Ballydonoghue take no prisioners as saints fade

NORTH KERRY SFC FINAL Ballydonoghue 5-9 St Senans 0-8

SOMETIMES it’s just meant to be and sometimes it isn’t.

Victory and defeat, two sides of the same coin. That’s life. That’s sport. For one to prosper the other must suffer. Even so the contrast drawn between success and failure in Listowel on Sunday afternoon was unusually stark.

Ballydonoghue wouldn’t have expected to win as well as they did and St Senans wouldn’t have (nor could they have) countenanced an outcome such as this. To say they were shellshocked – and were long before the full-time whistle – would be something of an understatement.

Once Ballydonoghue got that early run on them there was no way back for Senans. They lost shape, they lost composure and once they did they left themselves open for even more punishment.

If Senans were left scrambling, Ballydonoghue were serene for the most part. Kieran Lynch’s side played the game on their own terms. They stuck to their plan. They had the luxury of being able to stick to the plan. Everything worked like clockwork.

From Eamon Walsh’s point less than sixty seconds into the action to Paul Kennelly’s free to round out the game on sixty three minutes, Ballydonoghue were a team in control of their own destiny.

Senans did hit back at Ballydonoghue with a very fine point by David Behan after two minutes, little did they or we realise what was to come next. On three minutes Jack Gogarty had the ball in the back of the net when a shot for a point dropped short and squirmed out of Darragh Kennelly’s grasp.

A devastating blow for both the goalkeeper and his club. Senans were visibly nervous even before that, after it they were knocked yet more off kilter. A couple of Paul Kennelly frees pushed Ballydonoghue five clear. Senans all the while feeling the game – and the chance for a first ever North Kerry title – slip from their grasp.

The fear was justified, especially when Jim Cremin assisted Paul Kennellly – who fisted beautifully over the Senans keeper – for the second goal of the game from the Coolard outfit.

Gasping for air now the hits kept on coming for Senans. Four minutes later, on twelve minutes, the ball was once again nestling in the back of Darragh Kennelly’s net. This time thanks to Jim Cremin who palmed home a beautiful pass across the face of the goal by Jack Foley.

On another other day that ball should have been and would have been cleared, but when the tide is out the tide is out and the tide was most certainly out on Kieran Stack’s side in this final. They now found themselves eleven points down.

Senans did seem to stabilise themselves for a time – Behan slotted a free, Padraig Quille pointed from play – but they needed a little more than that. What Senans needed was a goal to make it a somewhat competitive proposition.

To their credit they did fashion a couple of goal chances, one for Cathal Kennelly and another for Quille whose effort was saved on the line by Darragh O’Shea. In every other game they’d played in the championship those goals would have found their way to the back of the net, but as we said when the tide is out, the tide is out.

If Senans were in any doubt about that the game’s next score would have disabused them of any other notions. On twenty four minutes the ever impressive Eamon Walsh shot for a point, being brutally honest it wasn’t the greatest effort he’s ever had on goal and it didn’t even reach the end line. There to pick it up, however, was Jack Foley and the corner-forward made straight

for goal and scored a simply sensational goal. Everything was turning up Ballydonoghue and, while Senans got a couple of scores to round out the half (an Eoin O’Connell point, a Quille free), Bally carried an eleven point lead with them at half-time – 4-4 to 0-5.

At the time we speculated they wouldn’t even need to score again in the game and that is, indeed, how it turned out. Senans managed just another three points in the game. Still there was a little bit of nervousness for the Bally faithful when they went fully twenty two minutes of game time without scoring.

A couple of Senans points early in the second half didn’t make much of dent in the deficit. Again Senans were unlucky with a couple of goal chances, Breandán Whelan hit the upright with one, while a David Foran effort was cleared off the line by Diarmuid Behan.

Even had Senans got them there was a sense that Ballydonoghue could have picked up the tempo again, naturally enough with an eleven point lead their eye wasn’t as fully on the ball as it had been.

Those Senans chances were the wake-up call they needed and when needed Eamon Walsh was not found wanting delivering a peach of a score on forty six minutes and with it whatever slim hopes for a Senans revival died.

From there to the end of the game Ballydonoghue outscored Senans 1-4 to 0-1 – Jim Cremin got his second goal of the game side-footing the finish following up on a Paul Kennelly effort – to run out sixteen point winners.

Nobody saw that coming and having seen it unfold nobody could have any doubts but that the best team in the division triumphed. Senans were better than what they showed, but let that in no way detract from the brilliance of Ballydonoghue.

They have every reason to rejoice. BALLYDONOGHUE: Darragh O’Shea, Stephen Lonergan, Jason Foley, Diarmuid Behan, Thomas Kennelly (0-1f), Michael Foley, Jack Gogarty (1-0), Eamon Walsh (0-2), Martin O’Mahony, Jim Cremin (2-0), Brian Ó Seanacháin, Damien O’Carroll, Jack Foley (1-0), Paul Kennelly (1-5, 3f), Kieran Lynch Subs: Darragh Sheehy (0-1) for D O’Carroll, 38, Billy Foley for D Behan, 52, Colin O’Mahony for T Kennelly, 53, John Enright for J Gogarty, 55, John O’Mahony for M O’Mahony, 58, Conor Kennelly for J Cremin, 59 ST Senans: Darragh Kennelly, Adrian Mahony, Seán T Dillon, Alan Kennelly, Seán Dowling, Seán Weir, Mike Keane, Breandán Whelan, Damien Somers, Eoin O’Connell (0-2), David Foran, Seán O’Connell, David Behan (0-2, 1f), Padraig Quille (0-4, 3f), Cathal Kennelly Subs: Shane Nolan for S Dowling, 15, Jason Browne for S O’Connell, half-time, Dara Kennelly for C Kennelly, 36, Con O’Keeffe for M Keane, 56, Ronan Kerins for P Quille, 61 REFEREE: Stephen Mulvihill (Ballylongford)