Kerry 1-19
Roscommon 1-13

Kerry came through a shaky finish at Dr Hyde Park this afternoon to inflict Roscommon with their fourth defeat in Division 1.

Paul Geaney's injury-time goal killed off any chance of an unlikely comeback from the 14-man hosts after the latter had trimmed a six-point deficit down to one with a 67th minute penalty from Ciaran Murtagh.

Eamonn Fitzmaurice's side led by five points at the half and looked comfortable for the majority of the second-half until Murtagh's major and were forced to call upon the deadly duo of Geaney and James O'Donoghue in the added minutes to ease their relegation fears, while plunging their opponents closer towards the drop.

Geaney was in fine form from the start and had a brace of points (one a free) registered inside the opening two minutes, which Fintan Cregg and Cian Connolly cancelled out for the hosts prior to O'Donoghue restoring the Kingdom's lead on nine minutes.

Barry John Keane backed up Geaney's third of the afternoon with a fine individual score but the Rossies weren't willing to let the margin stand too long, rattling off three unanswered scores from Donie Smith (2 frees) and Connolly.

Geaney (free), Paul Murphy and David Moran had the Munster champions up by three again within five minutes, before a Darren O'Malley free stopped the rot for the hosts, and the would-be winners, having lost Donnchadh Walsh to a black card, went on to finish the half out strong.

A sixth point from Geaney was quickly followed by Jack Savage raising a white flag and Peter Crowley erasing a Ciaran Murtagh effort, leaving it at 0-12 to 0-7 for the break as Roscommon boss Kevin McStay remonstrated with referee Barry Cassidy heading for the tunnel.

Ciaran Murtagh and Savage traded scores early in the resumption and Smith (free) and O'Donoghue kept the difference at five 10 minutes in, as Roscommon struggled to make headway.

O'Donoghue grew into the game in the second-half, adding a free to his side's tally, before having marker John McManus swipe out at him which led to a straight red card for the Roscommon wing back.

That looked to be the final straw for the home side but, to their credit, they battled back brilliantly in the closing quarter with a run of four unanswered scores.

Cregg, Ciaran Murtagh, Diarmuid Murtagh and David Murray all landed points to keep the heat on Fitzmaurice's men, who saw some opportunities of their own drop wide in the meantime.

Keane landed a fine score to make it 0-17 to 0-13, but last year's Connacht finalists dug their deepest in the closing minutes of regulation and eventually got their reward with a penalty which was superbly tucked away by Ciaran Murtagh.

That strike drew a mighty roar from the home crowd but their team couldn't find an equaliser and O'Donoghue's free at the other end settled nerves for Kerry heading into injury-time.

Geaney made sure to settle the issue entirely three minutes into the added time, rifling in a goal when a point looked the first option, to break Roscommon hearts right at the death.

Kerry - B Kealy; S Enright (0-1), K Young, R Shanahan; T Morley, P Crowley (0-1), P Murphy (0-1); D Moran (0-1), J Barry; K McCarthy, J Savage (0-2), D Walsh; B J Keane (0-2), P Geaney (1-6, 0-4f), J O'Donoghue (0-4, 1f). Subs: S O'Brien (0-1) for D Walsh (BC), A Maher for J Barry, M Griffin for P Crowley, D O'Sullivan for J Savage, J Lyne for K Young, M Geaney for B J Keane.

Roscommon - D O'Malley (0-1f); D Murray, S Mullooly, N McInerney; C Devaney, S McDermott, J McManus; E Smith, T O'Rourke; F Cregg (0-2), R Stack, S O'Rourke; D Smith (0-3f), C Murtagh (1-2, 1-0pen), C Connolly (0-2). Subs: C Cafferkey for S McDermott, D Murtagh (0-3, 2f) for C Connolly, N Kilroy for D Smith, B Murtagh for F Cregg, P Brogan for D Murray.

Referee - B Cassidy.

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