Réalt rule at home
Gers depleted for long journey north
REALT NA MARA GER. O’HANRAHANS 1-10 0-8
AN UNANSWERED run of 1-8 in the second-half helped Réalt na Mara secure a 1-10 to 0-8 victory over Geraldine O’Hanrahans in Saturday’s EBS All-County Football League Division 3 tussle played at a breezy Ballygarrett.
The setting was far removed from when the sides last met in competitive action, in the Intermediate ‘A’ hurling championship final last October, and the Geraldines made the long journey north with just the bare 15, with selector Andrew Foran deputising between the posts.
But the visitors dominated the scoring stakes for most of the first-half, as enterprising wing-back
Eoin Kelly kicked a fine opener a minute in.
With the wind at their backs, Jake Byrne and county Under-20 footballer Diarmuid Kehoe added nice points from play to sandwich a free from Dylan Egan as Réalt na Mara hardly escaped from their own half in the early exchanges.
Incidentally, the home side had a patchwork line-up as well, with their Dublin-born manager, John Nolan, starting in goal.
And they squandered a couple of goal chances in the first quarter, none more so than Cormac Moore-Kavanagh’s missed penalty after nine minutes. Kehoe earned another free for Egan to make it 0-5 to nil on 21 minutes.
The latter successfully struck another dead-ball off the floor six minutes later, before the hosts finally got up and running when the returning Kevin Jordan booted over neatly on the half-hour mark.
Daithí Merrigan responded from an acute angle in injury-time, but Jack Foran’s heavy foul on Moore-Kavanagh soon after proved signifcant as not alone did it allow Jordan to cut the interval gap to 0-7 to 0-2 from the free that followed, but Foran was also sent to the sin-bin for his troubles.
Initially, the Geraldines played keep-ball in the early throes of the new half, but Jimmy Murphy’s point kick-started a profitable spell for Réalt na Mara.
Moore-Kavanagh’s punt towards goal dropped beneath the crossbar for a fluke goal on 34 minutes, although Danielius Niekis was hindered by the leg injury he picked up that necessitated him taking up the goalkeeping mantle at half-time.
Eoin Corcoran levelled it at 1-4 to 0-7 after 39 minutes, and it was plain-sailing for Réalt na Mara thereafter as points followed from
Seán O’Brien, Brendan Corcoran, Murphy, Jordan (twice, one free) and Aaron Hall, while the Geraldines finished with 14 men when Eoin Kelly hobbled off.
Réalt na Mara: John Nolan; Eddie Redmond (capt.), Darren Morris, Harry Byrne; Brendan Corcoran (0-1), Adam Fleming, Eoin Corcoran (0-1); Seán O’Brien (0-1), Aaron Hall (0-1); Killian Doyle, Cormac Moore-Kavanagh (10), Jimmy Murphy (0-2); Kevin Jordan (0-4, 3 frees), Shane Quinn, Johnny Sinnott. Subs. - Stephen Kelly for Nolan (43), Conor Doyle for Sinnott (59), Tom Hobbs for Doyle (59).
Geraldine O’Hanrahans: Andrew Foran; Adam Fenlon, Matt Crowdle, Barry Kelly; Eoin Kelly (0-1), Jack Foran, Pádraig Bailey; Danielius Niekis (capt.), Diarmuid Kehoe (0-2, 1 free); Jake Byrne (0-1), Dylan Egan (0-3 frees), Enda Kelly; Barry Roche, David Crowdle, Daithí Merrigan (0-1). Sinbin: Jack Foran (30+3).
Referee: David Owens (Kilrush).