De Brún impresses as Firies see off Fossa

DIVISION THREE

THREE wins for East Kerry sides, two for North Kerry sides and a draw between a Mid Kerry and St Brendans side were the geographic order on the first day here.

Two East Kerry victories were always going to be guaranteed here anyway as there were two derbies but promoted sides from Division 4 in 2018, Gneeveguilla and Firies, winning was maybe the most interesting feature. Firies made full use of Jack Sherwood’s availability as Limerick inter-county player Pádraig De Brún also impressed in holding on for a 1-8 to 1-6 win over fellow promoted side Fossa.

David Clifford did do the warm up with the visitors to Farranfore but ultimately did not feature, but an injury to his brother Paudie was a more pressing concern come the final whistle. It took 14 minutes before the game’s first score, a Donnachadh O’Sullivan free as a Tadgh O’Shea free for Fossa was their only score in trailing by 1-4 to 0-1 at the break, O’Sullivan the Firies goalscorer in a strong finish to the half.

The hosts stretched their lead out to eight points upon the restart as a Matt Rennie goal in the 40th minute started Fossa’s efforts to make amends. Firies went 24 minutes without a score but O’Sullivan scored two frees in a 1-3 personal total as Fossa will be disappointed not to have made more use of the breeze in the second period.

Gneeveguilla used the breeze to perfection themselves in the second period away to Currow as they hit 1-9 without reply in keeping the hosts scoreless after the restart despite Currow leading by 0-6 to 0-5 at half-time. Mike and Pa McCarthy along with John

Buckley and Daniel O’Shea had given the hosts their lead but Pádraig O’Connor’s goal gave Gneeveguilla the advantage in the second period as Con Buckley, Pádraig Doyle and John O’Leary all contributed to a

1-14 to 0-6 win.

The other East Kerry win was for Listry meanwhile as they kept North Kerry Champions St Senans to a solitary point in the second-half as Seán O’Connell scored all their four points in a low scoring 0-9 to 0-4 encounter.

Hosts Listry had points from Billy O’Brien and Paul O’Donoghue in leading by 0-5 to 0-3 at half-time as Ronan Buckley, Joseph Clifford and Seán Lehane guided them to their five-point victory in the second period. Listowel Emmets got their campaign off to a positive start meanwhile with a nine-point victory away to Lispole as a Ger McCarthy goal gave them a 1-4 to 0-3 lead at the break. Cathal O’Sullivan’s points were the main source of scoring for the hosts as they failed to make significant use of the breeze in the second-half as Seán Keane scored Emmets’ second goal and both Cormac Mulvihill and Sam Tarrant impressed in a 2-9 to 0-6 win for the North Kerry side.

Ballydonoghue had Jason Foley available to them and they made full use with a goal in the first-half crucial to them recording a 1-9 to 0-9 win over Milltown/Castlemaine as the Mid Kerry side had a less than ideal start to life here for them having also trailed by 1-5 to 0-4 at the break.

Keel and St Pats could not be separated at either half-time or full-time meantime as having been level at 0-4 apiece at half-time both sides eventually went on to finish level at 0-7 apiece.

Keel looked like they would win on home turf late on, but St Pats put over an equalising free to come away with a share of the spoils.

Four of the sides that won on the opening day face each other in Round Two, Gneeveguilla hosting Ballydonoghue while Listowel host Firies as Keel make the trip to Fossa. St Pats host Currow as Milltown / Castlemaine are at home to neighbouring Listry with St Senans hosting Lispole to complete the set of fixtures.