Roscommon 0-14
Kerry 1-10

Paul Brennan reports from Fitzgerald Stadium

ROSCOMMON GAINED A fully deserved if somewhat unexpected win over Kerry in Killarney – their first ever league win on Kerry soil – with a one-point victory at a horribly wet and windy Fitzgerald Stadium this afternoon.

The win gets Roscommon back on track after the previous weekend’s lose at home to Monaghan, while for Kerry it is a second successive defeat and a result that, yet again, leaves the Kingdom at the wrong end of the table going into the league interval.

A gale-force wind, favouring Roscommon in the first half, and driving rain made for very tough conditions but overall Roscommon, despite conceding a lot of turnovers, played better football and out-witted Kerry where it mattered.

Kerry selector Diarmuid Murphy remonstrates with linesman Maurice Deegan after the game. Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO

Kerry boss Eamonn Fitzmaurice saw his team lose a second successive game.

Kerry went into an early 0-3 to 0-0 lead but Roscommon were back level by the 17th minute and unanswered points from Ciaran Murtagh, Conor Devanney, Cian Connolly and two Fintan Cregg frees put them into a useful looking 0-8 to 0-3 lead after 25 minutes.

It was the sort of lead they needed on the strength of the wind but Kerry hit back with points from Barry John Keane (free), Tommy Walsh and Johnny Buckley and a goal from Stephen O’Brien to lead 1-6 to 0-8 at the break.

Stephen O'Brien struck the only goal of the game for Kerry today. Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO

An early second half Keane free put Kerry two ahead but the hosts could never quite shake off a dogged and measured Roscommon team who clearly learned some lessons from Monaghan’s smash and grab win a week earlier.

Kerry, alas, learned little from their demolition by Dublin the previous weekend, with the required urgency and hunger still absent.

Cathal Cregg’s 53rd minute point made it 0-12 to 1-9, and Ciaran Murtagh’s free four minutes later gave Roscommon the lead back, as Kerry made heavy work playing with a strengthening wind.

When midfielder Enda Smith kicked his third point from play in the 68th minute, to make it 0-14 to 1-9, Kerry had gone 21 minutes without a score.

With five minutes of time effectively up Conor Cox opted to tap over a free rather than put the ball into the square with Kerry needing a goal to rescue the game.

Kerry head to Newry in three weeks where the pressure for a win will be huge, while Roscommon will travel further south, to Cork, confident of another Munster raid.