Dingle lay down a marker with impressive victory over Shannon Rangers

GARVEY’S COUNTY SFC ROUND 1

Dingle 3-18 Shannon Rangers 0-9

IF nothing is easy in championship football, Dingle’s home win over Shannon Rangers on Saturday was as close to straightforward as one could expect at this level.

The West Kerry club’s younger members looked particularly sharp as they advanced to Round 2A of the Senior Football Championship, with two terrible first-half blunders by Shannon Rangers helping Dingle to an eighteen-point win.

In perfect conditions, the game’s opening ten minutes were lively, if sometimes lacking in quality. After Dingle’s Tomás Sheehy and Shannon Rangers’ Mikey Boyle exchanged early frees, play zipped from one end to another, but both sides’ plays broke down over and over during ten minutes of scoreless play. Some attacks ended with poor kick-passes; others were comfortably dealt with by defenders.

But while Shannon Rangers never righted their wrongs, Dingle proved clinical from there on.

Tom O’Sullivan’s pacey advances from defence were among the few bright spots of Kerry’s 2018 championship, and it was exactly this kind of run which kick-started Dingle’s evening.

Fouled as he tore into the attacking third on 11 minutes, his quick free kick into Paul Devane created an opening, and a handpass across goal by Devane left Paul Geaney with a close-range finish to the net.

O’Sullivan was back in the final just third two minutes later as he pointed to make 1-2 to 0-1, and while Paul Kennelly did respond with a Shannon Rangers free, Dingle were advancing more frequently and looked set on causing mayhem.

The excellent Tomás Sheehy blazed over from the left of the posts after finding space amongst the increasingly beleaguered Shannon Rangers defence to make it 1-3 to 0-2 on 18 minutes, and while Paul Devane’s Garryowen-like strike was not the game’s most stylish, it secured another Dingle point.

Target man Paul Geaney ( pictured) was becoming increasingly prominent under the high ball, and the nervousness he had caused was set to become clear.

Pressing on a short kick-out, Dingle’s Tom Leo O’Sullivan got his hand to the ball as his opponents tried to work their way out of defence. The ball trickled on to Geaney, who duly collected and blasted to the top corner, making it 2-4 to 0-2 on 20 minutes.

Tom O’Sullivan produced another successful advance to make it 2-5 to 0-2, before disaster struck again for Shannon Rangers when a kick-out flew to the left wing and the waiting Matthew Flaherty. Dara Ó Sé was unable to get back to his line on time as Flaherty fired a long-range strike at goal and made it 3-5 to 0-2, virtually ending any notion of a contest.

The sides traded points before the break courtesy of Dingle’s Mikey Boyle (yes there were two!) and Shannon Rangers’ lively Tommy Kennelly, leaving the gap at 12, 3-6 to 0-3, at half-time.

The second half was less eventful, but Dingle’s youth shone as the game descended into target practice for a home team wreaking havoc on their opponents’ kickouts. Shannon Rangers’ Mikey Boyle, prominent throughout, kicked his team’s first point from play after the re-start, but it was not in keeping with the theme of a one-sided half.

Dingle’s Mikey Boyle, Brian O’Connor, and Tomás Sheehy each tagged on points during a three-minute burst to make it 3-9 to 0-4, before two superb, long-range Sheehy scores – one from the right of the posts, the other from a more central position – brought his personal tally to five points.

Ruadhán McCarthy had come on just before the break after Cathal Bambury had to be helped off, but he proved himself an able replacement. At the end of two moves between Dingle’s forwards, McCarthy scored twice in succession to leave the score at 3-14 to 0-4 with just a quarter of an hour to play.

Mikey Boyle gave Shannon Rangers a small boost after jinking through a couple of Dingle defenders and finding space to fire over, but the barrage resumed in the closing stages, with a Dingle free from Brian O’Connell making it 3-15 to 0-5.

Jack Goulding and Paul Kennelly both scored for Shannon Rangers on 56 and 57 minutes respectively, but these efforts were quickly cancelled out by McCarthy and his fellow substitute Brian Devane.

Not even two Paul Kennelly points in injury time, one from a free, could put a positive spin on a game that had long-descended into a showcase by Dingle’s forwards. A final close-range effort by Brian O’Connell, lobbing over from the right of the posts, left Dingle 3-18 to 0-9 winners as they strolled on to meet East Kerry.

DINGLE: Gavin Curran, Patrick O’Connor, Tom ‘Leo’ O’Sullivan, Micheál Flannery, Mikey Boyle (0-2), Aiden O’Connor, Tom O’Sullivan (0-2), Billy O’Connor, Mikey Geaney, Matthew Flaherty (1-0), Brian O’Connor (0-1), Paul Devane (0-2), Tomás Sheehy (0-5, 0-1f), Paul Geaney (2-0), Cathal Bambury. Subs: Ruadhán McCarthy (0-3) for Cathal Bambury, 29, Brian O’Connell (0-2, 1f) for Paul Geaney, 40, Brian Devane (0-1) for Paul Devane, 47, Gareth Hickey Brosnan for T Sheehy, 49, Dara Ó Súilleabháin for M Geaney, 51, Niall Geaney for B O’Connor, 55, John B Brosnan for P O’Connor (blood sub), 63

SHANNON RANGERS: Dara Ó Sé, Jason Foley, Shane Enright, Danny Wren, Jack Goulding (0-1), Michael Foley, Tommy Kennelly (0-1), Jeremy King, Jack O’Sullivan, Gerald O’Sullivan, Paul Kennelly (0-4, 3f), Brian Ó Seanacháin, Ambrose Lanigan, Mikey Boyle (0-3, 1f), Daragh Buckley. Subs: Tadhg McEllistrim for J O’Sullivan, half-time; Kevin Enright for J King, 37, Mark Buckley for G O’Sullivan, 37, Dara Keane for Daragh Buckley, 51, Jim Cremin for D Wren, 51, Killian Langan for J Goulding, 55

REFEREE: Brendan Brosnan (Glenflesk)