Kerry unveil another final masterpiece to leave Donegal standing

Irish Times

17 hours ago

All-Ireland SFC final:
Kerry 1-26 Donegal 0-19
The oldest tale in the All-Ireland book never ages any further in the telling. Kerry, doubted at various stages of this year's championship, arrived in Croke Park on Sunday and unleashed a vital performance that swept them to a 39th All-Ireland title.
The story ended with an emphatic full stop, as Joe O'Connor, one of the players of the championship, crashed home a goal in the last minute to extend their winning margin to 10, a fair reflection on a match they set about dominating from the opening seconds.
Hugely impressive captain Gavin White sprang onto the ball when the throw-in broke and sped up the field to making the scoring pass for Dylan Geaney. Kerry one up, 12 seconds on the clock. From then on, they were never led until the final hooter went on the 2025 championship. White went on to be exceptional in his support runs and cover.
As usual with this team, it was a forward-led triumph although there were excellent performances all over the field. David Clifford ended the day with 0-9, another superb contribution to his imminent Footballer of the Year recognition.
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But his performance was as integrated as a cog in the machine, drifting wide, acting as a decoy to pull the Donegal defence out and leaving room for others to do mischief.
Kerry's Joe O'Connor fields a kickout during the All-Ireland SFC final against Donegal at Croke Park. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho
His brother, Paudie also had an immensely effective match – 76 possessions! – enabled by the opposition's laissez faire approach to marking him. He held the ball up and picked his passes, at times with breath-taking perceptiveness, as when he fired a scoring pass into his brother just after half-time.
Five minutes later he popped up on the end of a brilliantly dexterous move, featuring a basketball tap down by Mark O'Shea to his namesake Sean, who supplied the final assist.
Donegal can't say they weren't on notice. On this occasion the 15-minute scoring blitz from Kerry came at the start of the match and left them 0-13 to 0-4 ahead. They dominated possession, and their sprightly runners always threatened a score when attacking, finding gaps in the opposition's zonal defence and routinely creating alarm.
Paudie Clifford bombed a ball in as early as the third minute which Seán O'Brien got under to fist a point. Donegal struggled to stay in touch but Oisín Gallen kicked three first-half points and Michael Murphy also tried to make things happen. By the eighth minute, he kicked a free to narrow the margin to one, 0-4 to 0-3 but then, boom! Kerry won the rest of the quarter, nine points to one.
Kerry's David Clifford kicks a two-pointer despite the efforts of Brendan McCole of Donegal. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho
Earlier in the year, Jack O'Connor was always explaining why his team didn't avail of more two-pointers. By the end of the championship, Kerry had become brand leaders in the new, enhanced scores. Four were scored in the first half – three by Clifford and one by Seán O'Shea.
They fell like hammer blows on the knuckles of a Donegal team hanging on to a ledge, by their fingertips.
When the hooter went for half-time, Kerry were playing keep ball and Brendan McCole was eyeballing David Clifford, determined that he wouldn't get loose for a last shot before the break.
But Clifford moved suddenly, took the ball from Seán O'Shea and lamped over a two-pointer for a 0-17 to 0-10 interval lead.
Donegal were unable to respond, their attacks too ponderous and unable to get their hands on the ball – they retained nine of their 21 kick-outs whereas Kerry were nine from 11. They also failed to make their customary turnovers and when they did there was little of the searing pace in the counter-attacks that had been a prime energy source in the semi-final.
Kerry's Gavin White with Jamie Brennan of Donegal. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho
For a team with no shortage of good long-range kickers, they also never looked even interested in engaging with the two-pointers despite the scoreboard taking them to a place where they needed to make quick inroads.
To demoralise Jim McGuinness's team further, Seán O'Shea kicked a point within 20 seconds of the restart. Donegal came into the match more at centrefield where replacement Jason McGee made a difference and they had a scoreboard run of 0-5 to 0-1 to cut the margin to four, 0-21 to 0-17.
Yet the position felt false. Murphy's frees were unerringly accurate – just one early on, hit the post – but Donegal needed more because they weren't capable of shutting down the Kerry scoring threat and controlling the scoreboard.
Conor O'Donnell and Shane O'Donnell battled for 0-3 – and the latter cleared a David Clifford shot off the line – but the scores were just a matter of keeping up with Kerry whose composure and commitment remained unwavering. Joe O'Connor made a great block under the Cusack on Dáire Ó Baoill and short of conjuring goal, which never looked likely, the Ulster champions were chasing a losing cause.
Kerry's Evan Looney and Jason Foley compete for possession with Michael Murphy of Donegal. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho
They weren't lucky either and Ryan McHugh had to leave the field injured just after half-time, but there was no leaving this at misfortune's door. For manager Jack O'Connor, who announced that he would not be seeking a further appointment, it was an immensely satisfying win, his fifth All-Ireland title over the 21 years since he first landed Sam Maguire.
He sent out a team that gave its best display of the championship on the biggest day of the year.
Yet again he has completed a league and championship double – also his fifth – and the All-Ireland run-in was a stark illustration of how comprehensively he had mastered the Ulster threat with wins over the province's top three contenders, All-Ireland champions Armagh, Tyrone and now, Ulster champions Donegal.
Kerry:
S Ryan; P Murphy, J Foley, D Casey; B Ó Beaglaoich, G White (capt; 0-0-3), M Breen; S O'Brien (0-0-2), M O'Shea; J O'Connor (1-0-0), S O'Shea (0-2-3 2f), G O'Sullivan, D Clifford (0-3-3), P Clifford (0-0-3), D Geaney (0-0-2).
Subs:
D O'Connor for O'Brien (50 mins), K Spillane for Geaney (54 mins), E Looney for Ó Beaglaoich (63 mins), T Morley for Breen (65 mins), M Burns for O'Sullivan (69 mins).
Donegal:
S Patton; C McColgan, F Roarty, B McCole; R McHugh, EB Gallagher, P Mogan; C McGonagle (0-0-1), M Langan; C Moore, C Thompson, S O'Donnell (0-0-3); C O'Donnell (0-0-3), M Murphy (0-0-8 6f), O Gallen (0-0-3).
Subs:
D Ó Baoill (0-0-1) for Thompson (23 mins), H McFadden for McColgan (half-time), J McGee for McHugh (41 mins), P McBrearty for Gallen (50 mins), J Brennan for Gallagher (59 mins).
Referee:
B Cawley (Kildare).