Glenbeigh/Glencar cruise into Croke Park final

ALL-IRELAND CLUB JFC SEMI-FINAL

Glenbeigh/Glencar 4-14 Louisburgh (Mayo) 0-13 THE final scoreline should probably be taken with a small pinch of salt! Indeed eight minutes in one was beginning to wonder were the ghosts of some old Kerry campaigns past returning to haunt Glenbeigh/Glencar? They appeared frozen and static in conceding the opening seven scores of the game as Louisburgh were clinical in their point-taking early on. Indeed if the Mayo side could have added the ability to add green flags to their ability to get the white ones, then it might well have been the case that no Kerry side would have been in Croke Park on February 19.

Crucially, Glenbeigh/Glencar had that ability to get goals and although Darran O’Sullivan got them on the scoreboard in the ninth minute, it was Colin McGuillicuddy’s ability to get on top of proceedings at midfield coupled with Caoilm Teahan and Jack Brosnan’s ability to surge forward that got them on over their shaky start. Gavan O’Grady set up Kieran Courtney for the game’s first goal in the 19th minute to reduce the deficit to 0-8 to 1-2.

Courtney had the game level two minutes later after a brace from Teahan but it was the Mid Kerry side’s second goal in the 24th minute that saw them hit the front for the first time. O’Grady got on the end of this one after being put through by full-back Vincent Hoare as a nine point turnaround in the space of 15 minutes was now complete.

By the half-time whistle it would be an 11 point turnaround as Glenbeigh/Glencar took in a 2-8 to 0-10 advantage only the very optimistic would have predicted after eight minutes. Both sides traded scores in the opening exchanges of the second period but the Kerry side’s third goal summed up the difference between both sides on the day. Darran O’Sullivan had impressed the last time he played in Cusack Park for Kerry against Clare in the Munster Championship back in 2014. He would find the sod favourably again in the 39th minute with a turn and burst of pace that left his marker for dead and O’Sullivan fired home for a 3-10 to 0-11 advantage. His side’s fourth goal in the 46th minute, Kieran Courtney’s second, wasn’t as flashy but in going 4-11 to 0-12 ahead it pretty much ended matters as a contest.

All-Ireland U-21 winners Padraic Prendergast, Kevin Gibbons, James Dowd and their inter-county man in Austin O’Malley all distinguished themselves well for Louisburgh on the day it must be said but much like Ardnaree Sarsfields found out against Templenoe in last year’s Final, you can only go end-toend with a Kerry side for so long before they will eventually find their way to victory.

A 10-point margin in the end was genuinely flattering but maybe the start Glenbeigh/Glencar had to proceedings might prove to be a blessing in terms of giving Aidan O’Shea and his management team a basis for their preparations ahead of the All-Ireland Final on Sunday, February 19. They will become the 10th different Kerry Junior side to play at GAA HQ and the 11th to reach the Final in total (Finuge’s 2005 win taking place in Portlaoise). They will seek to become the ninth winner of the competition and complete a third three-in-a-row for Kerry in the competition’s young history.

Standing in their way will be a formidable challenge in Rock St Patricks of Tyrone. They are the side Brosna needed a replay to get the better of in the All-Ireland semi-final two years ago and a side that have experienced defeat in the final of this competition before back in 2008 when they lost to Canovee of Cork, the last side to beat a Kerry team in the Munster Championship at this level a decade ago.