Kerry Remain Unbeaten

National Football League Division One
Kerry 1-12 Westmeath 0-6

Kerry maintained their perfect record in National Football League Division One on Sunday, but their performance was far from a shining one against Westmeath in Tralee.

In a game slow to get going, Jack O'Connor's men actually trailed at the break but just had too much for their rivals in the second half.

Westmeath have now lost all five of their games and look odds on for a swift return to the second division.

Kerry unsurprisingly started in commanding fashion and quickly had a point on the board courtesy of Donncha Walsh.

However, despite having most of the play they were pegged back by a seventh-minute Denis Glennon free.

Glennon scored again and Doran Harte added a third Westmeath point as Tomas O'Flaharta's men went 0-3 to 0-1 clear, Kieran O'Leary quickly bagging a point back in what was proving to be a low-scoring game also low on quality.

The Kingdom's Seamus Scanlon did show some quality as he fired in a 45-metre equaliser in the 25th minute and while Paul O'Connor then put Kerry ahead they were behind again by the half-time whistle as two Glennon frees had the men in maroon 0-5 to 0-4 up.

O'Connor no doubt had words with his team at half-time and they came out fired up, soon retaking the lead with scores from O'Connor and Kieran Donaghy.

Donaghy had had a quiet first half but he was really getting at the Lake County now and did brilliantly to set up Darren O'Sullivan for a goal chance only for his fellow forward to rattle his effort off the crossbar.

Westmeath began to fade and were not helped by the loss of both their centre field stars - Niall Kilcoyne to injury and David Duffy to a yellow card. They were then forced to accept that it was not their day when the up-to-then infallible Glennon was gifted a penalty and promptly struck it wide.

Goalkeeper Gary Connaughton bailed Glennon out for that miss when he saved a subsequent Kerry penalty from Paul O'Connor, though it did go for a '45 which Bryan Sheehan converted.

And after O'Connor redeemed himself with a point, Connaughton then did have to pick the ball out of his net, Donaghy turning and firing home to seal what by the end was an easy win for last year's Division One runners-up.

Derry 0-13 Galway 2-7

A late Enda Muldoon point rescued a draw for Derry in an absorbing encounter with Galway in Maghera on Sunday. Galway had been in charge for the entire second-half but a late rally from Derry brought them back into things although the outstanding Michael Meehan looked like he had won it for the Tribesmen until Muldoon's salvo. 

Derry began well and were 0-3 to 0-0 ahead after a few minutes, the excellent Paddy Bradley grabbing a superb opener along with an early free and centre-half back Barry McGoldrick also putting an impressive placed ball over from distance.  

Derry had the breeze with them in the first half on a bright, brisk day but Galway never let them get too far in front, with Meehan in sparkling form.

The Caltra man, who has been excellent for the entire league campaign to date, got four of their first five points to leave Derry just one point in front, 0-6 to 0-5 after 25 minutes. 

Just before the break, Galway took the lead with a superbly worked goal involving Meehan and Padraic Joyce which Paul Conroy finished well.

Paddy Bradley levelled the game with a free on the stroke of half-time to leave it 1-5 to 0-8 as the two sides went in. 

Paul Young and Conroy exchanged points in a scrappy opening to the second period as little separated the sides.

However, Galway looked like they would kick on to victory when Meehan smashed a penalty to the net after Sean Armstrong was bundled over. That made it 2-6 to 0-9 but Derry battled back thanks to points from Muldoon and Paddy Bradley, whose brilliance was only rivalled by Meehan's on the day. 

Meehan's late point looked like it would maintain Galway's perfect record in the league but Muldoon's controlled effort had the final say.