The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Dr Crokes stroll to easy SFL title defence against static Stacks
DR Crokes retained their County League title with surprising ease against cross-county rivals Austin Stacks, although perhaps there was no surprise in the manner of the result given the journey both teams had to this destination. Saturday’s game was a seventh competitive match in as many weeks for the title holders while Stacks, in that same period, had played no competitive match and, on this evidence, hadn’t done a whole lot of preparation of any sort to ready them for Crokes.
Stacks manager Stephen Stack confirmed as much after the game, saying the scheduling of this final did his team few favours. The inability to even organise challenge matches mitigated against their preparation but Stack, while praising the effort of his players, offered no other excuse for his team’s performance other than to state that the best team won.
For his part, Dr Crokes selector Harry O’Neill had been on record that he would have preferred an off week for his players, with next Sunday’s Munster Club final on the horizon. O’Neill stated after the previous week’s Munster semi-final win over Loughmore-Castleiney that he wished for a Sunday training session for his players in daylight on the main pitch in Lewis Road. After this 14-point stroll we wondered if O’Neill’s wish arrived 24 hours early?
“We’re thankful we got the game played and it’s over now and it looks like we’re after coming out of here without any injuries and the upside of it is we’re county league champions now. That was the aim, to play the game, to win it and not get any injuries, and it’s done and dusted now,” a relieved O’Neill said.
Lacking all the intensity and frisson normally present when these two teams have clashed in recent years, barely one hundred people’s curiosity was sufficiently peaked to bring them to Lewis Road, but their optimism wasn’t rewarded. Though Kieran Donaghy slung over the game’s opening score for the visitors, Crokes went about their business with cool authority, and led 0-7 to 0-1 by the 13th minute, with Colm Cooper scoring three points (2 frees), Tony Brosnan getting two, Daithi Casey one and Johnny Buckley’s speculative high delivery in bouncing over Darragh O’Brien’s crossbar.
A little flourish from Stacks had David Mannix (free) and Fiachna Mangan raise flags either side of Shane O’Callaghan hitting the bottom of the Crokes post when he broke clear of the Crokes’ defence, but even at 0-8 to 0-3 at half-time there was an inevitability about the final outcome. Tony Brosnan’s third from play stretched Crokes’ lead inside a minute of the restart, and from there the second half took on the form and rhythm of the first - Crokes playing all the football at three-quarter pace and Stacks huffing and puffing without fear of blowing anything down. Jordan Kiely and Cooper (free) extended Crokes’ lead to seven points before Casey set up Kiely for a low shot past O’Brien to make it 1-11 to 0-4. Micheal Burns and Kiely added points before Donaghy’s second point - Stacks’ fifth - momentarily stopped the rot. The last 10 minutes was played out in pedestrian fashion, punctuated only by substitutions, a leg injury to Donaghy, another O’Callaghan goal chance spurned, a couple of consolatory Stacks points and a late Burns goal from a Kiely assist just to give the Crokes selectors more food for thought heading into Sunday’s Munster final. DR CROKES: Shane Murphy, Luke Quinn, Eoin Brosnan, Fionn Fitzgerald, Gavin White, Alan O’Sullivan, David O’Leary, Ambrose O’Donovan, Johnny Buckley (01), Daithi Casey (0-1), Jordan Kiely (1-2), Brian Looney (0-1), Colm Cooper (0-4, 3f), Micheal Burns (0-1), Tony Brosnan (0-5). Subs: PJ Lawlor for A O’Donovan (45 min), Mike Milner for Buckley (50), Cillian Fitzgerald for O’Leary (52), Jamie Doolan for Looney (52), Chris Brady (0-1) for Cooper (55), Paul Clarke for Casey (57). AUSTIN STACKS: Darragh O’Brien, Ronan Shanahan, Ferghal McNamara, Sean Ryan (0-1), Pa McCarthy (0-1), Shane Guthrie, Jack Morgan, Kieran Donaghy (0-2), Michael O’Donnell (0-12), Fiachna Mangan (0-1), Shane O’Callaghan, Daniel Bohan, David Mannix (0-1f), David O’Sullivan, Darragh O’Brien. Subs: Wayne Guthrie for O’Sullivan (HT), Alan Nestor for D O’Brien (45), Ciaran O’Connell for Morgan (inj, 50). REFEREE: Sean Joy (Laune Rangers)