So close, yet so far for heroic Derry!

 Kerry 1-17

Derry 1-15

Derry’s hopes of an All-Ireland final were snatched away in the last five minutes of an incredible semi-final at Croke Park, with reigning champions Kerry leaving it very late to set up a meeting with Dublin.

Ciaran Meenagh’s team defied all expectations by taking the Kingdom to the very end and even led the game heading into the last ten minutes only for crucial wides to cost them ahead of a strong finish from Kerry, who now go on to the final in two weeks’ time.

This was an incredible contest, with neither team letting the other out of their sights from the first to the last whistle, with players in red and white falling to the ground in despair at full time after giving absolutely everything they had.

It all came down to moments and you could take your pick; conceding a goal right after scoring, Tadhg Morley denying McKinless a second goal or the tired wides with Kerry fading late on, meaning that Derry scored just four points in the entirety of the second half after scoring 1-11 in the first period.

Non-stop

Derry, with their fans outnumbering the Kerry support by three to one, showed intent from the word go but it was Kerry who should have had a goal just two minutes in with Paul Geaney doing brilliantly to find space and set up Gavin White, who was denied what looked like a certain goal by a brilliant save by Odhran Lynch.

David Clifford, who had an off-day in the quarter-finals, scoring just one from nine efforts, scored with his very first attempt to give Kerry the opening score just 60 seconds later, a score which preceded a crazy few minutes at Croke Park.

Derry’s response was emphatic. Odhran Lynch took the ball forward unchallenged and picked out the run of Gareth McKinless. His burst forward put Kerry in trouble and he set up Brendan Rogers, who was denied by Tom O’Sullivan on the line but McKinless followed up to scramble the ball over the line for a goal.

But Kerry did to Derry what the Oakleafers did to Cork in the quarterfinals, responding with a goal immediately themselves. Sean O’Shea raced clear and passed across to Gavin White, who punched the ball into the net within seconds of McKinless’ goal at the other end.

Derry then suffered a significant blow just seven minutes in when Padraig McGrogan scored to put his team back level, but picked up an injury in the process, and had to be replaced by Paudie Cassidy.

After that breathless start, the game settled somewhat until Paul Cassidy put Derry into the lead again, quickly followed by a first score for Shane McGuigan, who had barely been in the game in the first 10 minutes.

But Kerry bounced straight back again with Diarmuid O’Connor hitting Kerry’s first score in 10 minutes, and Paudie Clifford soon levelled to make it 1-3 apiece.

There was a great feud going on between McGuigan and Clifford, with the Kerry man showing he could do what Derry’s star forward could do, just seconds between scores for either side from the impressive forwards.

Clifford briefly put Kerry back in front 23 minutes in, but nothing stayed still in this game for long. Derry levelled with Odhran Lynch scoring with an effort which bounced right in front of his opposite number Shane Ryan and up over the crossbar, and they then went ahead thanks to a sublime score from Paul Cassidy, with Derry’s 1-6 to this point all from open play. That lead didn’t last long in a fascinating game with the brilliant Clifford levelling with his fourth point of the game.

A key moment in the first half came on 28 minutes when Kerry went down to 14 men after a black card to Diarmuid O’Connor for a blatant foul on Brendan Rogers. The Kerry man was barely off the field when Rogers put the ball between the posts and that was quickly followed by another superb score, this time from Ciaran McFaul.

Goalkeeper Shane Ryan then followed in Lynch’s footsteps by scoring, but the brilliant Rogers put Derry two points clear again soon afterwards before McGuigan stroked over a third point after a brilliant passing move from Derry. That was Derry’s fourth point since the black card to O’Connor.

The reliable Clifford added a free, but the Kerry forward was then yellow carded for a hefty challenge on a battered and bruised McGuigan, who picked himself up to score Derry’s first free of the half four minutes into added time. It was the final act of a seriously impressive first half from Derry.

Half Time 1-11, 1-8

It didn’t take long for Clifford to get off the mark in the second half, sending over his sixth score and that was followed up by Sean O’Shea’s first score as Kerry started the second half emphatically.

Derry needed to stop that momentum, and they did that with an extended period of possession which ended in a patient and important score from Conor Doherty.

Brendan Rogers then hit the post as Derry came so close to restoring their three-point lead, but a foul by Eoin McEvoy on Geaney at the other end meant an easy free from Clifford and it was down to a point again at 1-12, 1-11 10 minutes into the second half.

Tadhg Morley then denied McKinless what looked like a certain second goal and that was a huge moment with O’Shea drawing Kerry level for the sixth time just two minutes later.

Shane Ryan then came to Kerry’s rescue when he denied McKinless a second goal but Derry finally got back on the board after 10-scoreless minutes, with Ciaran McFaul putting them back into the lead at 1-13, 1-12 on 53 minutes.

Ciaran McFaul and Niall Loughlin then hit two crucial wides in an otherwise strong spell from Derry but Shane McGuigan’s free was met with relief as much as joy as the fans cheered their team into a two-point lead heading into the last 10 minutes.

Then it all went wrong.

A free from O’Shea meant the nerviest of all endings with a single point separating the teams with five remaining and the All-Ireland champions used that momentum to turn it around completely, scoring five successive points, two from Clifford either side of a score from substitute Stephen O’Brien, and another from O’Shea, leaving Derry to chase a three-point deficit heading into four minutes of added time.

McGuigan hooked over a free with the very last kick of the game, with no time remaining as Derry’s hopes faded in the dying minutes of a fantastic semi-final.

Teams

DERRY: Odhran Lynch (0-1), Chrissy McKaigue, Eoin McEvoy, Conor McCluskey, Conor Doherty (0-1), Gareth McKinless (1-0), Padraig McGrogan (0-1), Conor Glass, Brendan Rogers (0-2), Niall Toner, Paul Cassidy (0-2), Ethan Doherty, Ciaran McFaul (0-2), Shane McGuigan (0-6, 3f), Niall Loughlin.

SUBS: Paudie Cassidy on for Padraig McGrogan 9’, Benny Heron for Paudie Cassidy 51’, Lachlan Murray for Niall Toner 60’, She Downey for Eoin McEvoy 72’, Ben McCarron for Gareth McKinless 79’.

YELLOW CARDS: Chrissy McKaigue 26’,

KERRY: Shane Ryan (0-1), Graham O’Sullivan, Jason Foley, Tom O’Sullivan, Paul Murphy, Tadhg Morley, Gavin White (1-0), Diarmuid O’Connor (0-1), Jack Barry, Dara Moynihan, Sean O’Shea (0-4, 1f), Adrian Spillane, Paudie Clifford (0-1), David Clifford (0-9, 5f), Paul Geaney.

SUBS: Stephen O’Brien (0-1) for Adrian Spillane HT’, Tony Brosnan for Paul Murphy 56’, Brian O’ Beaglaoich for Paul Geaney 56’, Michael Burns for Dara Moynihan 59’, Ruairi Murphy for Paudie Clifford 73’.

YELLOW CARDS: David Clifford 35+3’, Jack Barry 51’, Stephen O’Brien 77’.

BLACK CARD:  Diarmuid O’Connor

REFEREE: Joe McQuillan.