Ryan O’Driscoll came off the Kerry bench to score 2-1 in the last 15 minutes, but his contribution wasn’t actually required to insure victory such was Kerry’s dominance from the start.
Indeed, the Kingdom led by 13 points at half time, giving Wayne Quillinan’s side such breathing space that they could afford to cough up two late goals to Roscommon and still win with so much to spare.
Those four second half goals all came in a four-minute spell near the end of the contest, but even that glut of green flags was hardly enough to entertain the small crowd in Cusack Park in Ennis who had to endure a terribly one-sided game.
Nevertheless, there was much in Kerry’s performance to enjoy, and they will certainly go into that meeting against Derry high on confidence after this.
Though Roscommon scored inside the first minute – a Dean Casey free- it was all one-way traffic thereafter. In fact that was Roscommon’s only score of the first half, with Ronan Carroll scoring four points, Gearoid White with three and two from wing-back Sean Ó Cuinn, while Joey McCarthy’s shot for a point in the 29th minute sailed over Patrick Gaynor’s head for a fortuitous Kerry goal to make it 1-11 to 0-1 at half time.
Roscommon opened the scoring in the second half but Kerry responded with three points, before the goal blitz arrived.
Roscommon captain Keelan Kelly volleyed to the net in the 52nd minute but Kerry subs Cian MacGearailt and O’Driscoll combined for the latter to goal a minute later. A minute after that Mac Gearailt again set up O’Driscoll for his second goal, and though Eoin Collins squeezed the ball past Kacper Robak a minute after that, there was no disputing the outcome.
Scorers:
Kerry: R O’Driscoll 2-1, R Carroll 0-5 (2f), G White 0-4 (3f), J McCarthy 1-1, S Ó Cuinn 0-2, E Murphy 0-2, G O’Keeffe 0-1, B Murphy 0-1, J Joy 0-1
Roscommon: E Collins 1-0, K Kelly 1-1, S Tight 0-1, D Casey 0-1 (f), A Cox 0-1
TEAMS:
KERRY: Kacper Robak; Fionnán Ryan, Michael Lynch, Ruadhán Donovan; Seán Ó Cuinn, Aodhna Ó Beaglaoich, Gavin O’Keeffe; Ben Murphy, Killian Dennehy; Gearoid White, Joey McCarthy, Eanna Murphy, Jack Joy, Ronan Carroll, Michael Horan. Subs: Cian MacGearailt for Horan (41), Eoin O’Flaherty for B Murphy (41), David Sargent for Ó Cuinn (46), Ryan O’Driscoll for Joy (48), Gavin Casey for White (50).
ROSCOMMON: Patrick Gaynor, Liam Finneran, Gordon Casey, Colin Murray, Eoin Collins, Keelan Kelly, Declan Kennedy, Darragh Devaney, Cathal Enright, Joe McKeon, Dara Curran, Sean McDonnell, Stephen Tighe, Shay McGuinness, Dean Casey.
Subs: Alan Conroy for McKeon (27), Anthony Cox for Casey (37), Jeffrey Oates for McGuinness (43), Martin Connaughton for Murray (46), Ciaran Mulry for Kennedy (46).
REFEREE: Chris Maguire (Clare)
