Galway will look to end an 8 match losing streak against Kerry on Sunday next when the sides meet in round 4 of the National Football League in Tralee. Galway last played Kerry in the league in 2011, when the Kingdom won by double scores, and their last win was in 2003 when a young Michael Meehan inspired John O'Mahony's side to a comfortable win in Pearse Stadium. The match report from the Connacht Tribune that day is below:
"Given the recent championship memories of last year and the 2000 All-Ireland final the 8000 home fans who packed into the impressive new stand at the Salthill venue took more than a modicum of satisfaction from what in the end amounted to a mini-humiliation of the Kingdom. Right from the opening minutes they scrapped for every breaking ball, tackled and scurried back when they didn't have possession, and supported each other in bunches when Kerry tried to close them down. Galway did look the better team all through the first half with early points from the very lively Matthew Clancy, Tommy Joyce and Kieran Comer (free) setting the tone for the match and yet the course of the first half, and ultimately the destiny of the tie, was settled in two incidents during that first period. The first came in the 10th minute when Kieran Comer looped a long delivery inside the Kerry full backline and into the hands of Michael Meehan who had shown a real poacher's instinct to slope inside unnoticed — the 18-year-old Caltra clubman steadied before blasting the ball to Diarmuid Murphy's net. The second incident which had a major influence came in the 31st minute when Galway's stand-in centre back Diarmuid Blake and Kerry's Colm Cooper got entangled as Kerry launched an attack — Cooper took the law into his hands and felled Blake with a blow to the head. Referee Pat McEnaney didn't see the incident — but his umpires did — and Cooper was marched with a straight red. Up until then Cooper had been having a fair tussle with Galway's specialist man marker in Michael Comer and although the Corofin man had been probably edging the battle, there was always the danger that the Dr. Crokes clubman could explode into action. It's often said that 14 men can play better than 15 but a lot of the time more myth than logic can be tagged onto that premise and on Sunday Kerry, with a man down, became ragged and disjointed. Michael Comer, like a sweeper in soccer behind the back four, mopped up anything loose with the losers only threat coming from the other corner as Declan Quill provided a great exhibition of point scoring. Quill, from the right corner forward slot, hit the target six times — five of them from play — but apart from that Kerry rarely threatened although Seamus Moynihan did try hard to rally his side but as the second half wore on the spirit seemed to evaporate from the Munster side. Second quarter Galway points from a Kieran Comer free, Derry O'Brien and Michael Meehan (free) had the home side up by 1-7 to 0-5 at the interval although Kerry's case might have had a chance of a better second half hearing if a Sean O'Sullivan punched effort in the 16th minute hadn’t come thumping back off the bar. With less than 10 minutes gone in the second half, Galway had Kerry thinking of the ferry home when two Michael Meehan points and one from Derek Savage put them 1-10 to 0-5 in front. Kerry began bringing on subs in threes but short of not taking off any player to match the new arrivals there wasn't even the vaguest hint of a comeback indeed were it not for some errant finishing, especially from Derry O'Brien and Alan Keane, the winning margin could have been far greater. With seven minutes to go Galway led by 1-13 to 0-6 before easing up on the throttle in the closing minutes. One of the main influences in the match for Galway was in the middle of the field and just behind it where John Divilly revelled in the loose play probably getting on the ball more than any other player on the pitch. He had to take on an improvised midfield role due to the absence of Joe Bergin — ruled out with a broken finger — but along with Kieran Comer who also had a high workrate Galway improved dramatically on their midfield showing against Tyrone. At the back it was also a better day for Kieran Fitzgerald while Michael Comer and Kevin Brady — a player with pace and a good cutting edge too — also had impressive outings. Up front Matthew Clancy was normally well over the speed limit and provided quite a handful for no less a player than Moynihan while Tommy Joyce and Derek Savage (surely one of the most fouled forwards in the game even if the frees aren't always given) also worked tirelessly. The destroyer in chief though was young Michael Meehan who recovered from his buffeting against Tyrone to hit a 1-5 total (1-3 from play). All his scores were smartly taken and along with Declan Quill at the other end the pair gave a wonderful exhibition of accurate finishing. Although as is the norm John O'Mahony will play down this victory, it has to be a satisfying for him and for Galway and in moments of reflection on 2002 it will remind us of what might have been if the Connacht champions had taken some of the many goal chances which came their way in that quarter final. As we saw last Sunday, Kerry in full flow and Kerry under pressure are two different teams. Better games will be seen at Pearse Stadium over the coming months and years but the victory keeps Galway's league aspirations alive and it does prove that the county is up there with the best of them."
Galway: Alan Keane; Kevin Brady Kieran Fitzgerald, Richie Fahey; Michael Comer, Diarmuid Blake, Sean de Paor; John Divilly, Kieran Comer 0-2; Derry O'Brien 0-2, Matthew Clancy 0-2, Alan Kerins Michael Meehan 1-5 (0-2 frees), Derek Savage 0-1, Tommy Joyce 0-1 Subs.: Lorcan Colleran for Kerins
Kerry: D. Murphy; T. O'Sullivan, B. O Si, M. McCarthy; T. O Se, S. Moynihan, J. Sheehan; D. O Se, D. Daly; S. O'Sullivan, E. Brosnan, B. Sheehan; D. Quill 0-6 (t free) D. O Cinneide 0-1 (free), C. Cooper 0-1. Subs.: D. O'Sullivan for D. Cinneide (ht),P. Galvin 0-1 for B. Sheehan, E. Fitzmaurice for E. Brosnan, M. O Se for B. O Se, P. O Cinneide for S. O'Sullivan.
Referee: Pat McEnaney
Galway v Kerry NFL meetings 2001 to 2018
13/3/11 Galway 0-8 Kerry 0-16
14//3/10 Galway 1-9 Kerry 2-16
12/4/09 Galway 1-11 Kerry 2-15
13/4/08 Galway 0-10 Kerry 0-15
23/4/06 Galway 0-10 Kerry 2-12
2/5/04 Galway 1-16 Kerry 3-11 (final)
16/2/03 Galway 1-13 Kerry 0-9
15/4/01 Galway 1-18 Kerry 2-9
