County Senior Football Championship resumes

FOLLOWING an exciting weekend of Munster final action it’s back to the bread and butter of the Garveys Supervalu Senior football championship this coming weekend with four Round 3 games down for decision with the winners qualifying for a quarter final place.

First up on Saturday is the meeting of two divisional sides St Brendans and East Kerry on Saturday evening in Austin Stack Park (7:15) where early comers will be able to take in the Lixnaw V Ballyheigue senior hurling championship game at 5:30. This is St Brendans’ fourth game in the competition. They opened with a big 6-24 to 1-8 victory over Shannon Rangers in the Preliminary Round and followed that with a 2-17 to 2-14 victory over Kilcummin in Blennerville. They then met All Ireland champions Dr Crokes who were in no mood to let their hold on the county championship title slip and the champions recorded a big 7-17 to 0-16 victory though the big score by St Brendans in defeat was noteworthy. Opponents East Kerry went down to Rathmor by two points, 1-12 to 1-10 in Fitzgerald Stadium but recovered to hand Mid Kerry a heavy defeat on a 4-15 to 1-11 scoreline in Lewis Road.

There is a double bill in Tralee’s Austin Stack Park on Sunday where Killarney Legion and West Kerry get proceedings underway at 2pm. Legion are facing their fourth game in the competition having drawn with Kenmare Shamrocks (0-15 to 1-12) in the opening round in Derreen before having a one point victory in the replay (2-13 to 1-15) in the replay in Kenmare. They then went down to a hevy defeat to Austin Stacks in Connolly Park (4-13 to 3-6). West Kerry for their part played both of their games in Gallarus where they were defeated by Feale Rangers (1-13 to 0-12) in the opening game but then defeated St Kierans by a point, 0-14 to 0-13.

The second game of the double bill, between Dingle and South Kerry, could be the game of the weekend. Dingle opened with a facile 3-16 to 2-4 victory over Kenmare District in Templenoe before being surprised by Kerins O’Rahillys on home soil by a single point, 2-13to 3-9. South Kerry also tasted defeat at the hands of Kerins O’Rahillys when they were defeated by four points in Strand Road (2-16 to 2-12) before recovering to defeat Kilcummin by 2-17 to 1-5 in Lewis Rd.

The fourth game of the weekend sees Feale Rangers play Kenmare in Fitzgerald Stadium on Sunday afternoon (2pm). Fe- ale Rangers, as we saw already, had a good win over West Kerry in Gallarus but were then defeated by Rathmore in Round 2 in Rathbeg (2-16 to 2-17). Kenmare are playing their fourth game in the competition following a drawn game with Legion in Derren (1-12 to 0-15) and then slipping to a one point defeat on home soil in the replay (2-13 to 1-15). They recovered to defeat local rivals Kenmare District by 3-13 to 3-8 in Templenoe.

Round 3 winners will qualify for the quarter-finals where they will be drawn against Round 2A winners Dr Crokes, Kerins O’Rahillys, Austin Stacks or Rathmore.