Carlow make light work of Kerry in Tralee
A sobering afternoon for the Kerry hurlers as Carlow heaped a 19-point defeat on them and made it back to back wins for the Leinster county in this Joe McDonagh Cup at Austin Stack Park on Sunday afternoon.
Carlow had opened their campaign with a 21-point win over Down, while Kerry had struggled to a one-point win away to Kildare, so there was an expectation that this might be a bridge too far for the Kingdom and so it transpired.
Carlow had this contest very much put to bed by half time – playing with a stiff breeze – with goals from Conor Kehoe and Paddy Boland helping the visitors to a 14-point lead at the interval, 2-15 to 0-07.
Chris Nolan got Carlow off the mark with a third minute point, and they were four ahead by the sixth minute before Dylan Moriarty's 20-metre free raised Kerry's first flag.
A Carlow goal inevitably arrived when Martin Kavanagh's solo run split the Kerry defence, and he offloaded to his club mate, Kehoe, who shot low across Louis Dee's goal to make it 1-5 to 0-01.
A second goal from Boland in the 16th minute made it 2-09 to 0-02, before Kerry scored their first point from play from midfielder Paudie O'Connor.
Kavanagh converted a brace of points from play, and Moriarty brought his total for the half to five points (all from frees), while Chris Nolan (2) and Boland notched Carlow points to leave them 14 ahead at the break.
The second half played out to its inevitable conclusion, with Carlow throttling back on their intensity but still able to win the second period by five points, helped by a third goal – scored by Chris Nolan in the 51st minute.
Carlow scored three of the first four second half points, which put paid to any faint glimmer of a Kerry comeback, and Nolan's green flag made it 3-20 to 0-11 with 20 minutes to play.
Kerry's silver linings came from three points apiece from play from Luke Crowley and sub Shane Nolan, while goalkeeper Dee denied the visitors another two goals with super saves on James Doyle and Ted Joyce.
Carlow played the last minute with 14 men after Kavanagh was dismissed on a second yellow card, but they move on with two wins from two games, with Kildare next to visit Dr Cullen Park. Kerry's route doesn't get any easier as they are away to Laois in the third round.
KERRY: Louis Dee, Kyle O'Connor, Flor McCarthy, Dara Kearney, Darragh Shanahan, Kevin Goulding, Seánie McGrath, Paudie O'Connor 0-01, Dáithí Griffin, Tom Doyle 0-01, Killian Hayes, Luke Crowley 0-03, Darragh Conway, Oisín Maunsell 0-02, Dylan Moriarty 0-06 (0-06f).
Subs: Rory Mahony for D Griffin (52), Shane Nolan 0-03 for S McGrath (55), Seanie Brosnan 0-01 for D Moriarty (60), Luke Rochford for K Hayes (68), Niall Mulcahy for L Crowley (68)
CARLOW: Brian Tracey, Paul Doyle, Dion Wall, Páidí O'Shea, Evan Kealy, Kevin McDonald 0-01 (0-01 s/l), Jack McCullagh 0-01, James Doyle 0-01, Fiachra Fitzpatrick, Jon Nolan 0-04, Conor Kehoe 1-01, Ciaran Whelan 0-01, Chris Nolan 1-05, Martin Kavanagh 0-08 (0-04f), Paddy Boland 1-02.
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