Kerry 1-20
Derry 0-12
Paul Keane reports from Croke Park
Shane Nolan fired 1-8 as Kerry romped to Christy Ring Cup title success at the third time of asking.
The Kingdom were hot favourites against first-time finalists Derry, and while they won with plenty to spare, it wasn’t their peak performance.
That arrived a week earlier in Newbridge when they demolished Kildare by 36 points to gain revenge for last year’s final defeat.
The danger was that Kerry, also beaten in the 2013 decider, may see that Kildare game as the real final and they certainly struggled for momentum at times at Croke Park today. The tiny crowd and lack of atmosphere didn’t help either, though Kerry won’t be bothered as they led from the first score of the game until full-time.
Even playing in fourth gear they had too much for a Derry side that conjured just three points from open play in the entire contest. It was Kerry’s inability to break free with their best hurling that kept Derry in the game and the Kingdom led by just 0-6 to 0-3 after 22 minutes.
But back-to-back Michael O’Leary points finally got them going and Nolan’s 30th-minute goal after a great run down the left put real daylight between them. Kerry deserved their 1-10 to 0-8 lead and maintained that advantage throughout the third quarter. Poor Derry only scored one point from open play in the second-half when they should have been chasing the game.
As for Kerry, they eventually turned it on in the last quarter and scored some fine points, most notably two from former Clare All-Ireland medallist Patrick Kelly. Fittingly, Nolan closed out their scoring with three points from frees while Kevin Hinphey saw red for Derry in injury-time.
Scorers for Kerry: Shane Nolan 1-8 (0-7f), Michael O’Leary and Keith Carmody 0-3 each, Colum Harty and Patrick Kelly 0-2 each, John Egan and Daniel Collins 0-1 each.
Scorers for Derry: Ruairi Convery 0-5 (0-5f), Patrick Henry 0-4 (0-4f), Alan Grant, Liam Hinphey and Jonathan O’Dwyer 0-1 each.
KERRY
1. Stephen Murphy
2. Rory Horgan
3. Paud Costello
4. Bryan Murphy
7. Keith Camody
6. Darren Dineen
5. Daniel Collins
8. John Griffin
9. Patrick Kelly
10. Michael O’Leary
15. John Egan
12. Colum Harty
13. Mikey Boyle
11. Shane Nolan
14. Padraig Boyle
Subs
21. John O’Neill for P Boyle (43)
17. Davy Butler for O’Leary (50)
25. Sean Weir for M Boyle (58)
20. James Flaherty for Harty (63)
19. Dougie Fitzell for Dineen (69)
DERRY
1. Daryl McDermott
2. Michael Warnock
3. Conor Quinn
4. Sean McCullagh
21. Liam Hinphey
6. Conor McSorley
7. Kevin Hinphey
8. Sean McGuigan
9. Brendan Quigley
12. Patrick Henry
11. Paul Cleary
10. Patrick McCloskey
13. Alan Grant
14. Ruairi Convery
15. Aaron Kelly
Subs
22. Niall Ferris for McCloskey (6)
19. Dean Flanagan for Quigley (31)
23. Jonathan O’Dwyer for Clearly (40)
18. Ruairi McCloskey for McSorley (57)
26. Michael Conway for Grant (60)
Referee: John Keane (Galway).
Magnificent year for kerry hurling well done to all involved!!!
The rest of Ireland championship it should be called at this stage. Kerry have a championship to enter.
Would it not be better for Kerry to enter the preliminary group stage with Carlow, westmeath etc to get a few games where they could challenge rather than one hammering in Munster.
I agree they shud have to play that. But make them qualify for Munster.
Geography was never the GAA’s strongest subject.
By the looks of it Kilkenny could get promoted to the Munster Championship and Dublin not too far in tail.
Ah hold on Kerry in Leinster Galway in Leinster Antrim in Leinster mrs o’leary in geography class was takin the piss ;-))
And Leinster counties not in it. Some set up!
Am I missing something here surely Kerry to be in Leinster is a misprint
They are taking the place of Antrim who were relegated to Christy Ring.
Kerry in Leinster?
Leinster have preliminary rounds unlike Munster, to be fair what benefit would it be to them to play one game a year and get hockied.
Their minors have been playing in the Premier Minor Championship in Cork for the past few years
Well done to Kerry .
but for the first in history the Laim mc Carthy next year cannot be called an All Ireland tournament as Ulster will have no reps sad day for GAA
It’s not as if 32 counties play for da Liam mc carthy. How many teams have a realistic chance of winning it?
Well who’s fault is that Antrim have had a terrible year and now face the consequences? Kerry?
Probably as many as have a realistic chance of winning the football. You can’t really look beyond last years 4 semi finalists, Kerry, Dublin, Donegal & Mayo for this years winners. Re Kerry hurlers not playing in Munster and getting hammered in first round, they never seemed to give the same consideration to the 4 so called “weaker” football counties when they were regularly thrashed by Cork & Kerry over the years??? Lastly, if my memory serves me well I do recall Kerry Hurlers beating Waterford in the first round of the Munster Championship in the past 20 years. They can only improve by playing against the big guns in Munster every year.
Or get hockeyed..kill players spirit and knock back the advancement the game has made in Kerry in recent years.lads won’t want to play if they are going to be beaten out the gate evey year. We don’t want to return to old times. Fair play to lads, they deserve it.
Bring back o’connell from the dubs and we’ll give kilkenny a run for their money!
To be fair the GAA could very easily change the rules again for the sake of Antrim hurling, because for some reason hurling needs a strong Antrim team at the expense of other teams more deserving