Minors off to a mixed start

KERRY got the defence of their All Ireland minor title off to a good start at Austin Stack Park on Wednesday evening of last week when easily accounting for a disappointing Clare side in the quarter final watched by a fine crowd of 1,962 people.

Kerry, who had just one of last year’s starting fifteen, (Mark O’Connor) on duty, had the game sewn up by the break when they enjoyed a nine points lead and there was never any danger they were going to be overhauled during a lacklustre second half.

Once the impressive Conor Geaney opened the scoring after six minutes it was all one way traffic for the Kingdom boys and nine points in-a-row from play left Kerry ten points to one ahead at the break, a lead that reflected their dominance of that first half.

Any hopes of a Clare revival were short lived as the Kerry defence soaked up anything Clare could throw at them but at the other end of the field a combination of poor kicking against the tricky wind meant that the home-side found it difficult to transfer ample possession into scores.

The general opinion was that Kerry should have won by a far greater margin than the 14 points to three final score after what was a very disappointing second half.

Kerry will now play old rivals Cork in a winner takes all semi-final where the winners will be playing until August at least but the losers exit the championship.

The venue for the game has been confirmed as being Austin Stack Park, Tralee with the match scheduled for Wednesday, May 13 at 7.30pm. The venue follows automatically from the “home & away” agreement between the counties. Fixtures through the years show that it has been a case of every second turn with home venue regardless of the whether the meeting was first round, semi-final or final.

Tipperary play the winners of the Clare/Limerick/Waterford Round Robin in the other semi-final, also on May 13.