Kerry keep in race for final berth with win over Roscommon

Kerry kept themselves in contention for a place in the Allianz Football League final after comfortably getting the better of Roscommon at Dr Hyde Park.

Jack O'Connor’s men were the best team by some distance, and Joe O’Connor’s injury-time goal sealed a deserved victory for the visitors.

David Clifford hit 0-06 over the 70 minutes, including blasting a first-half penalty over the crossbar.

From the opening whistle, Kerry kept possession for over two minutes without a Roscommon player touching the ball, which ended with a fisted point for O’Connor.

That set the template for the opening half, with Kerry probing for the space against a packed Roscommon defence in an effort to get possession to their shooters.

Ronan Daly did equalise for Roscommon, but points from David Clifford (0-02), Barry Dan O’Sullivan, Seán O’Brien and Darragh Roche pushed the Kingdom 0-06 to 0-01 ahead at the end of the opening quarter.

Roscommon goalkeeper Conor Carroll showed his forwards how to split the posts with an excellent 20th minute score — a rare highlight for the Rossies during the opening 35 minutes.

Clifford added his third point of the afternoon before Enda Smith and Daire Cregg replied for Roscommon.

In the 31st minute, Kerry won a penalty, although Seán O’Shea, who was being pulled by David Murray, had diverted Darragh Roche’s crossfield attempt to the net. Up stepped Clifford, but he blazed his effort over Conor Carroll’s crossbar to leave Kerry 0-08 to 0-04 ahead at half time.

Roscommon improved on the resumption, and two early points by Enda Smith and Daire Cregg hinted at a comeback.

But Kerry were always able to move the Roscommon defence out of position to generate the space for scores, ending with 1-16 out of their 1-17 coming from play.