway, J Griffin (0-2); S Nolan, G O'Brien (0-1), S Brick (0-2, 1f); M Boyle (0-1), JM Dooley (1-1), D O'Connell (2-3, 1f). Subs: J McCarthy for Godley (24), J Flaherty (0-2) for Nolan (30), D Fitzelle for L Boyle (68), S Young for O'Brien (72), E Sheehy for M Boyle (72).

Derry - D McDermott; E Farren, S McCullagh, R McCloskey; S Henry, A McCloskey, C Brunton; R Convery (0-3, 1f), K Hinphey; O McCloskey (1-0, 1 pen), S McNicholl, P Henry (0-5, 4f); P McCloskey, M Conway, A Kelly. Subs: A Grant (0-1) for Kelly (h-t), G O'Kane for McNicholl (45), D Brunton for C Brunton (63), S McBride for Henry (68)

Ref: G Devlin (Armagh). Tweet

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