KERRY finally savoured some home comforts to ease their relegation fears with their most complete performance of the season so far.
But a comprehensive win over All-Ireland champions Armagh in front of a full house at Austin Stack Park was somewhat blighted by an injury to Diarmuid O’Connor.
The midfielder appeared to be in considerable discomfort as he departed in the closing stages.
Kerry boss Jack O’Connor said: “I thought we could have been a bit more convincing in the second half but overall I’m very pleased.
“The only disappointing thing is it looks like Diarmuid picked up a bit of a shoulder injury there, which we need to get examined. That’s the only disappointing part of the night.”
Aided by goals from Dylan Geaney and Paudie Clifford, Kerry were in a commanding 13-point lead at half-time in an occasionally fractious encounter which produced several off-the-ball skirmishes that required the attention of referee Conor Lane.
In the first meeting of the teams since Armagh prevailed after extra-time in last summer’s semi-final, the game quickly got away from the Ulster outfit as the hosts started like a team keen to settle a score.
On his side’s first-half display, Orchard gaffer Kieran McGeeney lamented: “We were just bullied off the ball. Physically outdone everywhere. It was just one of those days. You have to take it on the chin and get on with it.”
Having lost away to Mayo last time out, Kerry were also aiming to avoid a third consecutive defeat on home turf.
O’Connor said: “We very flat up in Castlebar, which was maybe understandable because it was our fifth game in a row. We were a good bit more energetic and fresher tonight. Particularly we targeted starting better and I thought we did that.”
With Armagh repeatedly in trouble on their own kickout, Kerry dominated the opening quarter and led 1-7 to 0-1 by the 12th minute.
Following the latest bout of rule amendments, neither keeper made an appearance in the opposing half after the Football Review Committee closed the 12-v-11 loophole.
Blaine Hughes, who was back between the posts for Armagh in place of Ethan Rafferty, was penalised for delaying a kickout early on as David Clifford availed to point the subsequent free.
Clifford had brought a fine save from Hughes with just 25 seconds on the clock. But he did engineer the opening goal on nine minutes, intercepting another Armagh restart to set up Geaney to fire home.
Kerry’s second goal arrived when Paudie Clifford expertly converted a 24th-minute penalty. The three-time All-Star punished Armagh after Oisín Conaty foiled a slick attack by fouling Micheál Burns.
With their only first-half goal chance, the Orchard were thwarted by Shane Ryan as the Kerry keeper produced a fine save to keep out a Darragh McMullan effort.
Kerry looked set to raise a third green flag before the break when Jason Foley was played through on goal, only for the full-back to have to settle for a point. Trailing by 2-13 to 0-6 at the change of ends, progress was slow for Armagh as they sought to reduce the deficit. Indeed, Kerry pushed their lead out to 15 points thanks to points from Dylan Geaney and David Clifford.
Rory Grugan led the charge when Armagh eventually threatened a comeback by kicking six unanswered points to get to within eight by the 59th minute.
But that was as narrow as the gap got for the visitors.
STRETCHING THE LEAD
Tony Brosnan came off the bench to end a 14-minute spell without a Kerry score and the Dr Crokes ace added two more as the Kingdom put the result beyond doubt.
The win moves Kerry up to six points, with Armagh on five. But ahead of next weekend’s final round of fixtures, Division 1 status for next season is not yet certain for either.
O’Connor added: “It was important to try and win because it wouldn’t look good on anyone’s CV to lose three games in a row at home, even though we had two great wins on the road and we’ve been competitive in every game.”
KERRY: S Ryan; P Murphy, J Foley 0-1, D Casey; B Ó Beaglaoích, M Breen, G White; D O’Connor, S O’Brien 0-1; M Burns 0-1, P Clifford 1-2, J O’Connor 0-1; P Geaney 0-1, D Clifford 0-10, 7f, D Geaney 1-1. Subs: G O’Sullivan for Casey (temp) 35-36 mins, T Brosnan 0-3 for D Geaney 48, O’Sullivan for Ó Beaglaíoch 56, C Geaney for Burns 61, K Spillane for P Geaney 66, R Murphy for J O’Connor 66.
ARMAGH: B Hughes; P McGrane, B McCambridge, P Burns; Connaire Mackin, G McCabe, A Forker; O O’Neill 0-4, 1tpf, 1f, J Óg Burns 0-1; Ciarán Mackin, R Grugan 0-7, 4f, D McMullan; C Turbitt 0-1f, A Murnin 0-1, O Conaty 0-1. Subs: B Crealey for Murnin (temp) 10-14 mins, Crealey for Connaire Mackin 32, S Campbell 0-2 for Forker h-t, S McPartlan for Turbitt 52, J Hall for McMullan 55, J McElroy for Ciarán Mackin 62.
REFEREE: C Lane (Cork).
