Advantage Tarbert in four-way tie at top of Four

SPLIT over two weekends due to Club Championship fixtures, at present we have a four-way tie at the top of Division 4 but a clearer picture won’t emerge until this weekend when the remaining three fixtures are played.

East Kerry sides Firies and Fossa both won to go into a share of the lead but St Michaels/Foilmore’s perfect winning start was ended with a defeat to Cordal.

Firies had the biggest win as they pummelled Ballylongford on home turf by 5-19 to 0-6. They led by 0-6 to 0-1 early on with Jeremiah Tydings scoring’s Ballylongford’s sole point but the game was ended as a contest with four Firies goals prior to the half-time whistle as Donnachadh O’Sullivan scored two and Mike Daly and Jake Flynn scored the others to give them a lead of 4-12 to 0-1 at half-time.

Ballylongford had to wait until the 48th minute for their next score as Diarmuid O’Mahony completed a 28 point win for Firies with their fifth goal near the end.

Fossa didn’t quite have the same margin of victory at home to Cromane but they did warm up nicely for their Premier Junior semi-final with Na Gaeil by defeating the Mid Kerry side by 12 points at the weekend.

Two Tadgh O’Shea goals were effectively the difference between the two sides at half-time as they led by 2-5 to 0-7. Four Donald O’Sullivan points along with a brace from Paudie Clifford and a fine Dan O’Connell point were the highlights of their second-half display as they went on to win by 2-16 to 0-10. Paul Patrick O’Sullivan (0-4, 3f) and Darren Houlihan (0-2, 1f) were responsible for the bulk of the Mid Kerry side’s scores as they play again on the weekend of May 13 against Tarbert.

Cordal picked up their first win of the campaign by defeating St Michaels/Foilmore by 3-11 to 2-11 down in South Kerry. Phillip O’Connor scored their first two goals in the first half for a lead of 2-7 to 0-4 at the break but St Michaels/Foilmore rallied to leave just a single score in it at the end, Eamon Nolan’s cracking goal a big feature of the second half.

This weekend sees County Junior finalists Beale face Skellig Rangers before their decider with Lispole on the May Bank Holiday weekend as Gneeveguilla host Renard, and Tarbert and Castlegregory renewing acquaintances two weeks after a fiery Club Championship encounter back west.

Tarbert are at home this time and are the only side left with a 100% start but a draw would be good enough for them to take sole possession of top spot. Gneeveguilla and Renard are both undefeated with a win and a draw each and might find themselves near the summit depending on how results this weekend pan out.

Castlegregory are in the same position as both of them but Skellig will be anxious to get some points as only Ballylongford and themselves are without a point thus far in their campaigns.