District finals take rightful pride of place

THEY’RE not quite unique, other counties do have them, but not quite in the same way as we do here in the Kingdom.

District Board Championships are a special thing indeed. In Tipperary and Cork they tend to lead on to county competition, but in Kerry they’re standalone competitions and all the better for it.

They matter because they matter and when November and December rolls around nothing else matters. The 2016 championships were especially blessed taking place as they did in unusually dry conditions.

Pitches were in fine condition throughout the county, leading to some excellent games and excellent football. In North Kerry two of the most stylish sides seen in the championship came to the fore and, perhaps, that’s no surprise given the weather.

It was the final everybody wanted to see between Ballydonoghue and St Senans, but the game itself didn’t live up to expectations as Ballydonoghue hit four first half goals to kill off the St Senans challenge – they ran out 5-9 to 0-8 winners with Stephen Lonergan (left) collecting the cup for Bally for the first time since 1992.

In East Kerry Rathmore made it three in-a-row with victory over Dr Crokes 2-12 to 0-13. In South Kerry St Marys gave their outgoing manager Maurice FItzgerald a going away gift worthy of his great contribution to the club as they saw off Skellig Rangers 1-15 to 1-6. The Mid Kerry championship, meanwhile, saw Beaufort crash the party for the first time since 1998 running out 2-8 to 1-10 winners over Milltown / Castlemaine.