Tyrone hauled themselves off the bottom of Division 1 at Healy Park yesterday as manager Feargal Logan hailed his side's resilience.
The joint-manager acknowledged the harsh week he and his players had endured with plenty of home truths spoken after shipping four goals in Mayo eight days earlier.
Tyrone’s response was emphatic as they turned over the All-Ireland champions and moved onto four points alongside Kerry and Monaghan, with Donegal bottom on three points.
Kerry’s score difference is +1 with Tyrone on -7 and Monaghan on -8.
READ MORE: Colm Boyle column: Standard of fare in Division One at its lowest ebb in years
Tyrone go to Clones in a fortnight and finish out at home to Armagh in what will be a scrap for survival.
Kerry have Roscommon at home and Galway away so they are not out of the woods yet.
This was a real statement win for Tyrone though, with three-point Mattie Donnelly outstanding after his recall and Darragh Canavan the difference late on.
The beauty of this win for Tyrone though is the way they responded to the concession of a second minute goal and then leaking a second on 46 minutes after Donal O’Sullivan fed Paul Murphy, who slotted to the net.
Tyrone’s answer was to hold Kerry to just two points over the remaining 29 minutes and shoot seven of their own to make it three wins on the bounce over the Kingdom. Their shooting efficiency helped too, hitting just three wides altogether, although they did leave five efforts short and had another blocked as well as missing two goal chances.
Kerry hit seven wides - two of them were kick passes that went wrong - and left three short as well as missing a goal chance when Clifford blasted straight at Frank Burns on 38 minutes.
This was typical of Tyrone’s last ditch defending, which saw them home in the end. Gaffer Feargal Logan once again praised his side's resilience for enabling the victory. Logan was delighted with Mattie Donnelly’s display, the veteran being likened to a warrior by his manager. Newcomer Joe Oguz was another to shine.
Jack O’Connor felt his Kerry side couldn’t buy a free in the second half and said that there weren’t many soft ones going. There were a couple of fairly blatant scorable frees not awarded - one on Stefan Okunbor on 51 minutes and another on David Clifford on 61 minutes, although Clifford appeared to foul a Tyrone defender first.
O’Connor also believed the turning point was a goal spilled into his net by Shane Ryan on 14 minutes.
Kerry started without Adrian Spillane (calf) and Barry Dan O’Sullivan (illness), and they still have Stephen O’Brien, Gavin White, Paul Geaney and Diarmuid O’Connor to return to the fray. But their lack of zip might have O’Connor thinking on the long journey home.
It was a first half which Tyrone trailed in throughout and got very few breaks. Sean O’Shea’s shot was blocked by a defender two minutes in, but it bounced straight back into his arms and he smashed it to the roof of the net to hand Kerry an ideal start.
Tyrone were attempting to isolate big men Brian Kennedy and Conn Kilpatrick inside and it nearly paid off seven minutes in. Darren McCurry didn’t hesitate in launching a sideline inside, which Kilpatrick won. He showed great composure to dummy twice, but Kerry goalie Ryan was even better, not buying it and staying big to make the save.
However, disaster struck for Ryan on 14 minutes when challenged by Kennedy. Ryan turned and fumbled the ball into his own net as Kerry went from five up to just two ahead.
From there Tyrone were the stronger team for the rest of the half. They were unfortunate to see a Peter Harte effort strike the top of the post. It was initially given by the umpires, but then overruled by referee Martin McNally.
Tyrone had another goal chance on 27 minutes after Frank Burns, McCurry and Kennedy played in Darragh Canavan but Ryan pulled off another sharp save. The home side had generally sat off the Kerry kick-out for most of the half, but pressed up on two restarts late on, with scores from Cormac Quinn and Mattie Donnelly their reward, Kilpatrick having a hand in both.
That left the scores level at half-time and it was Tyrone who upped it after the break. They ran out winners by 1-15 to 2-9.
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