Beaufort top the group with win over battling Senans

COUNTY PJFC GROUP 1 ROUND 2

St Senans 1-8 Beaufort 2-9

IT all came down to this. Whoever won here was always likely to top the group and in the wake of events elsewhere – an expected victory for Firies over Annascaul – that’s how it turned out.

Beaufort’s victory means that they top the group regardless of what happens next weekend. A win for Senans wouldn’t have meant they topped the group regardless of what happened the following weekend, but that’s a moot point now.

It was probably something of a disappointment for Senans that they couldn’t play this game on their home turf in Mountcoal. They are of course familiar with Crotta O’Neills’ base in Dromakee, but not as familiar and for Beaufort it wouldn’t have been nearly as intimidating a venue to have to visit.

It’s on such small margins that championships are decided upon. Senans lost their home venue and lost by a relatively managable four points... could that have been the difference? Obviously you can’t say for certain that it was, but neither can you say that it wasn’t and that’s the point.

Senans, of course, got off to a good start here with three points unanswered through former Kerry minors Barry Mahony ( above) and David Foran and through the hero of the opening round, Seán O’Connell.

By now the Mid Kerry men were ever so slightly reeling and there to pounce was Kerry hurling star Seán Weir who popped up and rattled the Beaufort net with a fantastic goal.

It was now that they needed to kept it tight, but Beaufort were having none of it. They struck back straight away with a goal by Niall O’Connor and a second by Ciarán Kennedy. They were back in the game in a major way. At the half-time whistle Beaufort were leading by a point.

On the restart Beaufort pushed on with some fine points and free taking by Fergal Hallissey. Points by Damien Somers and Sean Weir reduced the lead to three points, but Beaufort finished better and held on to win on a score

Annascaul 1-10 Firies 2-14

BEAUFORT’S win in Dromakee meant that no matter what Firies did in Paddy Kennedy Park they wouldn’t be advancing to the semi-finals of this competition. They paid a heavy price for their failure to win the opening round fixture in Milltown seven days beforehand. Of course they weren’t to know all that while this game was on-going. They simply had to get on with their job and they did it well, in the process consigning Annascaul to a relegation play-off towards the end of the month. Firies, with Donnacadh O’Sullivan, opened the scoring with a free, within the first minute of this game. A few moments later Firies scored their first goal of the afternoon, from the boot of Mike Daly. Annascaul’s first score was a free from Alan Falvey in seventh minute. Annascaul fought back and by the 21st minute the sides were level. The first half was a fast paced and close affair. While Annascaul held the majority of the possession, they failed to convert opportunities to scores. Firies led by the smallest of margins at the break, with the scores 1-4 to 0-6. Annascaul’s only goal of the afternoon came from Alan Falvey, three minutes into the second half. Firies second goal came from William Courtney.

Halfway through the second half Annascaul were reduced to fourteen men. Firies dominated for much if the second half.