An Ghaeltacht ease to Munster Final

MUNSTER CLUB IFC SEMI-FINAL

An Ghaeltacht 1-19 Mallow 1-8

KERRY’S An Ghaeltacht called time on Mallow’s dreams of provincial glory on Sunday with a comprehensive dismissal of Cork’s 2017 Premier Intermediate Champions.

In front of a packed main stand in North Cork the Kingdom side brushed aside the home team with consummate ease running out deserved winners by all of 11 points.

Mallow played second best for almost the entire game with just one or two moments of real quality to savour on what transpired to be a tough day at the office for the men in red and yellow.

For the victors this was almost a total performance with the likes of Éanna Ó Conchúir, Dara and Tomás Ó Sé, Seán M Ó Cochuir and Kerry legend Marc Ó Sé all impressing but therer were some cracks that will need addressing going forward.

For Mallow, Matthey Taylor, James Loughrey and Cian O’Riordan tried everything in their power to control what was a rampant free scoring Kerry side but on the day seven different scorers showed that the Kerry champions had huge scoring strength in depth with the ability to score from seemingly anywhere.

It took seven minutes for any side to trouble the scorekeeper before An Ghaeltacht’s wing forward PJ Mac Láimh splitting the posts with a scintillating score. Mallow responded almost immediately with a brilliant point from Eoin Stanton. Stanton’s rasping effort could easily have been a goal however the shot just skimmed the top of the crossbar.

A surging run from Éanna Ó Conchuir set up another score for the Kerry side however a storming break and a finish worthy of a top Premiership footballer from Mallow’s Killian O’Connor brought Mallow back to an unlikely parity on the quarter hour mark.

An Ghaeltacht impressed for the next 15 minutes with some clinical runs and some equally clinical finishing as Éanna Ó’Conchúir, Dara Ó’Sé and midfield general Seán Ó’Gairbhí all registered scores to open up a fully deserved five point lead.

Despite being outplayed for long periods the home side were still in touching distance, mainly it must be said thanks to some serious luck as well as the heroics of their young keeper Kevin Doyle. The Mallow number one saved brilliantly from Ó Conchúir before seeing the ball come flying back from his own crossbar minutes later from a Seán Ó Conchúir shot.

A brace of further scores from the Kingdom side were cancelled out by a pair from O’Riordan which sent the sides in at the break 0-11 to 1-3.

There was little doubt that if Mallow were to claw back the interval gap they would need to get to the pace of their opponents right from the start of the second half however with less than a minute on the clock the men in red and yellow were cut open again, this time by a magnificent ball from Éanna Ó Conchúir which found the onrushing Seán Ó Conchúir who fisted home delightfully to seemingly all but end the question of who was going to advance to the provincial final.

Mallow had a chance to cut the gap moments later however Kieran O’Sullivan blasted wide when a goal looked like the obvious outcome.

Another brace of points from An Ghaeltacht opened up a nine point gap as Mallow began to struggle all over the pitch. Runs from Taylor and Ryan Harkin continued to cause problems for An Ghaeltacht who looked to be a little weak up the middle however when the Kerry side got the ball out wide there usually was only one result.

Credit to Mallow, they battled all the way to the end even losing corner back Bill Myres to a late red but on the day there was no denying who the better side were and to be fair by some margin.

AN GHAELTACHT: T Mac an tSaoir; P P Sauerland, M O’Sé, C Ó Luing; B Ó Beaglaoich, P O’Sé, C Ó’Muircheartaigh; R Ó’Sé 0-1, S Ó’Gairbhí 0-2; C Ó’Coileáin 0-1, D Ó’Sé 0-6 (5f), PJ Mac Láimh 0-1; T Ó’Sé 0-1, E Ó’Conchúir 0-1, S M Ó’Conchúir 1-5 (2f). Subs: G Mac an tSaoir for C Ó’Coileáin (37), Ó Ó’Sé for T Ó’Sé (55), C Mac Gearailt 0-1 for PJ Mac Láimh (55), S Ó’Bombaire for S M Ó’Conchúir (60), C Ó’Céilleachair for P Ó’Sé (60).

MALLOW: K Doyle; M Quirke, J Loughrey, B Myres; J McGuinness, M Taylor, A Cahill; D Hayes, E Stanton 0-1; R Harkin 0-1, K O’Connor 1-2, K O’Sullivan; K Sheehan, C O’Riordan 0-4 (2f), C Lynch. Subs: T McEvoy for D Hayes (37), S Hayes for K O’Sullivan (44), A Sheehan for K Sheehan (44), P Herlihy for C Lynch (44), S Coughlan for K McGuinness (53), R Willis for J Loughrey (55).

R Hickey (Clare)