Win for Skellig Rangers puts them in strong position

DIVISION FOUR

IT’S hard to gauge the full significance of the weekend’s results with only four games played, but crucially for Skellig Rangers and Lispole both won their games to keep the promotion battle in their own hands ahead of their closing three matches.

The Portmagee side had a hard fought trip to Farranfore to face Firies with the loss for the East Kerry side appearing to end their hopes of going up themselves. A Con O’Mahony goal did give the hosts a 1-5 to 0-6 lead at the break but it was after the break when Danny O’Sullivan and Ronan O’Shea scored second-half goals that Skellig went ahead in the game.

Conal Murphy scored a second goal for Firies to keep the game in the balance but the South Kerry side went on for a 2-11 to 2-9 victory.

Victory over Beale this weekend would give Skellig a commanding position ahead of the conclusion as Keel, Dr Crokes B and Castlegregory would be under big pressure to play catch-up with the top two in their back games on the last weekend of the month.

Lispole had to dig deep meanwhile in keeping themselves in control of the shake-up recovering from a four point deficit at home to Renard at half-time to go on and win by a single point in the end.

Darragh Fitzgerald along with Brian and Mark Sugrue put the South Kerry side in front by 0-6 to 0-2 at half-time before Noel Higgins and Tom Kavanagh led the Lispole fightback.

Kavanagh scored the only goal of the game to put them ahead on the scoreboard. They were reduced to thirteen men, but despite a two man advantage Renard failed to prevent a 1-8 to 0-10 defeat with frustration boiling over for the South Kerry side in the end in finishing with thirteen players themselves.

Lispole travel to Duagh this weekend for a game that has big implications at both ends of the table with Duagh entering off the back of a bad 2-15 to 0-9 defeat to Tarbert at Shannon Park.

Both sides scored three points apiece in the opening 10 minutes before Ambrose Lanigan and Brian Heaphy put Tarbert ahead with Shea McDonnell’s goal seeing them lead by 1-8 to 0-6 at the break.

Finbarr Carrig scored their second goal in the second period as they went on to win by twelve points and go above Duagh in the table. A trip to Castlegregory is their next challenge this weekend as there are still at least six sides who could go down.

Scartaglin could well be the first to be relegated as they must beat Keel to stay in with a chance of staying up or else other results could officially relegated them this weekend.

Beale defeated Scart by 2-9 to 0-4 to keep their own hopes of staying up in their own hands, but they know a tough trip to Portmagee awaits them this coming weekend. Dr Crokes B return to action with a trip down to Renard as Sneem/Derrynane resume this weekend themselves with Firies another East Kerry side to be heading down the Iveragh peninsula.

Ambros Lanigan