Kerry 1-17 Derry 1-15: Kingdom late show sees off Derry in All-Ireland SFC semi-final

Kerry fought back from two points down after 65 minutes to beat wasteful Derry 1-17 to 1-15 in a thrilling All-Ireland Football semi-final at Croke Park.

Derry looked the likely winners for most of the game but paid for missing a series of second-half chances.

Gareth McKinless and Gavin White scored goals at either end in a 30-second period in a breathless first half.

The Oak Leafers led 1-11 to 1-8 at half-time and still looked in control before Kerry's late show.

The All-Ireland champions' victory means they will face old rivals Dublin in the decider on 30 July.

Derry missed 12 second-half scoring opportunities - most notably a glorious 51st-minute goal chance for McKinless when Kerry keeper Shane Ryan produced a point-blank save.

But the Oak Leafers remained 1-14 to 1-12 ahead entering the 65th minute before referee Joe McQuillan awarded Kerry a questionable free for a challenge on substitute Stephen O'Brien which Sean O'Shea pointed to start a run of five straight Kingdom points in six minutes.

• 'I'm in shock. It looked like we were going to pull it off'

A tug from Chrissy McKaigue on David Clifford then resulted in the Kingdom talisman equalising with his eighth point.

Substitute O'Brien edged Kerry ahead with a 69th-minute effort from play before a rare Brendan Rogers loss of possession was punished by yet another Clifford point.

A further Sean O'Shea point increased Kerry's advantage to four and a last-kick Shane McGuigan free, as he appeared to over-hit his attempted lob into the Kingdom square, was Derry's only scoring response despite their frantic late efforts to rescue the game.

Oak Leafers will have huge regrets

Brendan Rogers (right) and his Derry team-mates were reeled in by Kerry in the closing minutes at Croke Park

Derry will have huge regrets after suffering a second successive All-Ireland semi-final defeat.

However, unlike last year's semi-final when they were ultimately well beaten by Galway, Derry looked set for victory for most of this game as Kerry struggled to deal with the Oak Leafers' defensive line, intensity and running game following turnovers.

As the minutes ticked down, Kerry seemed to be running out of ideas but O'Shea's contentious 65th-minute free after substitute O'Brien merely appeared to lose his footing seemed to give the Kingdom renewed belief and they produced a stirring closing 11 minutes of action to snatch victory.

Clifford finished with 0-9 for Kerry despite not having it all his own way against Chrissy McKaigue amid kicking four points from play, with the Slaughtneil defender remaining on the Fossa man despite picking up a yellow card after 27 minutes.

The Kerry star did manage to notch two superb points in the opening 19 minutes but became increasingly frustrated as Kingdom team-mates attempted without success to find him with long balls for much of the second half before he helped to turn the game in the closing minutes.

Derry go on the attack in first half

All the talk before the contest was of the likelihood of a low-scoring, cagey contest but Derry completely ripped up that script by attacking Kerry at every opportunity in a magnificent first half display.

After playing within themselves in recent games, the Oak Leafers were back to the high-energy game which characterised the Ulster semi-final demolition of Monaghan in late April as Kerry struggled to breach their defensive line before being turned over as Derry attacked at speed.

Alongside the superb McKinless, Rogers also produced a sensational first half with Paul Cassidy not far behind as he kicked two magnificent scores from play, which kept the Derry scoreboard ticking along despite Shane McGuigan being largely contained by Kerry full-back Jason Foley.

Gavin White netted for Kerry 30 seconds after Gareth McKinless' Derry goal

Both sides had goal chances in the opening two minutes as Tom O'Sullivan blocked a Niall Loughlin effort before Derry keeper Odhran Lynch brilliantly denied White.

However after Clifford cut inside McKaigue to fire over the opening score, there were goals at either end in a dramatic 30 seconds of action as McKinless and Lynch both netted in moves started by their own attacking thrusts.

McKinless burst into the Kerry square and prodded to the net after Shane Ryan had saved Rogers' close-range effort before White combined with Paul Geaney and O'Shea in a lightning riposte as he palmed into the empty Derry net.

But Derry remained unruffled and Padraig McGrogan, Paul Cassidy and Shane McGuigan fired over efforts from play to put them 1-3 to 1-1 ahead after 15 minutes.

McGrogan's score proved his final action as he picked up an injury in the course of kicking his point.

With Clifford on target twice, Kerry levelled at 1-3 to 1-3 and the sides continued to trade points as the scoreline reached 1-6 to 1-6 before the Oak Leafers outscored the Kingdom 0-5 to 0-2 in the closing nine minutes of action before half-time to lead 1-11 to 1-8 at the break.

Derry were able to exploit the 28th-minute black carding of Kerry midfielder Diarmuid O'Connor who was punished for taking out Rogers off-the-ball after he had lost possession, as they outscored the Kingdom 0-3 to 0-1 during his absence.

Derry protest after keeper Ryan's challenge

That period also contained a moment of controversy with Derry fans convinced Kerry keeper Ryan had fouled McGuigan as he jumped to win a misplaced pass in midfield. To add insult to injury, Ryan immediately continued upfield to kick a point from distance as his opposite number Odhran Lynch had done earlier in the half.

After having had an over-reliance on Clifford in the first half, Kerry needed a fast start to the second half and they got it as the full-forward, in superb style, and O'Shea pointed within three minutes of the restart to cut Derry's lead to the minimum.

Defender Conor Doherty soon doubled Derry's advantage and while Clifford quickly replied from a free, a chance to put further daylight between the teams went begging when a Niall Toner goalbound effort was blocked by Paul Murphy following a scramble.

After Kerry got on terms for the first time in 21 minutes when O'Shea pointed from play, probably the key moment of the match arrived on 51 minutes as McKinless ghosted into the Kerry square only for his goal chance to be brilliantly saved by Ryan.

Derry were still able to move into a 1-14 to 1-12 lead by the 60th minute after scores from Ciaran McFaul and McGuigan but - even not taking McKinless' goal chance into account - the advantage should have been greater with McFaul and Loughlin having fired wides as Kerry seemed there for the taking.

But Jack O'Connor's frantic emptying of his bench finally worked in the closing minutes with half-time arrival O'Brien, in particular, supplying new energy to the Kingdom - albeit helped by referee Joe McQuillan's controversial 65th-minute awarding of the free which O'Shea pointed to cut the margin to one.

As Kerry summoned up their huge late effort, in turn, the energy seemed to drain out of Derry as they were doubtless wondering how they had contrived to lose this game.

Kerry: S Ryan (0-1); G O'Sullivan, J Foley, T O'Sullivan; P Murphy, T Morley, G White (1-0); D O'Conno (0-1), J Barry; D Moynihan, S O'Shea (0-4), A Spillane; P Clifford (0-1), D Clifford (0-9), P Geaney.

Subs: S O'Brien (0-1) for A Spillane HT, T Brosnan for P Geaney 54, B O Beaglaoich for P Murphy 54, R Murphy for P Clifford 72, M Burns for D Moynihan 58.

Derry: O Lynch (0-1); C McKaigue, E McEvoy, C McCluskey; C Doherty (0-1), G McKinless (1-0), P McGrogan (0-1); C Glass, B Rogers; N Toner, Paul Cassidy (0-2), E Doherty; C McFaul (0-2), S McGuigan (0-6), N Loughlin.

Subs: B Heron for Padraig Cassidy 50, S Downey for E McEvoy 71, L Murray for N Toner 59, B McCarron for G McKinless 78, Padraig Cassidy for McGrogan 7.

Referee: J McQuillan (Cavan)