Four in-a-row Kingdom come good to down profligate Tribe
ALL IRELADN JFC FINAL
Kerry 2-13 Galway 2-11
WE all know about the phrase ‘to the victor goes the spoils’ and here it was especially true for the Kerry Juniors last Saturday in Ennis.
Despite chance upon chance for Galway to stop their domination of the competition, fifteen wides for the Tribesmen was the most telling statistic from the game. The Kingdom’s goals were well timed in sealing a fourth consecutive title as they also just had enough determination to see it through when it mattered.
Seán Moloney had made a great run in the sixth minute for the lead point that Lee O’Donoghue put over, but Paudie Clifford’s run for the game’s first goal a minute later would top it.
Collecting the ball on the ‘45 metre line, the Fossa player surged forward and eventually found the room for a strike that had the Kingdom 1-2 to 0-1 ahead. Galway were starting to pile the pressure on Kerry midway through the first period, but Kerry were able to match them scoring wise and maintain a four point lead for the most part as Darragh O’Shea had denied full-forward Padraic Cunningham a goalscoring opportunity from close range in the 10th minute.
He could do little in the 21st minute however when Cunningham managed to get the better of Dan O’Donoghue and fire home the left hand side as only a solitary point separated the sides at 1-5 to 1-4.
A Thomas Hickey point was a good response and Clifford might well have scored a second goal but it took a second Evan Cronin point to give Kerry a lead of 1-7 to 1-6 at half-time.
The Kingdom were the sharper of the two sides upon the restart Denis Daly finishing of a trio of points which included scores from O’Donoghue and Hickey in putting them ahead again by four after 35 minutes, but from here the nerves would really start to gather.
O’Shea had to clear a nervous moment of pingpong in the Kerry defence as the introduction of substitute Shane Gaffney gave Galway far greater accuracy in their free-taking. On the three-quarter mark the Tribesmen went back in front for the first time since the opening score of the game as substitute Matthew Reddington and Antaine Ó Laoí started the move which Jonathon Ryan finished for a lead of 2-8 to 1-10.
Thomas Hickey might have responded with Kerry’s first score in 13 minutes, but a free from Galway had the Kingdom behind once more after 52 minutes.
Crucially Paudie Clifford managed to more space for a great run in the 55th minute as centre-back Sean Ó Currín fouled him bearing down on goal and a penalty was awarded to Kerry.
Niall Ó Sé converted the spotkick to give Kerry a lead of 2-11 to 2-9 as despite Gaffney finishing with a further two points, both Hickey and Ó Sé managed to come up with the points to seal a two point Kerry win.
Team captain Kieran Murphy also made a telling interception towards the end to go with some good fielding in the first period, but overall it was a win that owed much to Kerry’s perseverance and ability to handle everything that Galway threw at them.
Had Gaffney started earlier then maybe the Tribesmen could have nicked
it but despite a very impressive showing from wing-forward Pádraig Éoin Ó Curraoin their scoring frailties ultimately came against them in the finish.
Whatever about the quality or the tag of ‘Junior’ this game certainly had far more excitement that the senior meeting between the counties the previous weekend in Croke Park.
Indeed whatever about what the future might hold for this grade, Kerry can hold their heads up high about what has been achieved not just this year, but also this decade with six titles overall to go with the present four-in-a-row.
It was not the most convincing of performances but the final scoreline is what matters most!
KERRY: Darragh O’Shea (Ballydonoghue); Trevor Wallace (Ardfert), Dan O’Donoghue (Spa); Paul O’Sullivan (Valentia Young Islanders), Padraig O’Connor (Gneeveguilla), Andrew Barry (Na Gaeil), Seán Moloney (John Mitchels); Kieran Murphy (Kilcummin), Ronan Murphy (Beaufort); Evan Cronin (Spa, 0-2), Paudie Clifford (Fossa, 1-0), Denis Daly (St Marys, 0-1); Thomas Hickey (Castleisland Desmonds, 0-4, 2f), Lee O’Donoghue (Glenflesk, 0-2), Niall Ó Sé (Dromid Pearses, 1-4, 1p, 2f) Subs: Killian Fitzgerald (Churchill) for Ronan Murphy, Ronan Buckley (Listry) for O’Donoghue and Conor O’Shea (St Marys) for O’Connor
GALWAY: Maghnus Breatnach; Eddie O’Sullivan, Stephen Cunniffe, Cathal Reilly; Aidan Ward, Seán Ó Currín, Damien O’Reilly; Alan Molloy (0-1), Michael Day (0-1); Padraig Éoin Ó Curraoin, Antaine Ó Laoí (0-1), Thomas Gleeson; Jonathon Ryan (1-2, 1f), Padraic Cunningham (1-1), Martin Coady (0-1) Subs: Matthew Reddington for Gleeson, Thomas Rabbitte for Ward, Shane Gaffney (0-4, 4f) for Coady, Darren Hennessy for Ó Curraoin, Aonghus Ó hIarnain for Ryan and Jack Kirrane for O’Reilly
REFEREE: Brendan Cawley (Kildare)