Dingle recover to see off Kierans
Dingle 1-14 St Kierans 1-11
PUTTING behind them an eighteen point loss, suffered at the hands of East Kerry six days previous Dingle got their Championship aspirations back on track in the Austin Stack Park last Saturday evening with a narrow, if overall, fully deserved win over St Kierans.
Exerting a grip on proceedings from the outset they were never headed in the contest, and while St Kierans kept pace throughout Dingle were always able to respond and keep the Divisional combination at arms length.
Certainly their defensive deficiencies were addressed in the interim period, and, while the measured build up adopted by St Kierans allowed Dingle to regroup in numbers, they were much more compact as a rearguard unit, even if their tackling was at times somewhat indisciplined.
They got to grips with matters from the outset of proceedings, and with Barry O’Sullivan an influential figure in midfield, and kicking two early points, they led by four points 0-4 to 0-0 after just seven minutes, with St Kierans having failed to capitalise with a few similar type opportunities at the other end.
Two pointed frees brought the divisional team closer by the tenth minute, but with two of Dingle’s half back line Tom O’Sullivan and Aiden O’Connor up in support of their attack, and kicking a few fine scores, the West Kerry side maintained a marginal scoring advantage, 0-6 to 0-4, by the end of the opening quarter. They continued to be much more resourceful and incisive in attacking situations with Mikey Geaney providing a cutting edge on the ‘forty’.
St Kierans, by contrast, weren’t as expansive at the top end of the pitch, and tended to take the ball into contact too often amidst a cluster of players.
In these situations Dingle held all of the aces and with a spread of scorers from almost every line on the pitch they doubled their lead 0-8 0-4 by the seventeenth minute.
An excellent score delivered delightfully off the outside of his left boot from Philip O’Connor kept St Kierans in touch, and, after they had reduced the margin momentarily to just two points 0-8 to 0-6 Dingle retired with a four point interval lead 0-10 0-6 having had a spread of five different scorers throughout that opening half.
It could well have been more given that Seán Óg Ó Ciardubháin had denied Paul Geaney in a clear cut goal situation in the 27th minute. Having restarted without the injured Thomas Hickey St Kierans failed with a free from a good position within a minute of the restart.
Once again, Dingle made better use of their scoring opportunities and increased their lead to five points 0-12 0-7 by the 35th minute.
For a period the exchanges were more about industry rather than expertise, and, the endeavour of St Kierans brought them to within touching distance once again 0-12 0-9 by the end of the third quarter courtesy of two pointed frees from Philip O’Connor.
Delicately poised, with scores at a premium the next score was going to be significant, and, having manoeuvred himself into a good position Barry O’Sullivan angled to perfection another fine score to give his side much needed breathing space. Seamus Scanlon with a similar type effort reduced the margin once again to just three points 0-13 0-10 by the 48th minute.
However, the approach play of St Kierans continued to be pretty predictable with a continued use of the hand pass, and with six minutes of normal time remaining Dingle struck for the game’s most defining score when Tom O’Sullivan’s measured kick pass released Barry O’Sullivan inside the last line of the defence, and his left footed finish was pretty emphatic to the roof of the St Kierans net.
Six points adrift, St Kierans in an effort to salvage the situation relocated Seamus Scanlon on the edge of the small square and it reaped rewards in a short space of time. His contributed to 1-1 and set up what proved to be a consolation goal for Danny Hickey in added time.
However, it proved to be too little too late, but it did pose the question as to what might have transpired if Scanlon’s towering presence close to goal had been utilised an awful lot earlier.
Significantly 1-8 of Dingle’s tally from play was contributed from their midfield and half back line, with four of their starting forwards failing to score, including Paul Geaney, which was a tribute to the input of his direct opponent Shane Fitzmaurice.
However, it was all about the result as far as Dingle were concerned, given the manner of their defeat in round two. They will now face Austin Stacks in the quarter-final, and, the last time these two teams met in the Championship was in the 2014 semi-final with Stacks emerging victorious on that particular occasion.
DINGLE: Gavin H Curran, Patrick O’Connor, Tom Leo O’Sullivan, Micheal Flannery, Mikey Boyle, Aiden O’Connor (0-2), Tom O’Sullivan (0-3), Billy O’Connor, Barry O’Sullivan, (1-3), Brian O’Connor, Mikey Geaney (0-3, 1f), Paul Devane, Tomas Sheehy (0-3, 1f), Paul Geaney, Brian O’Connell. Subs: Matthew Flaherty for M Flannery, Gareth Hickey Brosnan for B O’Connell, Brian Devane for Paul Geaney.
ST KIERANS: Sean Og O Ciardubhain (Cordal), John O’Connor (Currow), Shane Fitzmaurice (Brosna), Micheal Reidy (Ballymacelligott) Luka Brosnan (Desmonds) (0-1), Eamonn Kiely (Brosna), Cian Counihan (Ballymacelligott), Aidan Breen (Ballymacelligott), Seamus Scanlon (Currow) (0-1), Thomas Lynch (Desmonds) Philip O’Connor (0-4, 3f), Sean Horan (Scartaglin), Vincent Horan (Ballymacelligott) (0-1), Thomas Hickey (Desmonds), Adam Barry (Brosna) (0-3, 2f). Subs: Brian Leonard (Desmonds) for T Hickey, Seamus Brosnan (Currow) (0-1) for A Breen, Danny Hickey (Desmonds) (1-0) for S Horan, Dan O’Shea (Currow) for A Barry, Pa McCarthy (Currow) for T Lynch.
REFEREE: Eddie Walsh (Rathmore)