Bryan Sheehan came good at the death for Kerry to net a valuable 0-10 to 0-9 win over a gritty Derry side in an entertaining NFL Division One clash at Killarney. Sheehan was a very influential performer for the Kingdom with his injury time free and the expert defensive work of Marc O Se key to the hosts' triumph. It took Paddy Bradley just 15 seconds to make his mark with a typically clinical finish. Less over a minute later, it took a great save from Kieran Cremin to deny Mark Lynch a quick-fire goal. It wasn't until the 5th minute that Kerry opened their account when Sean O'Sullivan pointed into the teeth of the wind but another point from Bradley in the 7th minute left the northerners sitting pretty on the back of a 0-3 to 0-1 lead. Kerry gradually improved and trailed by just the odd point in five after Darren O'Sullivan set up Kieran Donaghy for a neat effort after 12 minutes. Derry then got a let-up when Paul O'Connor saw his point-blank shot deflected off the post by the advancing Derry 'keeper. Kerry began to go through the gears and a 43 metre free by Bryan Sheehan levelled matters at 0-3 apiece with 18 minutes on the clock. However Paddy Bradley's trusty left foot one minute had the northerners back in the lead in the 26th minute before Donaghy set up Paul O'Connor for the leveller (0-5 apiece) one minute later. Wind-backed Derry then suffered a severe setback when Francis McEldowney was dismissed in the 34th minute but still managed to go into the dressing-room, 0-6 to 0-5 to the good at half-time. Kerry boss Pat O'Shea decided to switch Marc O Se on Bradley for second half (in lieu of Tom O'Sullivan) and Bradley managed to add just one point to his personal tally in the second half. Within one minute of the restart, Sean O'Sullivan did well to level matters for Kerry but in the 44th minute it took a brilliant save - at the expense of a point - from Kerry 'keeper Kieran Cremin to deny Liam Hinphey a goal. The influential Bryan Sheehan then popped up with two successive frees to make it 0-8 apiece with 56 minutes on the clock. Sheehan proved a key player for Kerry on the day and on the hour mark his converted '45 gave his side the lead (0-9 to 0-8) for the first time in the match. However back came Bradley with a fine levelling point but an injury time converted free from Bryan Sheehan - after Kieran O'Leary was fouled - was all the Kingdom needed to scoop the spoils. Kerry - K Cremin; M O Se, T O'Sullivan, P Reidy; T O Se, A O'Mahony, D Bohane; S Scanlon, T Griffin; D O'Sullivan, B Sheehan (0-6), S O'Sullivan (0-2), K O'Leary, K Donaghy (0-1), P O'Connor (0-1). Derry - B. Gillis; K. McGuigan, N. McClusker, F. McEldowney; L. Hinphey (0-1), M. McBride, M. McIvor; F. Doherty, J. Conway (0-1); M. Lynch, B. McGoldrick, E. Muldoon (0-2); C. Devlin, P. Bradley (0-5), C. Mullen. Ref - M Collins (Cork) Tweet

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