SportS review of the Year 2017: July

There was double gold for Kerry at the National Junior and Under 23 championships at the star t of the month with Iveragh’s Adam King (below) claiming gold in the Under 23 hammer and Tralee Harriers Solange Diego in the women’s triple jump.

Kerry got off to a strong start to their All Ireland Junior Camogie Championship campaign edging out Armagh by eleven points to ten away from home in the Atheltic Grounds. In the second round the Kerry girls easily saw off Roscommon in Austin Stack Park, 1-13 to 0-3. They accounted for Clare 5-19 to 1-5 to set up a semi-final date with Dublin.

There was heartbreak for the Kerry Under 14 girls football team when they missed out on an All Ireland title going down to a rampant Galway in the final on a scoreline of 6-24 to 1-14.

The County Senior Hurling Championship got underway at the beginning of the month with a victory for defending champions Kilmoyley over Crotta O’Neills (on a scoreline of 3-16 to 0-14).

Lixnaw saw off Ballyheigue quite comfor tably on a 1-26 to 1-8 scoreline and Ballyduff were made to battle to a single point victory over a tenacious Abbeydorney side on a scoreline of 0-13 to 0-12.

St Brendans and Causeway, meanwhile, played out a draw in the first round on a scoreline of 2-18 to 3-15 after extra-time. In their replay St Brendans saw off Causeway 1-13 to 2-7.

In the first of the round 2 games Lixnaw powered past Ballyduff in the winners round (3-19 to 1-16) and Abbeydorney saw off Ballyheigue (2-13 to 0-13) in the losers’ round. The following weekend Causeway dumped Crotta from the championship on a scoreline of 2-18 to 0-12, while Kilmoyley saw off St Brendans for a place in the semi-finals.

Unbelievable Jeff! There’s no other way of putting it as Sky Spor ts stars Kris Kamara and Jeff Stelling visited Páirc an Ághasaigh in Dingle in the company of GAA and broadcast legend Micheál Ó Muirchear taigh as par t of a series of videos they made in association with AIB.

The third round of the county senior football championship got underway the week after the Munster final with victories for South Kerry over Dingle (1-13 to 0-10); for Kenmare Shamrocks over Feale Rangers (0-17 to 0-12); for East Kerry over St Brendans on a remarkable scoreline of 3-24 to 4-18 after extratime; and for West Kerry over Legion, again after extra-time, on a scoreline of 1-18 to 0-18, with Dara Ó Sé bagging the all-impor tant goal.

The Kerry ladies reclaimed the Munster championship title with a thrilling victory over Waterford in a novel Munster final at the Mallow GAA Complex. The Deise proved the surprise package of the Munster campaign, but the conquerors of Cork didn’t quite have the measure of Graham Shine’s side. The Kerry women left it late to see off their Waterford rivals – and shipped three goals along the way – but they got the job done on a scoreline of 1-14 to 3-6. “It feels pretty good to be Munster champions!” Kerry captain Caroline Kelly summed up.

“We knew that it was going to be a hard battle, but the girls showed tremendous character to pull it out near the end as things could have gone either way, but we are so glad it went our way.

“We had to dig deep, Waterford are a fantastic side and they came at us with intensity. Thankfully we kept at it though and got through in the finish.”

In the semi-finals of the County Under 21 championship Kenmare District saw off a fancied Dr Crokes 2-18 to 3-11, while Mid Kerry stunned East Kerry 3-15 to 1-10. Kenmare District went on to win that title, running out 1-13 to 0-15 winners.

The Kerry juniors qualified for yet another All Ireland final, but not without something of a battle against an unfancied Leitrim side on a scoreline of 1-16 to1-9.

Claire Fitzgerald was the big winner for Kerry at the National Track and Field Championships when she claimed gold in the discus for the eighth time in-arow. Several other medals made their way back to the Kingdom.

The Kerry Under 17s suffered a set-back when they were defeated five nil at home by Cork City. They also suffered a four nil defeat to the same opposition a couple of days later.

A third heavy home defeat arrived a week later when the Kerry lads went down to a 5-1 defeat to Galway United. Kerry also went down 4-1 to Waterford FC away from home, but did manage a creditable 2-2 draw at home with UCD.

Tralee trainer Tom Cooper got his first win in two years when Lisard Lady won at Downroyal.

Bonane woman Georgia O’Brien took her first ever European gold at the Coupe de la Jeunesse in Belgium.

Paul Nagle and his Tyrone pilot Kris Meeke got back to form by taking an eighth place in the Rally Finland.

Southern Gaels retained their County Senior Ladies Football crown by seeing off Castleisland Desmonds 4-14 to 0-14 in the final. Austin Stacks, meanwhile, claimed the County Intermediate football title by seeing off town rivals Na Gaeil in a thriller, 1-14 to 1-13.