Dingle Bay break the mould
DINGLE Bay Rovers made a famous breakthrough by claiming their first ever Denny Premier A title.
That they managed to do so after an absolutely absorbing contest with perennial challengers Killarney Celtic only made the success all the sweeter. The west Kerry men came into the game as underdogs, but with a display of manic intensity managed to upset the odds.
Donncha Higgins got Dingle off the mark with a goal from a corner after twenty two minutes. Just before half-time Killarney Celtic struck back through Stephen Hayes and things got even worse for Dingle Bay just seven minutes into the second half when Wayne Sparling scored to give Killarney the lead.
Dingle responded in kind with a Shane Houlihan goal. On 76 minutes Shane Fitzgerald fired them back in front – 3-2 – and while Dingle put the game to bed on 85 minutes through Sean Fitzgerald, there was one last sting in the tail from Killarney Celtic when Jamie Spillane headed home.
It was too little too late and Dingle Bay were rightly crowned champions. The final whistle was greeted with scenes of riotous jubilation as well it might be. Speaking after the game manager Martin O’Neill explained what it meant.
“It feels great altogether as for a while we were in a bit of trouble, but we responded well. The club is around twenty years and we have been up and down in the leagues and it is great to win the highest league in Kerry. I can die a happy man now,” he joked!
The Premier B final replay also took place this month with Rattoo Rovers making no mistake at the second time of asking seeing off Inter Kenmare 3-1 in the final. It took Rattoo just sixty seconds to get on the scoreboard through Eddie Joy and they never really looked back from there.
“After being relegated last year it is great to come straight back up as champions,” Rattoo boss Tom Foran commented.
“We had to win seven games on-the-trot toward the end of the season to make the final and the lads had to put in a huge amount of effort to do so. They’re a great bunch of lads and I’m very proud and delighted to be the manager of the team.”
In the Denny 1B final AC Athletic saw off CSKA Tralee thanks to a goal by none other than John Mike Dooley, their ever-green, ever-reliable goal-scorer in chief. AC Atheltic player/manager Mark Walshe was understandably delighted at their latest success which saw them promoted to Premier B.
“It’s a great achievement to win three league titles in three success years,” he commented.
“The lads deserve credit for it and we have also won the over 35 league earlier in the year. It was a tough game and we knew CSKA would come at us at some stage and thankfully we were able to keep them at bay.”