So that’s that ... Kerry v Dublin in the final, a big one for the neutrals and no doubt the Kerry fans will travel this time after overlooking today’s semi-final. In the end Derry pushed the reigning champions all the way, but were outscored 0-5 to 0-1 down the stretch. Derry will regret some missed goal chances, and a wide or two late on which they needed to be converting. But with Kerry looking out of ideas, Derry retreated, and the likes of Stephen O’Brien and David Clifford stood up. The latter finished with nine points in all. Being marked by arguably the best corner back in the country.
The final is on July 30th. For now though, keep an eye on the homepage for the report and reaction from Croke Park. Thanks for joining us this evening.
FT Kerry 1-17 Derry 1-15
Jack O’Connor: “They showed the hunger and desire needed to win these games. This was a test that we expected, and the test that will hopefully bring us on another bit.
“The leadership in the second half by David Clifford, hats off what a performance. The name of the game in semi finals is to get over them, and you’d hope that game will bring us on.”
Man of the match, David Clifford: “We probably came away from our principles in the first half and were way too passive. They could’ve punished us if they took their chances, we are just very relieved to get out of here. We got a huge impact off the bench.”
He kicked nine points and was carrying Kerry at times. McKaigue won a few long balls in but had no chance against the Kerry captain. I’m not sure anyone would!
FT Kerry 1-17 Derry 1-15 Kerry finish strongly to return to the All-Ireland final. Great stuff by Derry but when the game was there for them they didn’t kick on and even retreated late on when Kerry looked rattled. Which isn’t the approach that got them into that position!
McGuigan lobs it in, in the 79th minute, but it goes over the bar. He overhit it!
Play is stopped here for an injury to McKinless. The free yet to be taken.
Derry lash it into the square. Ryan fists it clear. Kerry counter and Clifford’s pass inside is brilliantly cut out by Lynch to deny a goal. Derry have a free now and will launch it in (76 mins on the clock) ...
Kerry 1-17 Derry 1-14 (74′) Kerry turn down the chance to go for a score and come out to keep the ball but then work it back inside to Tony Brosnan who kicks his shot from 30m right into the goalkeeper’s hands. Derry will get one more chance ...
Gavin White picks out O’Shea who is somehow in acres of space and he kicks his fourth point. We are inside the first of four minutes added on.
Kerry 1-16 Derry 1-14 (69′) Four in a row for Kerry. Clifford loses it, it spills back to him and he carries and taps over from inside the D.
Kerry 1-15 Derry 1-14 (68′) Derry are retreating here. O’Brien has been excellent these past 15 minutes and he takes on his man and kicks a crucial score left footed. Kerry now lead.
Clifford takes on McKaigue and wins a free. He scores it. Level game.
Kerry 1-13 Derry 1-14 (66′) Stephen O’Brien collects a handpass, steps inside his man and pops it to Jason Foley. His goal shot is double blocked but it’s back for a late push on O’Brien. O’Shea scores it.
Derry still two up - into the 65th minute.
Graham O’Sullivan kicks Kerry’s eighth wide, this one going very wide. And they look a bit tired here but Doherty fails to punish them down the other end with a close range wide for Derry.
Kerry 1-12 Derry 1-14 (59′) Eoin McEvoy’s overlapping runs are killing Kerry here. He combines with McGuigan who is fouled. The latter kicks it over and right now Derry are on top all over.
The outstanding Rogers catches a long Kerry kickout sideline side, between two Derry wides, from McFaul and Loughlin.
Kerry 1-12 Derry 1-13 (52′) After 10 minutes with no score and two missed goal chances, McFaul takes it on the loop and kicks a good point to put Derry back in front.
McKinless - what a ball carrier - walks through a tackle but his shot is well saved by Shane Ryan! What a chance!
Kerry 1-12 Derry 1-12 (49′) Level game for the sixth time. Seanie O’Shea receives a pass down the line after excellent defensive work by Tom O’Sullivan. He carries it, steps on to his right and kicks it over the diving block and over the bar. His second from play.
Geaney loses the ball in the corner but it somehow falls back to him and he wins a free for a very subtle push in the back. Clifford slots the free and it’s a one point game. Down the other end, a scrappy half goal chance for Derry comes to nothing. Some excellent work by Tadhg Morley to stand up McKinless and then by his team mates and Ryan to scramble.
Kerry 1-10 Derry 1-12 (42′) Long ball into Clifford and McKaigue stands tall and knocks it down. From the attack that follows Odhran Lynch takes on a shot and is blocked but luckily for him it falls to a team mate. Conor Doherty then points at the end of the move.
Kerry 1-10 Derry 1-11 (38′) Gavin White makes a break down the left wing and plays it to Barry who has a point chance but doesn’t fancy it off his right, Clifford comes off his shoulder. He loses his man with a little hop and then kicks his sixth point. Sean O’Shea follows up with a nice score from 35m.
The second half is underway. Kerry have replaced Spillane with Stephen O’Brien. O’Connor grabs the throw in brilliantly and wins a a free.
HT Kerry 1-8 Derry 1-11 Derry have been so fluid in attack, they are really going for it here against Kerry and deserve their lead. The teams were level before O’Connor’s black card, so a decent return from Derry to outscore Kerry 0-5 to 0-2 in the 10 minutes they had a man advantage for. Kerry are heavily reliant on David Clifford who has scored five points and McKaigue is on a yellow so he’ll be under huge pressure after the interval. Fingers crossed for a second half as good as the first, brilliant skill level on display so far!
Kerry 1-8 Derry 1-11 (39′) David Clifford nails McGuigan with a beauty of a shoulder but the referee calls a foul. The latter hops up to kick it over. A yellow shown there too, which is a really bad call.
Kerry 1-8 Derry 1-10 (35′) Shane McGuigan collects a handpass on the right, sells his man who thought the Derry forward would take it on the loop on his left, instead he steps back inside and cuts back across to point from close range. Three minutes added on as Clifford wins a mark in the left corner and converts it.
Kerry 1-7 Derry 1-9 (33′) Kerry goalkeeper Shane Ryan comes up to collect a short kickpass, takes it on the bounce to go right through McGuigan and the outfielder for his club then curls over a point as easy as you like. The excellent Rogers responds with his second point from play.
Ciaran McFaul scores the latest Derry point from distance, they are picking them off from just outside the scoring zone here.
Kerry 1-6 Derry 1-7 (28′) McKaigue is really struggling on Clifford. Word of him carrying a bit of an injury, and he’s just picked up a yellow card for a drag back on the Kerry captain. Clifford slots the free. Then from the next kickout Rogers grabs it. O’Connor is black carded for an adjudged trip on him from the ground. Rogers then kicks a point from 40m. Huge.
Kerry 1-5 Derry 1-6 (25′) Lynch takes on a shot from the 45, it’s an awful attempt but somehow bounces over. Very lucky, but Kerry are struggling with him as he creates a plus one by starting several of their attacks from deep. Paul Cassidy then curls over a lovely point from the right of the posts.
David Clifford wins a free for himself and taps it over. That’s his third point.
Kerry 1-4 Derry 1-4 (20′) McGuigan and Jason Foley are having a right battle. Just after Foley came through him to set up the last Kerry score, McGuigan cuts across and curls over a lovely point. His second from play. Before David Clifford slides down to win a ball in the right corner, he hops up, takes on McKaigue and shoots under pressure. Point. Class.
Derry then kick their first wide.
Kerry 1-3 Derry 1-3 (18′) O’Connor ends a 10 minute wait for a Kerry score with an excellent score from 40m, he’s started really well. David then sets up his brother Paudie for his first point.
Shane McGuigan adds another from outside the scoring zone, this one down the left wing. Just after Kerry had kicked their fourth wide.
Kerry 1-1 Derry 1-2 (14′) At the end of a bit of keep ball from Kerry, David Clifford demands it, takes on McKaigue but shooting under pressure his shot drops well short. At the other end Paul Cassidy kicks a lovely score from about 40m.
Adrian Spillane takes a mark but from a bit of an angle to the left he kicks their third wide.
Kerry 1-1 Derry 1-1 (8′) Lynch comes forward and creates a plus one. Gareth McKinless bursts through the middle and sets up a goal chance. Shane Ryan saves from Brendan Rogers but McKinless comes through to bury the rebound.
Then about 30 seconds later, Geaney and Sean O’Shea combine with the latter handpassing across goal for White to palm in. Derry respond with a point. Crazy few minutes.
Kerry 0-1 Derry 0-0 (3′) Paul Geaney sidesteps his way into space and pops a handpass in front of Gavin White who has an early goal chance but blasts it straight at Odhran Lynch. From the next attack David Clifford steps outside McKaigue and kicks a beauty.
Kerry 0-0 Derry 0-0 (1′) GAME ON!! Diarmuid O’Connor wins the throw in but Kerry give it away immediately and Derry’s first attack is cut out by Tom O’Sullivan as last man as the Ulster champions looks to execute a backdoor pass.
No changes to either the Kerry or Derry teams!!
Kerry: S Ryan; G O’Sullivan, J Foley, T O’Sullivan; P Murphy, T Morley, G White; D O’Connor, J Barry; D Moynihan, S O’Shea, A Spillane; P Clifford, D Clifford, P Geaney
Subs: S Murphy, T Brosnan, M Breen, B O Beaglaoich, BD O’Sullivan, R Murphy, M Burns, S O’Brien, D O’Sullivan, D Casey, S O’Brien.
Derry: O Lynch; C McKaigue, E McEvoy, C McCluskey; C Doherty, G McKinless, P McGrogan; C Glass, B Rogers; N Toner, Paul Cassidy, E Doherty; C McFaul, S McGuigan, N Loughlin.
Subs: T Mallon, D Cassidy, B Heron, S Downey, L Murray, B McCarron, P McNeill. Padraig Cassidy, C McGuckian, M Doherty, D Baker.
The last time Derry won an All-Ireland semi-final, it wasn’t going to plan at half-time. Thirty years ago, having got out of Ulster at a time of plenty for the province, they were in many people’s minds the likely latest champions from the North ...
[ Derry scaled heights in 1993 when savvy boss Eamonn Coleman made the differenceOpens in new window ]
Aside from midfield the key battle I’m most looking forward to this afternoon is the one between David Clifford and Chrissy McKaigue. Two players with such talent and size you’d have assumed they’d both be playing in the middle of the field. But instead they line out at corner forward and corner back. Has Clifford faced an out and out corner back who matches him for size so far in his intercounty career? This should be interesting!
Gordon Manning spent yesterday’s semi-final on Hill 16, here’s what he encountered ...
The Hill on Saturday wasn’t always politically correct and it wasn’t always respectful to thy neighbour. But is that really what we expect it to be? Or want it to be?
[ A view from the Hill: this place belongs to all of us - let’s not screw that upOpens in new window ]
Midfield will be a key battleground this afternoon. Kerry have really struggled since the departure of David Moran but Jack Barry and Diarmuid O’Connor both stood up with big performances against Tyrone. Today they face two high quality, athletic opponents. Former Derry talisman Paddy Bradley believes his county have the best midfield in the country …
[ Paddy Bradley: ‘I think Derry are arguably the best midfield in the country’Opens in new window ]
“Will we then be talking this autumn about a green and gold wave? Will we be looking at a Kerry team capable of handling any system and who have no clear challenger to their reign? Could we be looking at another decade of dominance by a single county?”
[ Jim McGuinness: Kerry could dominate for yearsOpens in new window ]
A look back on yesterday evening’s semi-final below … Monaghan were level inside the final 10 minutes before Dublin outscored them 1-5 to 0-1. Cormac Costello kicked seven points while James McCarthy and Brian Fenton led the way from midfield. The Dubs are back in their first final since 2020.
[ Dublin survive rigorous Monaghan examination to reach the All-Ireland finalOpens in new window ]
All-Ireland SFC semi-final: Derry v Kerry, Croke Park, 4.0 [Live, RTÉ2 and BBC Two NI]
“For all that the Ulster champions will be organised and combative and for all their pace in transition, there is a question over their scoring capacity in Croke Park where they have managed 1-12, 0-11 and 1-6 in their three most recent matches against Cork, Dublin and Galway.”
Check out Sean Moran’s preview and prediction in full here.
Teams as per programme
Kerry: S Ryan; G O’Sullivan, J Foley, T O’Sullivan; P Murphy, T Morley, G White; D O’Connor, J Barry; D Moynihan, S O’Shea, A Spillane; P Clifford, D Clifford, P Geaney
Subs: S Murphy, T Brosnan, M Breen, B O Beaglaoich, BD O’Sullivan, R Murphy, M Burns, S O’Brien, D O’Sullivan, D Casey, S O’Brien.
Derry: O Lynch; C McKaigue, E McEvoy, C McCluskey; C Doherty, G McKinless, P McGrogan; C Glass, B Rogers; N Toner, Paul Cassidy, E Doherty; C McFaul, S McGuigan, N Loughlin.
Subs: T Mallon, D Cassidy, B Heron, S Downey, L Murray, B McCarron, P McNeill. Padraig Cassidy, C McGuckian, M Doherty, D Baker.
Hello and welcome … Who will face Dublin in this year’s All-Ireland football final? We are about to find out. Reigning champions Kerry take on back to back Ulster champions Derry in this weekend’s second semi-final.
A clash of styles and systems - David Clifford, Paudie Clifford, Sean O’Shea, Shane McGuigan, Brendan Rogers and Conor Glass are just some of the huge names on show. It promises to be a cracker!
Throw-in at Croke Park is at 4pm.
We’ll be providing build-up and updates throughout. Keep in touch via the comments section or on Twitter (@DonoghueEamon) but for now, let’s get started!
