Crokes claim county senior club crown
TWICE in seven days a Dingle team with justifiable ambitions of being a strong force in Kerry football were slapped down unceremoniously by a Dr Crokes team that looks as if they have no notion whatsoever of being displaced as the county top dog for some time yet.
While the previous weekend’s match was a county league meeting without any of the combined twelve Kerry players between the clubs, last Sunday’s Club final saw all twelve - six on either side - play some part, but the outcome was something similar: an 11-point win in the league and a 10-point victory last Sunday as Dr Crokes easily defended their Senior Club title.
Dingle had hoped that their Kerry players would help close the chasm that existed the previous week, but the reality was that Dr Crokes returning county men matched - and on this occasion outshone - Dingle’s contingent. It hardly helped, of course, that Dingle had Barry O’Sullivan and Mikey Geaney dismissed in the first half for black card offences - two Kerry panellists the west Kerry club would have needed on the pitch to the final whistle if they were to even trouble Dr Crokes.
The defending champions had their own troubles with referee Sean Joy, with the Kerry captain Fionn Fitzgerald sent off in the 20th minute for some off the ball altercation that left Conor Geaney prone on the ground. Whatever about the merits of that particular decision, Joy was absolutely correct to black card O’Sullivan seven minutes early after he pulled down Johnny Buckley as the Crokes midfielder bore down on the Dingle goal. Crokes led 0-4 to 0-2 at that stage, with Colm Cooper tapping over the 20-metre free to put three between the teams.
Dingle had actually taken a 0-2 to no score lead by the fourth minute - converted frees from Paul and Conor Geaney - but it would be 52 minutes before Dingle would score a point from play.
Points from Micheal Burns, Cooper and Tony Brosnan made it 0-8 to 0-3 by the 17th minute and even then there was a conviction in Crokes’ play that suggested it might be a long afternoon for Dingle. That belief was briefly broken when Mikey Geaney gathered a punched clearance by Shane Murphy and brilliantly placed the ball just inside the post to make it 1-3 to 0-8 and suggest Dingle might trouble, if not dethrone, the champions.
Fitzgerald’s red card and Geaney’s black soon followed but thereafter Crokes played as if they had the extra man, even two, as they gave a masterclass in swarmed defending and intelligent counter-attacking play. Indeed, the county team could take a notes on how effectively Dr Crokes get every player behind ball when the opposition are attacking and then turnover the ball and break forward. At times it looked like the numerical disadvantage actually suited Dr Crokes more, as the dropped Brian Looney back and the remaining forwards used the extra space to great effect.
At half time Crokes led 0-13 to 1-4 with goalkeeper Murphy kicking the last point of the half from a ‘45’.
Dingle corner back Michael Flannery was the third player to pick up a black card - four minutes in the second half - before Paul Geaney and Michael Moloney clashed off the ball, with each player going to ground at two different times, but it would be another 20 minutes or so before they were both booked for persistent fouling on each other.
Dr Crokes were 0-16 to 1-4 ahead before Conor converted Dingle’s first point from play - in the 56th minute - by which stage the challengers had already given up and the champions’ thoughts were surely moving on to bigger challenges later in the summer.
Matthew Flaherty, Paul Geaney (free) and Paul Devane added late scores for Dingle, with Crokes substitutes Paul Clarke and David Shaw responding in kind for the winners. Gavin White made
his first competitive appearance since last December’s Munster Club Final loss to Nemo Rangers and marked his 20-minute cameo with a beautifully taken goal that should please Eamonn Fitzmaurice as much as it did the Crokes management.
Dingle’s Breandán Kelliher picked up a second yellow and a red card late on to even up the playing numbers but it was all immaterial as John Payne did what Daithi Casey did a year previous and collected the silverware in front of the Dr Crokes supporters.
DR CROKES: S Murphy (0-1 ‘45’) J Payne, M Moloney, F Fitzgerald (0-1), D O’Leary, A O’Sullivan, J Lyne, J Buckley (0-1), D Casey (0-1), M Burns (0-2), G O’Shea, B Looney (0-1), T Brosnan (0-4), C Cooper (0-3, 2f), K O’Leary (0-2). Subs: G White (1-0) for J Lyne (40), M Potts for K O’Leary (inj 47), P Clarke (0-1) for T Brosnan (57), D Shaw (0-1) for M Burns (60), S Doolan for G O’Shea (64), E Brosnan for B Looney (66)
DINGLE: G H Curran; A O’Connor,
T L O’Sullivan, M Flannery, M Boyle, T O’Sullivan, B Kelliher, D O’Sullivan, B O’Sullivan, B O’Connor, M Flaherty (0-1), M Geaney (1-0), C Geaney (0-3, 2f), P Geaney (0-3), C Bambury. Subs: P O’Connor for B O’Sullivan (b/c, 13), P Devane (01) for M Geaney (b/c, 20), E Murphy for M Flannery (b/c, 36).