Cromane impressive in seeing off Kilgarvan in quarter-final

NOVICE CHAMPIONSHIP QUARTER-FINAL

Cromane 1-18 Kilgarvan 0-10

CROMANE were impressive in dispatching Kilgarvan by eleven points in the Novice championship quarter-final in sunny Kilgarvan on Sunday afternoon.

While it was bright and calm for the game, underfoot conditions were still damp given the waterfall of rain the Kilgarvan area received the previous night.

This made things complicated for the players but there was still some excellent football played, especially by the victors who showed great composure at times.

When the sides met in the county league earlier this year they played out a cracking game with Cromane lucky to take the win by 1-9 to 0-10. It was expected that this game would live up to that and more.

The home side got off to the better start with young Gearóid Fennessy, part of the All-Ireland winning minor squad, at midfield and veteran Connie Cremin impressing.

After five minutes they led by 0-2 to 0-1, but that was as good as it got for the Roughty Valley men. They were weakened by the fact that former Kerry minor John Mark Foley was unavailable.

Cromane – faced with a packed Kilgarvan half – started to play some smart football, playing around the multiple sweepers. It helped that Donnchadh Walsh and Darren Houlihan also established a firm footing at midfield.

Cromane started to tack on the points, hitting six in a row, to lead 0-7 to 0-2 after 20 minutes with the O’Sullivans, Seán and Paul Patrick, doing most of the damage from the inside line.

Paul Patrick O’Sullivan ended the game with 1-7 to his name, 1-3 from play and he also crashed a shot off the crossbar halfway through the second half. By half-time the Cromane lead was seven, 0-10 to 0-3.

The Mid Kerry men didn’t take their foot off the pedal in the second half and started to stretch their lead with further points Donnchadh Walsh, Mikey Houlihan, and Micheál Shaughnessy.

Christopher Creedon, Gearoid Fennessy and Patrick O’Shea added points for Kilgarvan, but the only goal of the game arrived with a quarter left when Paul Patrick O’Sullivan found the net after a slick Cromane move, this left them home and dry as they led by 1-17 to 0-7. Kilgarvan plugged away and finished the game out kicking three of the last four scores.

Cromane will now play Scartaglin in a semi-final next Saturday with the winners to take on Moyvane in the Novice Final.

KILGARVAN: Sean Godfrey, Micheal O’Sullivan, Jeremiah Kelliher, Timmy Healy, Shane O’Sullivan, Connie Cremin, Sean Casey, Gearoid Fennessy (0-1), Richard O’Sullivan, Conor Shortall, Kieran O’Sullivan (0-1), Christopher Creedon (0-1), Jackie Healy Rae, Patrick O’Shea (0-6), Padraig Dillon (0-1), Flor O’Sullivan

CROMANE: Paudie McCarthy, Brendan Foley, Eoghan Walsh, Stephen Foley, Liam Teahan, John Micheal Foley, Finbar Casey, Donnachadh Walsh (0-3), Darren Houlihan, Micheal Shaughnessy (0-2), Emmet Casey, Sean O’Sullivan (0-3), Paul Patrick O’Sullivan (1-7), Mickey Houlhan (0-2)