PHOTOS/REPORT: A Dream Start To The League For Kerry

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Mike O’Halloran reports from Portlaoise on Kerry’s great start to the Division 1B Allianz Hurling League today against Laois…

Kerry 1-24

Laois 2-14

Kerry v Laois scoreKerry began their journey in the company of the big boys of hurling with a splendid victory in Portlaoise over Laois on a score line of 1-24 to 2-14.

The manager of this team had said he had set no goals for the panel, but the panel have set the bar very high for themselves with a consummate performance of all that is good in hurling.

The Kerry team played with skill, bravery, cohesion and matching brain with sheer hard graft. Kerry led by a point at halftime 1-10 to 1-11, mainly due to some stout defending and tireless work from Patrick Kelly and Tommy Casey at midfield.

Continued below…

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Kerry V Laois team

The Kerry panel before the game on Sunday. Photo by Mike O’Halloran

Patrick Kelly and Tommy Casey lorded the centre from the beginning with Casey at the middle of all the action for the first ten minutes, setting out the stall for all his team mates and set the tone for the rest of the game as Patrick Kelly added points as well.

Shane Nolan

Shane Nolan breaking away. Photo by Mike O’Halloran

Up front, Michael O’Leary was excellent with his ability to fetch the ball in the air. He had Kerry’s opening point followed by a point each from John Egan and Michael Boyle.

Egan was busy and intelligent all day, always presenting himself in the right place and feeding of the ball provided by O’Leary and Michael Boyle.

Kerry v Laois Colum Harty

Colum Harty driving forward on Sunday. Photo by Mike O’Halloran

Jack Goulding was absolutely awesome. He was found at each end of the field defending and attacking, taking on the Laois defence using his strength skill and determination to great effect.

Jack is well known in Ballyduff for his flick of the ball from behind his back while in full flight and to illustrate his great confidence, he did this today against Laois and it worked, he added a point before halftime.

Kerry came out for the second half with all guns blazing and added three points in as many minutes with Egan, Michael Boyle and Colum Harty splitting the posts.

Shane Nolan, even though carrying an injury from a knock earlier on, knocked over four points in this half.

Kerry v Laois 1

Action from the game on Sunday. Photo by Mike O’Halloran

There were further points from Egan and two from Jack Goulding. John Griffin came on for Darren Dineen and tapped over a point as did Jordan Conway who gave John Egan a rest.

This was a seventeen man performance and there were many heroes but the work done by Patrick Kelly Tommy Casey at midfield led to both Laois midfielders being replaced.

The performance of Kelly and Casey was the cornerstone of the victory, as well as the tireless running of Jack Goulding. Anyone of these three could be named man of the match.

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There are bigger tests ahead for Kerry in Division 1B but the longest journey starts with a single step and today’s step was huge.

Wexford were beaten by Limerick last night, so Kerry must now set their sights on a victory over the yellow bellies at home in a few weeks.

In the meantime, next Sunday Kerry take on Limerick in Fitzgerald’s Stadium Killarney. This might be a tougher assignment for them, but after today’s display, they can face into the rest of the league pretty confident that they will not be relegated.

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In my preview I stated that perhaps Laois would present Kerry with a bouquet of two points. Laois didn’t present the bouquet of points.

No, Kerry just burst into O’Moore Park and it was a Valentine’s Day massacre.

Scorers for Kerry: Shane Nolan 0-8 (0-5f, 0-2 65), Michael Boyle 1-1, John Egan 0-4, Jack Goulding 0-3, Michael O’Leary 0-2, Patrick Kelly 0-2, Colum Harty 0-2, John Griffin and Jordan Conway 0-1

Kerry: Martin Stockpoole, Keith Carmody, Bryan Murphy, Sean Weir, Daniel Collins, Darren Dineen (John Griffin), Tom Murnane; Patrick Kelly, Tommy Casey, Colum Harty, Michael O’Leary, Shane Nolan, Jack Goulding, Mikey Boyle, John Egan (Jordan Conway).

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