Kerry 3-16 Monaghan 0-14
Kerry bounced back from last week's opening round defeat to Donegal with a comfortable win over Monaghan.
Paul Murphy made his 100th appearance for Kerry who played towards the Daltons Avenue end of the pitch on a day that was perfect for football.
Monaghan opened the scoring with a free from Conor McCarthy after 5 minutes. Tony Brosnan scored the first of his three first half points two minutes later.
The sides exchanged scores with Darragh Roche, Tom O’Sullivan and Donal O’Sullivan helping Kerry into a 0-5 to 0-3 lead after 13 minutes.
Kerry conceded some soft frees due to indiscipline in the defence but the Kingdom pushed on to lead at half-time 0-10 to 0-06 thanks to further points from Donal O’Sullivan, Tony Brosnan, Darragh Roche and Dara Moynihan.
The second half saw Kerry move up a gear with a goal and two points in the first 3 minutes. The points were from Donal O’Sullivan who passed the ball to Darragh Roche to score the goal.
A great save from Shane Murphy after 42 minutes kept Kerry’s lead in tact.
Paudie Clifford arrived into the fray at that stage and he made his mark firstly with a pass to Adrian Spillane to increase Kerry’s lead, then the Fossa man ran 60 metres unchallenged to score Kerry’s second goal.
That made it 2-13 to 0-10 after 51 minutes.
Monaghan’s case wasn’t helped when Ryan O’Toole was sent off a couple of minutes later.
The All-Ireland and League champions kicked on from there with further points from Paudie Clifford, Tom O’Sullivan and Killian Spillane.
Donal O’Sullivan rounded off his own excellent performance with a goal early into stoppage time to confirm Kerry’s victory.
Final score Kerry 3-16 Monaghan 0-14
Tim Moynihan spoke to Kerry Manager, Jack O'Connor.
Jack Healy spoke to some Kerry and Monaghan fans after the game.
