Antrim lift Joe McDonagh Cup after thrilling goal-fest

Goal hungry Antrim hit the net five times at Croke Park and ultimately needed every one of those strikes to overcome Kerry in a thrilling Joe McDonagh Cup final, securing their MacCarthy Cup status for 2023.

Ciaran Clarke helped himself to 2-02 while Conal Cunning, who top scored for the victors with 1-12, James McNaughton and Seaan Elliott all raised green flags in a nine-goal thriller.

That's 25 goals in total that Antrim have scored in this season's competition though it took everything they had in attack to overcome a determined Kerry side who were seeking to avoid a three-in-a-row of final defeats.

Padraig Boyle was terrific for Kerry and his second goal right at the end of second-half stoppage time left just a point in it.

Full-time arrived moments later and Antrim, who'd led by 12 points at one stage in the first-half, escaped to a landmark victory, a repeat of their 2020 final win over Kerry.

Antrim will play in next season's Leinster SHC and will return to action next weekend against Cork in an All-Ireland SHC preliminary quarter-final while Kerry will take on Wexford. Both teams will have home advantage for those games.

With Antrim striking 20 goals in just five group games - six against Down and seven against Meath - the challenge for Kerry was clear: stop the Saffrons from raising green flags.

Unfortunately for the Kingdom they failed miserably to do that and by half-time the favourites had three goals registered, not to mention the 14 points they also plundered.

Kerry played with a two-man full-forward line of Colum Harty and Shane Conway, allowing them to drop Colin Walsh, wearing number 10, into defence and ultimately freeing Mikey Boyle to perform as a sweeper.

It was a clear ploy to prevent Antrim cutting their