The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Beaufort defeat Firies
THIS one didn’t quite live up to its pre-match billing.
Not that Beaufort will mind. A relatively comfortable win in the first round of this group phase sets them up very nicely indeed for a tilt at the semi-finals and the championship more generally.
For Firies the set-back is significant. This contest was billed beforehand as the likely group decider. Now that they’ve lost it, Firies’ fate is out of their hands. They’re left hoping others – specifically St Senans this weekend – do them a favour.
Really they can have few complains about this defeat. Beaufort were the more complete side, the more mature looking side. From the moment both teams emerged from the dressing rooms it was clear Beaufort held an advantage in the physical stakes.
Too often Firies carried the ball into contact and were dispossessed by their opposite numbers and too often they were muscled out of it at kick-out time. Apart from a ten minute spell mid-way through the first half, Beaufort were comfortably on top in that department.
It provided the Mid Kerry men with a solid platform from which to push on and win the game and, yet, it still took them a time to find their rhythm and get on top of Firies, who had the breeze at their backs in the first half.
The first half was remarkably tit-for-tat, looking outwardly at least every bit as competitive as we imagined the game would be beforehand. The sides were level on five separate occasions inside the opening twenty minutes.
Neither team was able to fashion any more than a single point lead, until Beaufort managed to open a two point lead just before half-time when the impressive Liam Carey fired them into a 0-7 to 0-5 lead.
It felt a significant moment in the game. They soon extended it to a three point lead through Jeremiah O’Sullivan and while Donnchadh O’Sullivan pulled one back before half-time – 0-8 to 0-6 – Beaufort were well set up to push on in the second half.
Firies could have and probably should have been closer at halftime, they kicked five first half wides with the breeze and, while a lot of that was down to good work by the Beaufort defence, last year’s runners-up needed a few more of those to go over.
When Beaufort started the second half with 1-1 – a point by Ronan Murphy and a goal from an incredible team move finished off expertly by Niall O’Connor – it was looking ominous for Firies.
To their credit they battled back and by the fortieth minute it was still a three point game in the wake of a goal by Jake Flynn who rose highest and flicked a long ball to the back of Mike Moriarty’s net.
The pattern of the game was set by then, however. Beaufort were well on top around the middle and kept Firies pinned back. By fifty minutes they’d extended their lead by to six and, while a penalty converted by Donnchadh O’Sullivan for a foul on Flynn, briefly raised Firies hopes again, Beaufort remained unflustered.
A point from the industrious Jonathan Kissane got them back on track on fifty seven minutes and then in injury time they made absolutely certain of their victory when a long range Nathan Breen free caught Billy O’Rourke and co out and found its way to the back of the net.
A seven point win in no way flattered them.
BEAUFORT: Mike Moriarty, Michael J O’Connor, Gerard Hartnett, Jeremiah O’Sullivan (0-1), James O’Reilly, Mike Breen, Jonathan Kissane (0-1), Nathan Breen (1-0), Ronan Murphy (0-1), Pádraig O’Sullivan, Liam Carey (0-4), Fergal Hallissey (0-1), Niall O’Connor (1-3), Ciarán Kennedy (0-3), Ronan Ferris (0-1) Subs: Ian McGillicuddy for J O’Sullivan, 57, Danny Healy for P O’Sullivan, 59, Pádraig Doona for R Ferris, 59
FIRIES: Billy O’Rourke, Pádraig O’Connor, Dan O’Shea, Josh Flynn, Niall Donohue, Jack Sherwood (0-1), Diarmuid Brosnan, Con O’Mahony, James O’Donoghue, Ed Kerrisk (0-1), Donnchadh O’Sullivan (1-4, 3f, 1-0 pen), Colm O’Shea (0-2, 1f), Connal Murphy, Jake Flynn (1-0), Pádraig de Bruin Subs: Patrick Daly for C O’Shea, 42, Diarmuid O’Mahony for C Murphy, 47, Liam Brosnan for E Kerrisk, 52, Pádraig O’Mahony for D O’Shea, 58
REFEREE: Gerard Murphy (Skellig Rangers)