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).
