The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
County SFC semi-finals down for decision this weekend
THE semi-finals of the Garveys Supervalu senior football championship in Fitzgerald Stadium on Sunday next are the main attraction on Kerry GAA fields this weekend. The draw on Sunday last paired Dingle against Dr Crokes and Kenmare District against Rathmore. Very few people would have come up with this quartet of quarter-finalists earlier in the season but now all four are just a game away from marching behind the band on county final day. Extra time applies in both games in the event of a draw.
The opening game on Sunday (2pm) will see 2012 finalists, Dr Crokes and Dingle in opposition. Dr Crokes would of course have been on everyone’s list for a quarter final place and they have been making steady progress all year under new management defeating West Kerry, St Kierans and Rahillys on Saturday last posting big scores in the process. Dingle had shown good form when defeating Rathmore in the opening round but somehow managed to lose a game they had more or less won against Mid Kerry in Round 2. The disposed of Milltown-Castlemaine and then surprised many by outstaying South Kerry last weekend to win by the minimum. They are certainly up against it again this weekend against a side who are hell bent on redemption following championship losses to Legion and Rathmore in the last two years.
The second semi-final at 3:30 sees the unique pairing of Kenmare District and Rathmore. Both sides reached this stage last year only to fall at the hands of South Kerry and Legion respectively – they will want to go one step further at least this year. The Divisional side did well to outscore Austin Stacks in last weekend’s quarter final and they certainly have come a long way in the last couple of years. They overcame St Brendans in Round 1 and got their passage to the quarter-final with victory over Legion. Rathmore refused to throw in the towel when defeating Mid Kerry last weekend and they recovered well from the opening round defeat by Dingle to go on and defeat St Brendans and St Kierans.
Certainly supporters are in for a treat on Sunday and the winners will have little time to rest on their laurels as the county final is fixed for the following Sunday, October 16th. This is to allow for a possible replay of the senior final and in addition, the first round of the Munster Club championship is fixed for the weekend of October 30.
There is a further complication in that the Intermediate championship final has to be played before the weekend of October 30 as one of the finalists, either Kenmare or Templenoe, will be the Kerry standard bearers in the Munster Intermediate championship that weekend.