Hollywood heads to the wild west!
THE LIDIL COMÓRTAS PEILE PÁIDI Ó SÉ IS ONE OF THE GAA CALENDAR’S STANDOUT EVENTS. FORMER KERRY STAR KILLIAN BURNS REPORTS ON THE ACTION
ALL the thrills and the spills of a unique football tournament didn’t fail to leave its mark on another enjoyable weekend back west.
The Lidl Comórtas Peile Páidi Ó Sé has attracted over 16,500 participants for over 31 years, as well as its fair share of overseas club teams, including teams from Madrid, Dubai and even South Korea.
Over last weekend, it was the turn of US club ‘OC Wild Geese’ from Orange County, California, to pull off an unlikely victory in the Junior Men’s Cup. The Kerry connection was Eoin Ó Cruadhlaoich, a former An Ghaeltacht star now working in Los Angeles, who convinced his adopted GAA club that the trip to West Kerry would be worth it.
The team even created a special jersey, with a black and white image of Páidi Ó Sé lifting Sam Maguire in 1985 emblazoned across the front for the occasion. Having seen off the challenge of Tipperary’s Killenaule (2-7 to 2-5), they faced West Kerry club Lios Póil in the final. Finding themselves in an unlikely lead at half time (2-4 to 1-4), the second half saw Lios Póil get back to within a point.
The Californian men’s unlikely victory looked to be slipping away, and like all good movie story-lines, the drama came on cue to add to their woes.
Within a five-minute spell half way through the second half, OC Wild Geese missed a penalty and had two men black-carded. But, down to 13 men for the last ten minutes of the game, the Orange County men, whose round trip to Ventry was a whopping 10,000 miles, held out to win by a point on a score line of 3-7 to 1-9.
OC Wild Geese captain Eoin Ó Cruadhlaoich said, “There wont be a movie made in Hollywood for a week. It’s a fantastic boost for this club to bring home silverware.
“It makes it all worth while and it will encourage more people to join our club as well as giving us more prominence among the US GAA club scene.”
More than 700 players came from 14 counties across the four provinces of Ireland, and also from London, Edinburgh and the US, filling accommodation all over the Dingle Peninsula, with over 2,000 attendees between all six finals.
Comórtas Chairman Pádraig Óg Ó Sé said, “There were no reports of serious injury, the weather was kind to us in the end, and we are delighted with the support we got from host clubs including Castlegreogy, Annascaul, An Ghaeltacht, Lios Póil and Dingle, as well as the Ballyrickard grounds in Tralee.”
It was a pretty good return for Kerry clubs across this six competition tournament with five men’s teams making it to finals.
It was an all-Kerry Dermot Early senior men’s Cup with Dingle and An Ghaeltacht fighting it out for honours. Dingle beat Armagh’s Granemore and Kiskeam from North Cork in their path to the final, with key scores coming from Conor and Mikey Geaney and Mikey Boland, while An Ghaeltacht had victories over Westmeath side Mullingar Shamrocks and Louth’s Crosserlough.
Over 200 attended the final at Gallaras. Dingle opened up the scores with a point from Conor Geaney and two points from Mikey Geaney, both continuing their form from earlier, while Seamus Ó Muircheartaigh’s impressive inside marks for An Ghaeltacht resulted in scores and kept them only one point behind by half time.
With league and club championship season picking up a notch, both sides were going hard, and a little incident early in the second half saw straight red cards going to Dingle’s Mathew Flaherty and An Ghaeltacht’s PJ Hand.
Minutes later, Dingle’s Darragh Sullivan was black-carded, which left the door open for An Ghaeltacht to creep back into the game, including a fine point from Eanna Ó Conchubhair to leave them just one behind, 0-6 to 0-7, with 15 minutes remaining. Then, that man Conor Geaney found himself through on goal and made no mistake to leave it 1-7 to 0-6 points. Dingle kept control despite being a man down for most of the final minutes and, with a final point from Billy O’Connor, it was Dingle who retained their crown to win by
1-8 to 0-8.
Another all-Kerry final between Castlegregory – under the management of Ardfert’s Stephen Wallace – and Listry, with Marc Ó Sé in charge, ensured more silverware was staying in the Kingdom.
Following a first-round close encounter which ended in a two-point victory over Cork’s Boherbue, division four side Castlegregory easily acquitted themselves against Louth’s Na Piarsaigh to reach the final. Division two club Listry had a first-round win over Cavan’s Knockbride before beating Louth’s Hunterstown Rovers.
In the final, Castlegregory started brightly with points from Brandon Hoare and Anton Kelliher and a goal from Jimmy Grady leaving them four points ahead at half-time (1-7 to 0-6).
However, Listry’s midfield pair Damien Clifford and Jimmy O’Leary stepped up, and the mid-Kerry side came back to level it halfway through the second half. Castlegregory’s Alan Fitzgerald impressed and scored a free to go one point ahead, but Damien Clifford popped up for a flurry of points, and they kept their advantage to the end to leave the final score Listry 0-16 to Castlegregory’s 1-11.
The West Kerry Ladies can also be proud. The Corca Dhuibhne Ladies were representing Kerry in the intermediate cup. They started well, beating Belturbet Rory O’Moore’s of Cavan, with Ciara Long the stand-out player. The West Kerry ladies fell by the narrowest of margins in the semi-final to 2019 Laois intermediate county finalists Ballyroan.
The Junior Ladies Cup saw Daingean Úi Chúis Ladies, Annascaul/Castlegregory and Ballymac lining out.
In other rounds, Ballymac were up against Annascaul/ Castlegregory. Last year’s winners Ballyboden St Enda’s B’s of Dublin played Ballymac and beat them before yielding another convincing win against Annascaul/ Castlegregory.
It ended with a Junior Ladies cup victory for the Dubs (5-7 to 1-6) over Mayo’s Breaffy.
There were no Kerry teams competing in the senior ladies cup, and the final saw Ballyboden St Enda’s, two-time previous winners and Leinster kingpins, losing to Clonguish of Longford in a shock result by a single point (5-7 to 5-8).
Clonguish’s Camille Burke scored three goals in the second half to secure the Longford club’s victory.
“Over last weekend, it was the US Club OC Wild Geese who pulled off an unlikely victory ...”