Kerry finish the season after wash-out at Cork Harlequins

Mick Jones

KERRY Senior squad finished their 2017 campaign with a washed out match last weekend, but on Sunday 24 were left twiddling their thumbs waiting for the result of the rearranged match between current Munster Premier Division Champions, Cork County and Limerick.

The final match of the season was played out at Cork Harlequins ground at Farmers Cross, probably the only usable pitch in Munster after the deluges of August and September. Before play County Cork, Limerick and County Kerry were all within reach of the title, though Limerick needed to pick up four or five bonus points on top of beating the title holders.

If they beat Cork, but no bonus points were awarded, then Kerry would take the trophy. But it was the third possibility – and arguably the least likely, that completed the end of season table.

In a close finish, Cork lost to Limerick by only 11 runs, in consequence picking up five losing bonus points and squeezed past Kerry by just two points – leaving Limerick in third spot. Cork County are the 2017 Munster Premier Division Champions and deserve our congratulations.

Both Limerick and Kerry squads will naturally be feeling a little sore after coming so close to glory in a season so badly disrupted by weather; particularly Kerry perhaps runners, just like last year.

But looking at the wider picture, it demonstrates that the standard of cricket across Munster is consistently Cork County (1st XI) County Kerry (1st XI) Limerick (1st XI) County Galway (1st XI) Cork Harlequins (1st XI) Midleton (1st XI)

County Kerry (3rd XI) County Tipperary (2nd XI) Limerick (3rd XI) University College Cork Played 10 10 10 10 10 10

Played 12 12 12 12 becoming more competitive, both second and third placed clubs beat the champions in the

Won 6

6

6

4

2

0

Won 8

8

7

7

Bonus 31 29 27 -3

4 17

Bonus 35 27 33 21

course of the season.

That matters more than ever now – in 2017 Munster were re-admitted to Inter-Provincial Cricket and even more significantly Cricket Ireland was awarded Full Membership of the ICC so grass roots cricket in Ireland will be increasingly open to scrutiny.

In Munster Division 1, Kerry second squad finished in fourth place in a five strong league, and though that was a step up from 2016, there will be determination to further lift standards in 2018.

In Munster Division 2, a league of ten clubs, once again Kerry held on to top spot and retain their title, Munster Division 2 Champions. The table shows just the four top teams. Huge congratulations to the Kingdom 3rd squad for retaining that Munster Division 2 trophy in such an exasperating season.

To all those players, in all three squads, who have worked so hard this season, and to the unsung heroes behind the scenes who help keep the new ground at Spa looking so good… winter well.

Total 171 169 167 87 84 27

Total 205 197 183 161