Dromid take full advantage

COUNTY PREMIER JFC Waterville 2-6 Dromid Pearses 1-11

WATERVILLE’S present redevelopment of their Frank Casey Memorial Park pitch has forced them to relocate to Con Keating Park for designated home matches for the time being, but it was Dromid Pearses who emerged victorious as in two weeks they have arguably left a bad memory from 2018 after them.

Firstly after the mauling they got from St Marys in last year’s South Kerry Final in Cahersiveen they took a point from their renewal in Portmagee the previous week while at the district final venue itself last Sunday, they responded well to two second-half goals for their opponents in seeing out a two point win.

Chris Farley’s ninth minute goal for Dromid was extremely fortuitous in how Waterville goalkeeper Patrick O’Dwyer failed to prevent it from going into the net, but it was a strong finish to the first period that gave them a six point lead at the break, 1-6 to 0-3.

Two Barry O’Dwyer frees and an Eoghan O’Sullivan point were Waterville’s only scores in the first period as they failed to score in the last eleven minutes of the half. Niall Ó Sé and Farley did most of the scoring for Dromid as a recurring blood injury to Niall Fitzgerald was a big setback to their opponents.

They got a positive start to the second-half though in Jack Curran finding the net in the 33rd minute after it looked like they would be awarded a penalty for a foul on Barry O’Dwyer.

Trailing 1-10 to 1-4 in the 52nd minute they were awarded a spot kick by match referee Seán Joy as O’Dwyer sent Dromid goalkeeper Donal Jer O’Sullivan the wrong way in bringing the game back into the melting pot somewhat. Graham O’Sullivan put over an insurance point for Dromid (he had scored their opening point as well) in the 56th minute however as there were black cards for both Waterville substitute Odhran O’Mahony and Dromid’s Kevin Sheehan in a hard fought encounter.

The evergreen Denis ‘Shine’ O’Sullivan’s reversed his decision to retire at the end of last year as points from both Dominic O’Sullivan and himself allowed Dromid not to panic when Waterville tried to make amends.

Advantage Dromid this weekend when they host Currow knowing a win will definitely send them into the semi-finals.

WATERVILLE: Patrick O’Dwyer; Jamie Donnelly, Michael O’Shea, Cillian Cronin; Fergal Cronin, Fionan Clifford, John Vincent O’Dwyer; Oran Clifford, Cillian Clifford; Jack Curran (1-1, 1f), Barry O’Dwyer (1-3, 3f), Niall Fitzgerald; Gearóid O’Sullivan, Jamie O’Sullivan, Eoin O’Sullivan (0-2, 1’45’) Subs: Adam Dwyer for Gearóid O’Sullivan, Odhran O’Mahony for Fitzgerald, Niall Fitzgerald for O’Mahony (Black Card) and Alan O’Dwyer for Fitzgerald.

DROMID PEARSES: Donal J O’Sullivan; Cian Ó Sé, Graham O’Sullivan (0-2), Shane O’Connor; Kevin Sheehan, Padraig J O’Sullivan, Micheal Sheehan; Dominic O’Sullivan (0-1), Niall O’Connor; Sean Ó Sé, Chris Farley (1-4, 3f), Keelan Farley; Gearóid J O’Sullivan, Niall Ó Sé (0-3, 2f), Denis S O’Sullivan (0-1) Subs: Michael Curran for Denis S O’Sullivan and Tadhg Dennehy for Sheehan (Black Card)

REFEREE: Sean Joy (Laune Rangers)