No change at top of Two after top four all win

DIVISION TWO

THE top four all won meaning there was no significant changes at that end of the table but leaders Castleisland Desmonds beating fifth placed Milltown/ Castlemaine does make it look like there are four main contenders for the three promotion spots at this stage. The St Kierans side scored goals in each half in beat their Mid Kerry opponents by five points with five straight wins continuing to give Desmonds the outright lead from Austin Stacks as well as a 100% start. They led by 1-3 to 0-4 at the break before scoring a second goal in the second period to make it a 2-8 to 0-9 win as a trip to Listowel to face Emmets is their challenge at the halfway stage.

Stacks stayed second thanks to a strong scoring start at home to Dromid Pearses, scoring 1-10 in the first-half before Niall O’Shea got Dromid’s first point in the Connolly Park encounter in the 25th minute. Brothers Darragh and Ferdia O’Brien combined for 1-9 of Stacks’ 1-12 to 0-2 half-time lead as Dromid did look much more competitive in the second period. O’Shea and Chris Farley scored 0-4 each and Graham O’Sullivan a further point in a 1-19 to 0-9 defeat as nine different players scored for Stacks in a 13 point win. Fellow Tralee side Na Gaeil hold on to third meanwhile a week after winning the back game against Currow that had given them their position in the promotion places.

Although they conceded the first two points to Listowel Emmets, a Dan Goggin goal put them 1-4 to 0-2 in front after 12 minutes and 12 minutes later would come his second after being put through by both Eoin Doody and Stefan Okunbar. Even though Sam Tarrant put over two frees for Listowel a hattrick of goals for Goggin before the half-time whistle meant Na Gaeil led by 3-7 to 0-6 at the break.

Noel Kennelly did score a goal for the visitors after the restart but Na Gaeil responded with the next six points to overcome that setback. Diarmuid O’Connor scored three of those to put Na Gaeil ahead by 3-14 to 1-6. A bad lapse in concentration for a period gave Listowel hopes of a miraculous comeback as two Conor Cox goals and a finish by corner-back Graham Tarrant made it a five point game. However Jordan Murphy scored a settling goal for the hosts and Dara Devine and Fergal Barry put over the final scores of an eventual 4-17 to 4-6 encounter.

They host Ballymacelligott next in a meeting of the 2017 Division Three sides but Kilcummin put themselves fourth outright in the table with a high scoring win of their own at home to Currow. The Intermediate Champions racked up 1-27 in ideal conditions with 0-8 for Matthew Keane one of the standout features of a 13-point win. Currow were dependent on Daniel O’Shea and Seamus Scanlon for inspiration but they still forced two good saves out of Brendan Kealy before Luke Fitzgerald did manage to get past the former Kerry goalkeeper in the hosts leading by 0-17 to 1-5 at halftime. Kilcummin did lose both Kieran Murphy and Sean O’Leary to injury but a fine goal from James Nagle reinforced their hold of proceedings as John McCarthy, Mikey O’Shea and Sean Moynihan made important contributions to a 1-27 to 1-14 win for the hosts.

Repeating their Intermediate Championship Round Robin win away to Milltown/Castlemaine in the next round would almost certainly make the promotion battle between the top four ahead of the closing five rounds. At the other end however Ballymac and Glenflesk played out a 3-9 to 1-15 affair to both move slightly clear of the relegation places. Dara Roche had scored the first goal of the game for the visits but Vinnie Horan found the net twice at the other end to make it a 2-6 to 1-8 game at the break.

Glenflesk would probably have had the half-time lead though only for a great save from Ballymac goalkeeper Brian Lonergan to deny them a second goal. Ballymac went further ahead 20 seconds after the restart as Dara Keane stole in for their third goal but a run of seven unanswered scores near the end would give Glenflesk a share of the spoils with Mikey O’Shea, Jeff O’Donoghue and Roche all ensuring the East Kerry side went home with a hard earned point.

The other game played saw Kenmare Shamrocks move out of the relegation places with a strong 12 point win at home to Ardfert by 2-19 to 0-13 as Currow and Emmets are the only two sides not to record a win yet with one solitary point each. Kenmare go to Currow next while Ardfert welcome Austin Stacks in a match they will desperately want a result from.

Dromid Pearses head down to Glenflesk in the other Round Six game as what teams will be in contention for (either promotion or fighting relegation) ahead of the second-half of the campaign might well be determined by that round of results.