Senior footballers write names into history books

DUBLIN 2-18 KERRY 0-13

Dublin's senior footballers continue to rewrite history as they won their fourth NFL Division 1 title in-a-row on Sunday in Croke Park.

The Dubs were the superior team over the 70-plus minutes but finished in a scoring flurry after Kerry had been reduced to 14 men following the sending off of Aidan O'Mahony in the 50th minute.

At that stage Dublin were 0-13 to 0-11 to the good.

Ten minutes later Dublin were awarded a penalty which Dean Rock blasted over the bar to lead 0-15 to 0-12.

In the 66th minute the game turned totally in Dublin's favour when Paul Flynn intercepting a short Brendan Kealy kickout before blasting to the net.

After that there was no looking back by Dublin and they drove on to capture their fourth NFL title in-a-row for the first time ever.

In injury-time sub Eric Lowndes was set up by Bernard Brogan, who brilliantly retrieved a ball that could have gone out of play, to fire home Dublin's second goal.

Brogan's bit of magic typified his day as he scored four points from play and made something out of nothing on a number of occasions.

The St Oliver Plunkett's man slotted three classy first half points as Dublin led 0-10 to 0-8 at the break.

It was a hard working opening half by the Dubs with the defence on top throughout while eventual Man of the Match Ciaran Kilkenny worked tirelessly throughout.

SCORERS - Dublin: D Rock 0-5 (0-3f, 0-1 pen), B Brogan 0-4, P Flynn, E Lowndes 1-0 each, C Kilkenny, K McManamon 0-2 each, J Cooper, B Fenton, P Mannion, D Connolly, C Costello 0-1 each. Kerry: B Sheehan 0-3f, P Crowley, D O’Sullivan, S O’Brien 0-2 each, C Cooper, D Walsh, K Donaghy, P Murphy 0-1 each.

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; D Byrne, P McMahon, J Cooper; J Small, C O’Sullivan, J McCarthy; B Fenton, D Bastick; P Flynn, D Rock, C Kilkenny; P Mannion, D Connolly, B Brogan. Subs: MD Macauley for Bastick (48), K McManamon for Connolly (54), C Costello for Rock (60), M Fitzsimons for McMahon (62), E Lowndes for Mannion (68), D Daly for Small (69).

KERRY: B Kealy; M Ó Sé, P Crowley, S Enright; F Fitzgerald, M Griffin, A O’Mahony; K Donaghy, D Moran; B Sheehan, P Murphy, D Walsh; D O’Sullivan, C Cooper, S O’Brien. Subs: K Young for Fitzgerald (45), B O’Sullivan for Walsh (54), J Lyne for Griffin (60), BJ Keane for O’Brien (62), P O’Connor for Crowley (62), M Geaney for Murphy (69).

REF: E Kinsella (Laois).