The hosts could have made a dream start when Mark O'Shea briefly had a sight of goal within the opening minute, but he was crowded and instead, it was Donegal who made the most of their first attack as Ciaran Moore swapped passes with Oisin Gallen, rounded Shane Murphy and coolly slotted to the net. With the wind at their backs, Gallen and Ryan McHugh slung over two-pointers either side of Kerry's opening score by Micheal Burns.
However, a David Clifford point sparked the Kingdom to life as they began to put real pressure on Gavin Murlreany's kick-outs, pressing high as Paudie Clifford lost marker Finnbarr Roarty to score and then with Mulreany punished for taking too long over the restart, David Clifford pointed the free. After Graham O'Sullivan added another, Paudie Clifford saw a shot at goal deflected out for a 45 as Kerry's pace was causing real problems. Donegal steadied with two of the next three scores, but while they were keeping tabs on the Cliffords, Dylan Geaney began to exert his influence with a pair of scores reducing the gap to one. A two-pointer by Michael Langan saw momentum swing again with Roarty and Gallen adding further points, with a late exchange leaving Donegal 1-11 to 0-9 ahead at the hooter which led to that ugly flare-up which ultimately saw Burns dismissed.