Champions Kerry back in the All-Ireland final after edging Derry out with late flurry of scores

All-Ireland SFC semi-final: Kerry 1-17 Derry 1-15

Derry eyed the finish line, but Kerry crossed it.

For so long this All-Ireland SFC semi-final was in Derry’s control yet it wound up with Kerry winning by two points and their opponents reduced in the final moments to goal-seeking Hail Mary efforts.

The Ulster champions will spend the winter wondering how it slipped away in the closing stages, though David Clifford might be able to provide them with some answers.

The Kerry captain delivered his latest masterclass, finishing the game with 0-9, four from play, four frees and one mark. He was fouled for three of those four frees, too.

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“It was like he was willing the team to get over the line,” said Jack O’Connor afterwards. “I thought it was an incredible second-half performance.” Not that it had been bad in the first half, either.

Derry led 1-11 to 1-8 at half-time and were two ahead with four minutes of normal time remaining at Croke Park, but Kerry outscored them 0-5 to 0-1 coming down the straight.

[ Chrissy McKaigue did as much as he could to stop David Clifford but Kerry’s marvel found a way ]

[ Kerry 1-17 Derry 1-15: As it happened ]

Kerry’s experienced players stood up – of those last five points, Seán O’Shea and David Clifford knocked over two apiece while it was Stephen O’Brien’s 69th minute score that edged the Kingdom in front for the first time since the opening half.

Kerry went 18 minutes of the second half without scoring but Derry couldn’t take advantage. When the game needed to be won, the reigning champions found a way.

A Shane McGuigan free on the hour mark edged Derry 1-14 to 1-12 ahead, but they would not score again until the very last kick of the game, in the eighth minute of injury-time.

Kerry registered three consecutive wides during this spell and looked a little jittery, but when O’Brien – introduced as a half-time sub – drew a questionable foul in the 66th minute the pattern of the match changed decisively.

Kerry won the next three Derry kick-outs and penned Ciarán Meenagh’s side in. Off all three steals, the defending champions scored. Five points on the bounce put Kerry 1-17 to 1-14 ahead in injury-time and Derry emerged from a green and gold whirlwind realising they suddenly needed a goal, just to force extra-time.

But McGuigan overhit his late free and as it sailed over the crossbar, with it went Derry’s season. It was the last action of a captivating match, but one which leaves plenty of question marks over Kerry.

The Kerry midfield struggled for large spells, while it was far from a day of days for the Kingdom’s forwards – David Clifford aside.

O’Shea and Paudie Clifford got to grips with the encounter more in the second half, but Dara Moynihan, Adrian Spillane and Paul Geaney were all taken off having scored a combined total of zero.

Derry dictated most of the opening 35 minutes with the game largely played on their terms. It was far from the dour fest some had predicted, with Derry’s structured hard-running game causing Kerry huge problems.

Gareth McKinless might have broken his GPS given the amount of ground he covered.

Derry had seven different scorers in the first half – including three of their starting forwards, not bad for a team criticised for relying too heavily on McGuigan for scores.

As expected, McKaigue picked up David Clifford while the other Derry defensive match-ups included Conor McCluskey moving out to mark Paudie Clifford, Pádraig McGrogan marshalling O’Shea and Eoghan McEvoy shadowing Geaney.

At the other end of the field Jason Foley marked McGuigan and Tom O’Sullivan followed Niall Loughlin.

The opening score of the contest came after David Clifford (24) jinked away from McKaigue (34) and popped over a nice point with his left foot. It was to be a regular feature of the game, McKaigue was yellow-carded in the 27th minute but Derry persevered with him marking the Kerry captain throughout.

Gavin White’s surging runs forward were a vital component of Kerry’s comeback and he scored Kerry’s goal just seconds after McKinless had made it 1-0 to 0-1 during the opening exchanges.

Derry will rue a couple of missed goal chances in the second half – the first was a goalmouth scramble with Niall Toner’s effort blocked while the second was a strong save by Shane Ryan from a McKinless shot.

They also posted three wides in a seven-minute period in the second half, those are the kind of stats that kill you against Kerry. Ultimately, four points in the second half wasn’t going to be enough to get the job done.

Kerry brought greater aggression after the break and were more successful in turning Derry over, but they didn’t get their noses in front again until the 69th minute.

And so the most open and unpredictable football championship in years will end with the most predictable of final pairings as Kerry and Dublin meet in a fortnight.

Kerry, who last beat Dublin in a final in 1985, are aiming to claim back-to-back Sam Maguire triumphs for the first time since 2006-07.

“It’s very obvious that that Dublin team have been gearing up for two weeks’ time from well back,” added O’Connor. “They’ve brought back the cavalry, they’ve even brought back Pat Gilroy, they didn’t bring those fellas back for the craic.”

Kerry and Dublin again, same as it ever was.

KERRY: Shane Ryan (0-1); Paul Murphy, Jason Foley, Tom O’Sullivan; Graham O’Sullivan, Tadhg Morley, Gavin White (1-0); Diarmuid O’Connor (0-1), Jack Barry; Adrian Spillane, Paudie Clifford (0-1), Dara Moynihan; David Clifford (capt; 0-9, 0-4f, 0-1m), Seán O’Shea (0-4, 0-1f), Paul Geaney. Subs: Stephen O’Brien (0-1) for Spillane (half-time), Tony Brosnan for Geaney (55 mins), Brian Ó Beaglaoich for Murphy (55 mins), Micheál Burns for Moynihan (59 mins), Ruiarí Murphy for P Clifford (73 mins).

DERRY: Odhran Lynch (0-1); Eoghan McEvoy, Chris McKaigue, Conor Doherty (0-1); Pádraig McGrogan (0-1), Conor Mc Cluskey, Gareth McKinless (1-0); Conor Glass (capt), Brendan Rogers (0-2); Paul Cassidy (0-2), Ciarán McFaul (0-2), Ethan Doherty; Niall Loughlin, Shane McGuigan (0-6, 0-2f), Niall Toner. Subs: Pádraig Cassidy for McGrogan (injured, 9 mins), Benny Heron for P Cassidy (51 mins), Lachlan Murray for Toner (60 mins), Shea Downey for McEvoy (70 mins), Ben McCarron for Mc Kinless (79 mins).

Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan).