VINNY COREY slammed Monaghan’s dismal loss in their All-Ireland SFC opener against Kerry in Killarney.
The Farney chief claimed his side’s first-half display was one of the “worst” they have produced during his tenure in charge.
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The Kingdom led 0-15 to 0-2 at the half-time break before coasting to a ten-point victory.
And Corey fumed: “It was terrible. We didn’t see that first half coming. It was as bad a first half as we have ever had.
“Two points in a half of football will not get you anywhere.”
Incredibly, Kerry scored 0-10 from Monaghan turnovers in the opening half and bagged a further six points in the second period from the same avenue of attack.
But their inability to rattle the net means last year’s All-Ireland runners-up have not raised a green flag in FOUR games.
Boss Jack O’Connor, though, was fine with how things went and stressed: “We were very happy with the way we played in the first half.
“We dropped off in the second half but we scored 24 points and won the game by ten.”
KERRY COAST
Monaghan actually outscored the Munster champions in the second half — but that will not worry O’Connor, for now at least.
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He added: “It can be difficult, even though we were hoping to keep driving it on. Things get a bit scattered then when you bring on a lot of subs together.
“Maybe everybody isn’t on the same page but you have to be happy enough. We played well in the first half. We tackled well and we moved well. I’m happy with that.
“We were going pretty well coming into the game and just wanted to try and get a good performance, which we did.”
Kerry signalled their intent from the start and were a point ahead after just 12 seconds.
Diarmuid O’Connor soared highest to claim possession before feeding Paudie Clifford to kick the opener.
Monaghan levelled in the second minute when Gary Mohan converted a mark — and they could have scored a goal through Conor McCarthy but he was denied by keeper Shane Ryan.
That was as good as it got for the Farney, though, as Kerry cut loose with Paul Murphy, Jason Foley and Tom O’Sullivan joining the attack.
The Kingdom kicked seven points without reply in a nine-minute spell.
Corey’s side stemmed the flow when Michael Bannigan pointed but they failed to score again for the rest of the opening half.
And Kerry tagged on another seven unanswered scores from Paul Murphy, Seanie O’Shea, David Clifford, Paul Geaney, Tony Brosnan and Dara Moynihan.
But Monaghan turned in a spirited second-half display and outscored the Kingdom 1-9 to 0-9.
Their goal came in the 58th minute when Mohan netted.
But it mattered little in the end as Kerry strolled to victory.
Kerry 0-24 – 1-11 Monaghan
KERRY: S Ryan; P Murphy 0-2, J Foley, T O’Sullivan 0-3; B Ó Beaglaoich, T Morley, G White; D O’Connor, J O’Connor; T Brosnan 0-2, P Clifford 0-2, D Moynihan 0-1; D Clifford 0-5, 3f, S O’Shea 0-4, 3f, P Geaney 0-5. Subs: C Burke for Moynihan 50 mins; BD O’Sullivan for J O’Connor 50; A Heinrich for Ó Beaglaoich 55; S O’Brien for Brosnan 55; D Roche for Geaney 66.
MONAGHAN: R Beggan 0-1f; R Wylie, B McBennett, R O’Toole 0-1; K O’Connell, K Lavelle, C McCarthy 0-1; G Mohan 1-1, M McCarville; S O’Hanlon 0-1, M Bannigan 0-2, M Hamill; J Irwin, S Jones, C McManus 0-1f. Subs: D Ward 0-1 for McCarville h-t; A Woods 0-1m for Jones h-t; C McNulty for McBennett 46 mins; J Wilson 0-1m for O’Connell 50; T McPhillips for Ward 53.
REFEREE: S Hurson (Tyrone).