longford 0-11 kerry 1-12

kerry limped to an unconvincing gaa all-ireland football championship qualifier win over longford at pearse park. longford 0-11 kerry 1-12 - as it happened tommy walsh hit an 11th-minute goal, and five colm cooper points helped kerry to a 1-10 to 0-4 interval lead. but an inspired longford side took the game fearlessly to the kingdom in the second half, with paul and david barden and kevin smith hitting points. they shot 11 wides, however, and with a little more accuracy could have sparked a major shock against a kingdom side that scored just two second half points. walsh got his goal somewhat against the run of play, after the home side had made a bright star but failed to convert attacking possession into scores. donnacha walsh and colm cooper both collected lay-offs from kieran donaghy to shoot points, and by the 27th minute jack o\'connor\'s men had strolled into a 1-10 to 0-2 lead, and were already well on their way to the third round of the qualifiers. but late in the half, longford staged a revival, and kerry needed a brilliant double save from diarmuid sheridan, who twice denied paul barden. cian mimnagh and david barden landed points, but kerry took a 1-10 to 0-4 advantage into the interval. longford\'s flourish in the early stages of the second half was blighted by wayward shooting and a failure to spot colleagues in smarter positions. but they did narrow the gap with scores form david and paul barden and kevin smith. walsh was in the mood at the other end, however, and stroked over a couple of delightful scores. and kerry could have had a second goal had donaghy been able to stretch his frame just an inch further to reach a sean o\'sullivan cross. that marked the end of donaghy\'s game, for he landed awkwardly and had to be helped off with just 10 minutes of the second half played. kerry lost their shape, going almost half an hour without scoring as longford sensed that they could salvage substantial honour from the contest, with padraig berry, kevin smith and paul barden leading by example. the barden brothers lofted over points to narrow the gap to five with 10 minutes to play, and declan reilly and enda williams tackled like tigers each time kerry threatened. kerry were under sustained pressure for almost the entire second half, but longford kicked wide after wide when they should have been breathing down their opponents\' necks. smith\'s second free left just four between the sides, but time ran out for brave longford. longford: d sheridan, d reilly, b gilleran, d brady, d masterson, e williams, n farrell, g dennigan, k smith (0-2, 2f), p berry, f mcgee (0-1, f), s mulligan, p barden (0-4, 1f), c mimnagh (0-1), b kavanagh. subs: d barden (0-3 for kavanagh (23), p dowd for dennigan (31), p foy for farrell (44), a maher for smith (72) kerry: d murphy, k young, t griffin, t o\'sullivan, t ó sé (0-1), m ó sé, a o\'shea, d ó sé, s scanlon, d walsh (0-1), d o\'sullivan (0-1), s o\'sullivan (0-2, 2f), c cooper (0-5, 2f), k donaghy, t walsh (1-2). subs: darran o\'sullivan for declan o\'sullivan (44), bj walsh for donagh (46), m quirke for scanlon (58), d moran for s o\'sullivan (58), b sheehan for d o se (63) referee: g o conamha (galway).

kerry 2-08 meath 1-07

... darran o'sullivan slipped as he kicked, but still managed to beat paddy o'rourke with the penalty awarded for anthony moyles' foul on colm cooper ... kerry fared little better, and while cooper and darran o'sullivan slotted over points, they also struggled to inject any fluency into their game ... kerry: d murphy, m ó sé, t griffin, t o'sullivan, t ó sé, m mccarthy, k young, d ó sé, s scanlon, p galvin, t kennelly (0-02), d walsh, c cooper (0-03, 2f), declan o'sullivan, darren o'sullivan (1-01, 1-00 pen) ... subs: t walsh (1-02) for d walsh (28), a o'mahony for young (50), m quirke for d ó sé (60), p o'connor for cooper (60), b sheehan for declan o'sullivan (66) meath: p o'rourke, c o'connor, a moyles, e harrington, s kenny, c mcguinness, c king, n crawford, b meade, p byrne, j sheridan (0-01), s bray, d bray, b farrell (0-02, 1f), c ward (1-04, 0-02f, 0-02 sideline)

kerry call on kennelly

... kennelly comes in at centre forward in a move that sees declan o’sullivan move into full forward alongside darran o’sullivan and colm cooper ... kerry (sfc v meath): d murphy; m Ó sé, t griffin; t o’sullivan, t Ó sé, m mccarth; k young, d Ó sé, s scanlon; p galvin, t kennelly, d walsh, c cooper, d o’sullivan, d o'sullivan

oconnor hails kingdoms refusal to let summer end

... rumours of discontent in the kingdom camp have been rife throughout the summer, culminating in the benching of colm cooper and tomás Ó sé for the final qualifier game against antrim for breaching team disciplinary procedures ... reports during the week that kerry were firing in training were borne out by their whirlwind start this afternoon, with cooper firing home to the dublin net inside the first minute, while points flowed freely from all angles and areas of the pitch

sublime kerry annihilate dublin in croke park rout

... colm cooper found his range with a first minute goal and scored 1-7 in total ... they were hit with a sucker punch early on when cooper signalled his intent with a cheekily taken goal after being fed through by mike mccarthy ... with bryan cullen absent and denis bastick with one eye on cooper, he added another ... gooch followed suit with another free before cluxton, left exposed again when alan hubbard got caught in the middle of cooper and declan o\'sullivan, brilliantly denied the latter a goal ... kerry: d murphy; m Ó sé, t griffin, t o\'sullivan (0-1); t Ó sé (0-2), m mccarthy, k young (a o\'mahony 61); d Ó sé (m quirke 61), s scanlon (0-1); p galvin (0-2), declan o\'sullivan (0-3), d walsh (0-1) (p o\'connor 49 (0-2); c cooper (1-7), t walsh (kennelly 30 (0-2), darren o\'sullivan (capt) (0-3) (s o\'sullivan 60)

kerry and dublin get test of character

... after a week of speculation, colm cooper and tomás Ó sé were indeed omitted from the starting line-up, but were introduced over the course of the match

laboured kerry deny spirited antrim

... the frustrations paved way for colm cooper to come off the bench after the half hour mark ... substitutes : c cooper (0-4, 4f) for s o’sullivan (30), t o se for o’mahony (43), d walsh for kennelly (43), p o’connor (0-2, 2f) for darran o’sullivan (56), m quirke for scanlon (58)antrim : j finucane, c brady, a mcclean, k o’boyle, t scullion (1-0), j crozier, j loughrey, m mccann (0-4, 3f), a gallagher, t o’neill, c close (0-1), n mckeever, p cunningham (0-3, 2f), k niblock, t mccann (0-2)

donaghys departure almost costs kerry

... donaghy was targeted with the long ball from the off and repeatedly secured possession for colm cooper and co, though it was tommy walsh’s ninth minute goal that really set kerry on their way after each side had registered a point each ... seán o’sullivan, cooper, donncha walsh and declan o’sullivan then pointed as kerry threatened to run riot ... paul barden replied for longford but cooper and donaghy combined again for another gooch point

oconnor names kerry side to face longford

...    diarmuid murphy (dingle), killian young (renard), tommy griffin (dingle), tom o’sullivan (rathmore), tomás Ó sé (an ghaeltacht), marc Ó sé (an ghaeltacht), aidan o’shea (glenbeigh/glencar), darragh Ó sé (an ghaeltacht), seamus scanlon (currow), donnacha walsh (cromane) (captain), declan o’sullivan (piarsaigh na dromada), seán o’sullivan (cromane), colm cooper (dr

lynch and mullane claim monthly awards

... anthony lynch’s man marking job on colm cooper in the munster football semi-finals has seen the cork defender earn the gpa’s player of the month award for june ... his efficient shut-down job on cooper helped the rebels to a 1-17 to 0-12 triumph ... “to deliver one great performance marking a player of colm cooper’s ability is a great achievement,” commented martin mchugh, chairman of the football selection committee