Lispole in pole position to beat Beale
COUNTY JUNIOR FOOTBALL C’SHIP FINAL
IT is the fourth tier of club championship football and there isn’t anywhere else to go afterwards - the winner of this grade no longer goes to the Knockaderry Invitational Tournament - but neither of those facts will make this County Junior final any less of a contest for that.
Neither Beale nor Lispole would be inundated with senior level silverware - at district board or county level - down the years so any title and silverware on offer to both will be competed for with added bite.
Two years ago Lispole won the Novice Championship - the Novice Shield in old money - which was in effect a fifth tier competition, but they have strong form in this Junior Championship, even if that has brought an unfair amount of disappointment along with it.
Beaten finalists in 2012, 2014 and 2015, there might well be a growing feeling in the west Kerry club that time is running out for some of this group of players to go one better and bring home the bacon.
That sort of repeated failure at the final hurdle can go two ways with a team, but it’s fair to assume that given that Lispole have arrived in another final so soon that they haven’t suffocated in self-pity and fallen away as a result.
They were expected to come out of a group with Cordal, Cromane and Kilgarvan, which they duly did - the key game being their Round 1 trip to Cordal, which they won by two points. That was, effectively, the group final, and a subsequent win over Cromane was good enough to see Lispole top the group without having to play Kilgarvan in the final game.
Beale also had the benefit of a conceded game, only theirs came in the first round when Ballylongford failed to field a team. An fairly comfortable seven-point win over Tuosist set Beale up for a winner takes all Round 3 game with Duagh, and in a tetchy dour contest in Ballybunion, the home side came through to set up another north Kerry derby, this time against Ballyduff in the semi-final. Despite Declan Bambury sitting out that game because of a one-match suspension Beale’s ability to score goals saw them prevail over the ‘Duffers to book their place in the county final.
Lispole’s semi-final - a west Kerry derby against Castlegregory - was a much more close-run affair, which they won by the minimum , but that could work to their advantage if, as expected, this final is another tight contest.
Lispole forward Brian Rayel has gone to America, which is a huge loss for them, but others can be expected to step up their performances in his absence.
Both sides are reporting some minor injury concerns but the expectation is that both teams will be at full strength, apart from Rayel, while Lispole are appealing a red card for Mike Jim Fitzgerald in the semi-final.
Beale will look to Jeremy King, Cormac Linnane and James Mc-
Mahon among others to carry the fight to Lispole, but the inkling here is that even without Rayel the west Kerry men might have a little too much about them in key areas.
Lispole
Verdict: