Donegal fight back to stun Kerry in Ballybofey

Darragh Roche's three first-half points helped Kerry lead 1-6 to 0-3 after 24 minutes but Donegal fought back to triumph

A youthful Donegal recovered from six points down in the first half to stun All-Ireland champions Kerry 0-13 to 1-9 in the Football League opener.

But seven straight Donegal points either side of half-time put the home side ahead by the 42nd minute.

Kerry twice levelled but Patrick McBrearty's late point sealed victory.

McBrearty was a subdued presence for most of the contest but his towering injury-time point proved decisive.

A third point from man of the match Caolan McColgan appeared to have won it for Donegal only for Kerry substitute Donal O'Sullivan to level in the final minute of normal time.

A draw seemed likely after Jamie Brennan saw a goal chance blocked by Kerry keeper Shane Murphy and O'Sullivan left a shot short at the other end but McBrearty had other ideas.

Muff club-man McColgan joined Mark Curran and Johnny McGroddy in making competitive debuts for Donegal under new boss Paddy Carr.

The young Donegal side seemed to struggle physically to deal with Kerry in the opening 25 minutes but they summoned up a huge effort to turn the game around.

Kerry lined out with five starters from the All-Ireland Final - full-backs Graham O'Sullivan, Jason Foley and Tom O'Sullivan plus Tadhg Morley and Jack Barry with the Spillane brothers Adrian and Killian in attack having made crucial contributes as substitutes in the win over Galway last July.

Shaun Patton, Brendan McCole, Caolan Ward, Caolan McGonagle, Jason McGee and Patrick McBrearty were the only Donegal starters from the championship defeat by Armagh last June.

More to follow.

Donegal: S Patton; M Curran, B McCole, C Ward; C McColgan, S McMenamin, M O'Reilly; C McGonagle, J McGee; J McGroddy, D O Baoill, C O'Donnell; H McFadden, P McBrearty (capt), J Brennan.

Substitutes: M Lynch, B O'Donnell, J McKelvey, J Bradley Walsh, K Barrett, L McGlynn, M O'Reilly, R McFadden, R McHugh.

Kerry: S Murphy; G O'Sullivan, J Foley, T O'Sullivan; M Breen, T Morley, P Murphy; J Barry, B O'Sullivan; M Burns, D Moynihan, A Spillane; T Brosnan, D Roche, K Spillane.

Substitutes: D Burns, Donal O'Sullivan, J O'Shea, G Horan, D Casey, S Okunbor, B Mahony, R Buckley, D Geaney, P Warren.