O’Leary brace leaves Crokes in full control
DR CROKES had too much class in attack for Tipperary’s Moyle Rovers as last year’s beaten provincial finalists swept to a 16-point success in Ardfinnan.
The Kerry champions’ full-forward Kieran O’Leary ended up with 2-2 to his name, his welltaken goals coming about following defensive mistakes in the first half. Tony Brosnan scored 0-7 and Micheál Burns chipped in with three from play as Crokes’ superiority was underlined.
Moyle Rovers opened quite brightly, attacking at pace in the early minutes and registering a couple of good points through Richard Power and Liam Boland.
But three crucial incidents in that first half prevented them from remaining in touch at the interval.
The first goal came in the 10th minute for the Kerry champions when O’Leary goaled after a defensive lapse.
He raised another green flag in the 28th minute when making the most of hesitation in the Rovers’ defence when he punched a long ball forward from Johnny Buckley to the net.
It left the Killarney men 2-8 to 0-5 ahead at half-time.
Prior to that, Moyle lost influential corner-forward Liam Boland to a black card as their woes began to mount up.
Matters didn’t get easier when they had Shane Foley sent off early in the second half and Crokes were more than capable of capitalising in full.
Nevertheless, the Tipperary champions had a goal chance to get them back into the contest early in that second half.
However, luck was against them again as the initial shot by Shane Foley came off the post and, following the rebound, Stephen Quirke’s attempt was prevented from crossing the line after crashing off one of his own team-mates.
It didn’t appear to get any easier when Crokes brought on Colm Cooper after 40 minutes. The former Kerry superstar set up a couple of scores and also registered a point himself after racing through the defence. His goalbound shot was deflected over the bar by goalkeeper Ciarán Kenrick with the issue all but decided, as the game entered the last quarter. As in the latter games of the Kerry championship, Crokes had that luxury of calling on the brilliant forward from the bench and he will surely be utilised even more if they progress deep into the competition. The visitors were bolstered throughout by inter-county players past and present and their class was telling as the second half progressed with their forwards cutting through the Rovers defence.
Buckley was his usual big presence in the middle of the field, while Daithí Casey got on the scoresheet with a point, although his direct opponent Richard Power acquitted himself well for Rovers who were also well served by Dara Ryan in attack.
By the time Michael Potts got Crokes’ third goal, punching to the net after a fine solo run and pass by Brosnan, they were already assured of passage into the semi-final.