Kerry 1-15 Dublin 1-10
A game of masters and students as Kerry’s old hands and new recruits collectively had too much skill and understanding for Dublin as team manager Ger Brennan tries to hastily make them into a competitive outfit again at Gaelic football’s top table.
On Saturday evening in Croke Park, Dublin lacked nothing in effort and enthusiasm but against a Kerry team still motoring in third gear, they were unable to last the pace despite making a late effort with a goal from Peadar Ó Cofaigh-Byrne and a two-pointer from Paddy Small, which trimmed the lead to a single goal.
Faced with the prospect of a possible tight finish, Jack O’Connor’s boys simply upped their level of performance to get two more points and ease to victory against a team which has now only a win against Monaghan to show for their four outings, including those against Mayo and Armagh.
You get a feel for how the guard has changed by realizing this was the first time in nine years that Kerry won a league game against their traditionally biggest rivals.
A crowd of over 25,000 had their interest piqued enough, together with the hurlers playing against Wexford in the curtain-raiser, but they got little by way of real competition.
Indeed Tony Brosnan’s goal — he earlier had missed an easier chance — seemed to put the tin hat on the affair as a genuine battle.
Footballer of the Year David Clifford and Seán O'Shea, were responsible between them for eight points while the improving Mark O'Shea was given the man of the match award for his dominance of the midfield sector. Probably the best thing about the night from a Kerry point of view was the return of Paudie Clifford and Tom O'Sullivan for second-half performances which is a good sign going forward while they managed 0-3 between them to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
There is no doubt that Brennan faces a race against time as he tries to make the Dubs competitive in league matches to avoid the drop. Currently second bottom with only Monaghan below them, they have a fight on their hands to avoid relegation.
They are also no longer the shoe-in in Leinster that they have been for the great part of the last decade and a half and defeat to Meath or holders Louth or Kildare will not endear the new manager to a following spoiled and reared on big game wins in the Gilroy, Gavin and Farrell eras.
Ó Cofaigh Byrne’s goal five minutes from the end did momentarily raise expectations of late drama but the excellent O'Sullivan and Seán O'Shea sealed it for the Kingdom who now face the Farney men in Kerry this weekend.
Dublin now face down the barrel of a gun with a round five encounter against high riding Roscommon who will be buoyed by their brilliant away win against Galway on Saturday night, after coming back from 11 points in arrears to win by a point - 2-16 to 0-21.
The Dubs have shown glimpses of what they are capable of but don’t maintain it long enough to stay with the top teams. The newcomers struggle to get up to the pace of what is required while some of the older hands are clearly still struggling with being the leaders that are needed in the current set up.
The likes of Paddy Small is too inaccurate to be a Dean Rock or a Paul Mannion while Sean Bugler hasn’t kicked on from a few seasons ago when it looked like he would be a major help to Con O’Callaghan, who on this occasion had to leave the fray with an injury at the interval.
Kerry: S Murphy; E Looney, J Foley, D Casey; A Heinrich, T Morley (0-1), G O'Sullivan (0-1); J O'Connor, M O'Shea; C Trant (0-1), S O'Shea (0-4, 2 tp), M Burns; T Brosnan (1-2), D Clifford (0-4, 1tp, 0-1f), KEvans Subs: P Murphy for Looney h/t, P Clifford (0-1) for Burns h/t, T O'Sullivan (0-2) for G O'Sullivan 54, D O'Sullivan for Trant 54, LSmith for Mark O'Shea 63.
Dublin: E Comerford, E Murchan, N Doran, D Byrne; S Bugler, C McMorrow, A Gavin; B Howard, P Ó Cofaigh Byrne (1-0); R McGarry (0-1), C Kilkenny (0-2, 1 tp), N Scully (0-1); P Small (0-3, 1 tp), C O'Callaghan (0-3, 0-2f, 0-1 45), L O'Dell.
Subs: S MacMahon for Doran 33, J Quigley for O'Callaghan h/t, L Breathnach for O'Dell 43, K McGinnis for McGarry 45, C Tyrrell for Gavin 62.
Ref: P Neilan (Roscommon).
Limerick 0-36; Tipperary 0-21
This Limerick cakewalk has thrown the fat among the pigeons for the hurling aficionados who delight in telling us who will win the McCarthy Cup months before it is presented.
It started out this 2026 season with the word Cork were overwhelming favorites to make up for last year and bridge a 31-year gap; others thought Liam Cahill’s Tipperary were continuing to grow and would make a stout defense of the title they surprised everyone except themselves by winning last season.
Now just when we thought we had sought an order on things for the coming summer, up steps Limerick (remember them and their dominance for so many recent seasons) and they don’t just beat up Tipp; they annihilate them in their own Semple Stadium backyard on Saturday evening.
Don’t read too much into the fact that Willie Connor was sent off after half-time as the Treaty men had a vice-like grip on this contest long before they were given a numerical advantage on the playing front… actually they were 13 points up at that mark, 0-20 to 0-7
This was vintage Limerick, the sort of power play and complete dominance we thought had left the arena a few seasons ago almost due to the fatigue of winning five All Ireland across six years.
On Saturday the hunger was back and when you consider they were missing several key personnel including skipper Cian Lynch, Barry Nash and Seamus Flanagan, the last for disciplinary reasons, this 15-point spanking was indeed a massive win, albeit acknowledging this was their 13th game without defeat against the Premier County.
Even better news for the followers of the green jerseys was the fact that it is relative newcomers who are leading the charge back to the victory parades which they hope will come as the year progresses.
Centre-forward Aidan O'Connor hit 0-11 as his 11 other teammates found the range in front of a fine crowd of over 15,000 fans. And Shane O’Brien’s play was a delight as he hit half a dozen scores and caused the inside Tipp defense all sorts of problems right through the game.
Without the guile of Jason Forde who was suspended, Tipp gave recalls to veteran Noel McGrath along with Eoghan Connolly and Seán Kenneally.
Kyle Hayes appeared in the green for the first time in a while due to a neck injury and alongside William O'Donoghue at six, they dominated their opponents while Dan Morrissey appeared to be delighting in the front of the goal contests in his first outing of the year.
Tipp were turned over at will by a driven Limerick outfit who sprinted out of the block and were 0-7 to 0-0 by the 11th minutes. If you felt there was no way back after that, you were spot on as Tipp were so out of sorts that they only got their first score from play on the cusp of the half-time whistle.
Even when they were offered chances, they failed to take them as was instanced from Darren McCarthy penalty which he shot harmlessly wide.
Any hopes of a comeback were all but over within seconds of the restart as Connors received a straight red card from referee Colm Lyons for an off-the-ball clash with Darragh O’Donovan.
The one bright beacon was the defiance of 35-year-old Noel McGrath who ended up with six points from play as he showed those around him what is required to make a mark at this level.
Liam Cahill won’t be happy with this showing but he is looking for new blood and probably wants his team firing on all cylinders in two months time rather than so early in the year.
We shouldn’t read too much into this result if that is the case but you can’t blame Limerick from upping their game, a la the Ireland rugby team who many thought were past their sell-by date until they turned up and turned over England so comprehensively in Twickenham on Saturday.
Limerick: N Quaid; M Fitzgerald, D Morrissey, M Casey (0-1); C Coughlan (0-1), W O’Donoghue, K Hayes; A English (0-2), D O’Donovan (0-2); G Hegarty (0-2), A O’Connor (0-11, 0-3f, 0-2 65s), C O’Neill (0-1); A Gillane (0-2), S O’Brien (0-6), P Casey (0-4) Subs: D Ó Dálaigh for O’Brien (44-46, blood), D Reidy for English (52), T Morrissey (0-2) for Hegarty (52), Ó Dálaigh (0-2) for Gillane (60), J Fitzgerald for O’Neill (60), D Byrnes for Hayes (63).
Tipperary: Barry Hogan; C O’Reilly, B O’Mara, E Connolly (0-2, 0-1f, 0-1 65); J Caesar, C Morgan, S Kennedy; W Connors, C Stakelum; S O’Farrell, A Ormond, N McGrath (0-6); D McCarthy (0-7f), J Morris (0-1), S Kenneally (0-1) Subs: D Stakelum (0-1) for O’Farrell (30), O O’Donoghue for Ormond (h-t), J McGrath (0-2f) for McCarthy (51), J Keller for C Stakelum (56), K Ryan (0-1) for Caesar (61).
Ref: C Lyons (Cork).
GAA RESULTS
Allianz FL Division 1
Donegal 1-20 Armagh 0-19
Mayo 2-30 Monaghan 2-11
Kerry 1-16 Dublin 1-10
Roscommon 2-16 Galway 0-21
Allianz FL Division 2
Cork 1-23 Meath 1-21
Louth 1-15 Tyrone 0-13
Cavan 0-16 Kildare 0-13
Derry 2-25 Offaly 0-8
Allianz FL Division 3
Sligo 1-18 Limerick 1-15
Westmeath 1-26 Fermanagh 2-11
Clare 0-24 Laois 2-15
Down 1-29 Wexford 1-19
Allianz FL Division 4
Carlow 1-26 Waterford 0-15
Wicklow 2-26 London 0-16
Antrim 2-20 Leitrim 1-15
Longford 1-15 Tipperary 0-18
Allianz HL Division 1A
Kilkenny 1-21 Waterford 1-20
Galway 2-23 Offaly 0-18
Limerick 0-36 Tipperary 0-21
Allianz HL Division 1B
Antrim 0-25 Carlow 0-12
Dublin 4-19 Wexford 3-22
Clare 0-27 Kildare 3-14
Allianz HL Division 2
Laois 1-18 Kerry 1-17
Westmeath 3-22 London 0-20
Meath 1-20 Derry 1-18
Allianz HL Division 3
Donegal 1-18 Armagh 1-9
Tyrone 2-18 Fermanagh 1-17
Roscommon 0-14 Louth 0-11
Allianz HL Division 4
Cavan 2-20 Lancashire 2-15
Sligo 2-34 Warwickshire 0-3
Leitrim 1-19 Monaghan 1-11
Ladies NFL Division 1
Dublin 3-5 Kildare 1-8
Cork 0-16 Kerry 0-8
Meath 1-9 Waterford 0-10
Galway 3-11 Armagh 0-15
Ladies NFL Division 2
Westmeath 4-10 Wexford 1-13
Cavan 1-6 Donegal 0-7
Tyrone 2-7 Mayo 1-10
Tipperary 1-12 Monaghan 1-12
Ladies NFL Division 3
Louth 2-7 Limerick 0-5
Down 1-12 Roscommon 2-4
Clare 4-7 Laois 2-11
Antrim 4-10 Fermanagh 2-10
Ladies NFL Division 4
Carlow 4-12 Derry 1-7
Sligo 5-17 Kilkenny 1-0
Leitrim 7-16 Wicklow 2-0
Offaly v Longford - OFF
Camogie League Division 1A
Antrim 2-10 Cork 1-11
Kilkenny 0-15 Tipperary 0-10
Camogie League Division 1B
Limerick 1-15 Offaly 2-9
Down 1-10 Dublin 0-10
Clare 0-16 Wexford 0-9
Camogie League Division 2
Laois 2-14 Derry 1-9
Westmeath 3-8 Carlow 0-10
Kerry 2-10 Meath 1-11
Camogie League Division 3A
Kildare 0-16 Wicklow 1-1
Armagh 3-11 Roscommon 0-12
Camogie League Division 3B
Mayo 3-11 Louth 1-10
Monaghan 6-6 Donegal 4-6
