Kerry v Roscommon LIVE coverage of the All-Ireland SFC Group 2 Round 1 game
David Clifford scored 1-3 as Kerry cantered to a 10-point victory over Roscommon in the Killarney heat in their All-Ireland SFC Group 2 Round 1 encounter. A crowd of close to 10,000 were in attendance at Fitzgerald Stadium to see the Rossies start in promising fashion but all too often their attacks ran out of steam and it was Kerry who managed the hot conditions better. This was the first meeting of the sides in the championship since 2003, when they met in the All-Ireland quarter-finals in what was Roscommon's first championship game in Croke Park since the All-Ireland semi-final loss to Meath in 1991. And the 3-18 to 0-17 victory means that Roscommon have now one just one of 11 championship meetings of the sides. Beaten heavily in the Connacht semi-finals by Galway, the Rossies opened the scoring and were very positive early on with a bit of a breeze at their backs. The Munster champions gradually found their feet and the sides were level on three occasions in the opening quarter, and up to the 25 minute mark when they had registered 0-5 apiece. But two Sean O'Shea two-pointers helped open a gap for the home side and, at the break, they led by 0-11 to 0-6. The Rossies stayed in the contest and there was four points between them by the 48th minute. Then Tony Brosnan - one of a number of Kerry subs to make a quick impact - restored the five-point advantage before Clifford's superb 50th minute goal pushed the Kingdom well clear. That opened the floodgates as Paul Geaney tapped in from close range for the second goal five minutes later, then the veteran marksman turned provider for Gavin White, with the skipper batting the ball into the back of the net for the third goal. Roscommon responded with a couple of two-pointers from substitutes Conor Cox and Diarmuid Murtagh but there was no way back for Davy Burke's side. Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.
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