It was very much a tale of two teams in Killarney in this All-Ireland SFC Group 4 opening game with Kerry embellishing their All-Ireland title credentials with a 10-point win that is a damning indictment of where Monaghan – a team that was in the All-Ireland semi-finals last year – are at right now.
It says much for Monaghan that this 10-point loss somewhat flatters them. A second-half consolation goal put a bit of a shine on their score, but truth be told, Kerry moved from third gear in the first half to second gear thereafter, their work more or less done after taking a 13-point lead to the interval.
From Paudie Clifford's opening score after 12 seconds, Kerry never looked in danger of losing this game, even though Monaghan mined an equaliser a minute later and Shane Ryan had to save smartly from Conor McCarthy two minutes after that.
That was about as threatening as Monaghan looked all afternoon, and by the time they kicked their second point, from Micheal Bannigan in the 19th minute Kerry were 0-9 to 0-1 ahead.
Paul Geaney was among the early scorers, as was David Clifford, but perhaps the time and space Kerry were afforded by a very rusty and lifeless Monaghan was best illustrated in defenders Paul Murphy and Tom O’Sullivan (2) coming forward to kick points.
By half-time Kerry were 13 points ahead, 0-15 to 0-2, and the only surprise is that Monaghan won the second half.
Geaney kicked four more from play after the break, and the Clifford brothers, Sean O’Shea and Murphy extended Kerry’s lead to 0-21 to 0-6 when Monaghan scored the game’s only goal on the hour mark.
Conor McCarthy’s high shot was batted down by Shane Ryan with Mohan first to react and smash the ball to the Kerry net. It was small consolation for a Monaghan team that showed all the rustiness of a team that hadn’t played in six weeks, and a team low on confidence after their relegation from Division One earlier in the season.
The final 10 minutes ran its course, Sean O’Shea adding three late scores, as Kerry move on to a meeting away to Meath in Navan in a fortnight, while Monaghan bring Louth to Clones the same weekend.
Kerry: Shane Ryan, Paul Murphy 0-02, Jason Foley, Tom O’Sullivan 0-03, Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Tadhg Morley, Gavin White, Diarmuid O’Connor, Joe O’Connor, Tony Brosnan 0-02, Paudie Clifford 0-02, Dara Moynihan 0-01, David Clifford 0-05 (0-03f), Seán O’Shea 0-04 (0-03f), Paul Geaney 0-05.
Subs: Cillian Burke for Moynihan (50), Barry Dan O’Sullivan for J O’Connor (50), Armin Heinrich for Ó Beaglaoich (55), Stephen O’Brien for Brosnan (55), Darragh Roche for Geaney (66)
Monaghan: Rory Beggan 0-01 (0-01f), Ryan Wylie, Barry McBennett, Ryan O’Toole 0-01, Karl O’Connell, Killian Lavelle, Conor McCarthy 0-01, Gary Mohan 1-01 (0-01m), Micheal McCarville, Stephen O’Hanlon 0-01, Micheal Bannigan 0-02, Michael Hamill, Jason Irwin, Sean Jones, Conor McManus 0-01 (0-01f).
Subs: Dessie Ward 0-01 for McCareville (ht), Andrew Woods 0-01 (0-01m) for Jones (ht), Ciaran McNulty for McBennett (46), Joel Wilson 0-01 (0-01m) for O’Connell (50), Thomas McPhillips for Ward (53).
Referee: Sean Hurson (Tyrone)
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