Moyvane’s relegation to Division 5 confirmed

ONLY a third of the games went ahead with the next two weekends sorting out much of the matters that will be at stake on the final day.

One matter that was confirmed, however, was Moyvane’s relegation straight back down to Division 5 as they lost out to a Lispole side who made sure of their own status as a Division 4 side for 2017 with an eight point win over the North Kerry side.

A Ryan Ó Mainín goal and three closing first-half points from Tom Kavanagh gave the hosts a 1-10 to 0-4 lead at the break as Aidan Keane and Niall Mulvihill registered scores for the visitors.

Mulvihill scored a second-half penalty to give them hope of a turnaround in the second-half as they came back to 1-12 to 1-7, but Declan O’Sullivan, Garret Noonan and Michael J Fitzgerald steadied matters for Lispole in allowing them go on to record a 1-17 to 1-9 victory.

On 10 points in the middle of the table, Lispole have no worries ahead of their game away to Skellig Rangers but another South Kerry side Renard have managed to keep their chances of staying up in their own hands as they followed up on a victory over Valentia the weekend before with a six point success over Churchill on Saturday evening.

Mark Sugrue and Michael Brennan for the visitors missed goal chances in the opening 10 minutes, but three Cillian Fitzgerald points for Churchill had them level at four points apiece after 18 minutes.

The two sides continued to trade scores coming up to the conclusion of the first period with Fitzgerald’s sixth point of the match seeing the visitors lead by 0-8 to 0-7 at half-time. Robert Wharton levelled the game up after half-time and though Brennan put Churchill back in front the visitors too control of proceedings thereafter.

A goal from Conor O’Leary and two points from Mark Sugrue put the hosts 1-10 to 0-9 in front and they never looked back from there in going on to record a 1-16 to 0-13 win despite Fitzgerald finishing with eight points for Churchill.

Both sides will wait to see how the back games unfold over the coming two weekends, but Renard would look to be in a far healthier position than their St Brendans counterparts going into the last round as they travel up to an already relegated Moyvane.

Churchill will play host to Valentia on the last day but they need Scartaglin to lose their games with Valentia and Firies over the coming weekends to have any hope of staying up ahead of Round 11.

The Young Islanders are in the last chance saloon ahead of their two back games away to Scart, but at home to another East Kerry side in Dr Crokes B. However, the walkover they conceded to Lispole will come against them in any situation where they find themselves in a tie with a side down there.

A point should be enough for Crokes B to stay up when they do travel down off the mainland to play Valentia, but it’s really the Scartaglin games you feel that will decide a lot in terms of what might happen here. At the top, Fossa and Na Gaeil’s promotion to Division Three has been known since the last round but it is between Ballymacelligott, Skellig Rangers and Firies to see who will join them. Ballymac and Skellig play Na Gaeil and Fossa respectively this weekend with Firies needing the Top Two to win to bring them back into contention for the last spot ahead of the aforementioned match with Scartaglin.

Much will depend you feel on Fossa and Na Gaeil’s motivation with their promotions now secured and whether or not they want to keep their 100% records going ahead of a potential match between the two clubs on the last day to see who will win the title.