The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Rockies take on Crokes in Senior Club Football Final
Kerins O’Rahillys 1-14 Dr Crokes 1-18
DEFENDING champions Dr Crokes are back in the final of this championship on the back of a four-point win over Kerins O’Rahillys in Tralee, a scoreline that just about reflects perfectly how much better Crokes were than their hosts.
Dr Crokes led the whole of the second half having taken a 1-9 to 0-8 lead to the interval and they were comfortably seven points, 1-16 to 0-12, ahead with less than five minutes of the regulation 60 to play, and despite Barry John Keane’s scoring a goal for the hosts in the 56th minute Daithi Casey had the luxury of tapping an late Crokes penalty over the bar to push his team four clear and booik their place in next weekend’s final against Austin Stacks.
Kieran O’Leary was a late withdrawal from the Crokes starting team having picked up an injury, but perhaps of more concern to the champions will be the shoulder injury suffered by Gavin White early in the second half that forced the defender off and in a race to be fit for Sunday’s finale with Stacks.
O’Rahillys weren’t without their injury troubles too, with David Moran still sidelines with knee issues and Gavin O’Brien out nursing the ankle injury suffered in the previous weekend’s loss to Legion. Sean Walsh was named to start but was a late withdrawal after he appeared to get injuried before the game. His replacement - Danny O’Sullivan - who came into the defence and forced a reshuffle throughout the team lasted just 16 minutes before he succumbed to a heavy injury
that saw his carried from the the field of play.
Tommy Walsh was did manage to make a late cameo appearance for the homeside, but despite scoring a neat point couyldn’t bend the game to O’Rahillys will.
Early scores from Karl Mullins and Tom Hoare helped O’Rahillys to a 0-3 to 0-1 lead but in the 14th minute Dr Crokes struck for the game’s first goal, Jordan Kiely finding the net at the second attempt after Gary Kissane saved smartly from the Crokes’ forward’s first shot.
That score put Crokes two points up, 1-2 to 0-3, but O’Rahillys scored the next five points without reply, including three great scores in succession from Gearoid Savage to make it 0-8 to 1-2 by the 25th minute. That really should have been a solid enough platform to get O’Rahillys to the break ahead but jolyed into a response Crokes reeled off eight unanswered points before the interval - five from Tony Brosnan as well as Brian Looney, Gavin O’Shea and Micheal Burns - to leave Dr Crokes 1-9 to 0-8 ahead at half time.
Early scores from Jack Savage and Keane halved the deficit to two points before Kiely and the excellent Johnny Buckley replied in kind for the champions who then lost White to that worrying looking injury. Casey converted a free before Looney and Cormac Coffey traded points to make it a five-point game at the three-quarter mark as tensions on and off the pitch cranked up a few degrees in the cauldron of Strand Road.
Brosnan (free) and Looney were on target to push Crokes seven clear and Burns might have put the issue to bed in the 56th minute when through on Kissane’s goal but his shot rose over the bar.
Keane did find the net at the other end to make it 1-12 to 1-16 and when Con Barrett’s point made it a one-score game in the 57th minute the home support sensed a grandstand finish and possibly the victory.
John Payne and Tommy Walsh then swapped points as the game crossed over into additional time, nearly seven minutes of which Sean Joy played by the end. In the fourth of those Michael Potts won a penalty for Crokes, which Casey calculated was best to clip over the bar to give Crokes a two-score lead and that’s how it stood at the end of a frantic contest.
KERINS O’RAHILLYS: Gary Kissane, David Murphy, Danny O’Sullivan, Darragh McElligott, Ryan Carroll, Cormac Coffey 0-1, Ross O’Callaghan, Shane Brosnan, Con Barrett 0-1, Karl Mullins 0-1, Gearoid Savage, Tom Hoare 0-1, Gearoid Dillane, Jack Savage 0-4 (3f), Barry John Keane 1-2. Subs: Sean Collins for D O’Sullivan (inj, 16), Conor Hayes for G Dillane (45), Tommy Walsh 0-1 for T Hoare (58)
DR CROKES: Shane Murphy, John Payne 0-1, Michael Moloney, Fionn Fitzgerald, David O’Leary, Gavin White, Michael Potts, Johnny Buckley 0-2, Dáithí Casey 0-2 (1 pen), Micheál Burns 0-2, Gavin O’Shea, Brian Looney 0-3, David Shaw, Jordan Kiely 1-1, Tony Brosnan 0-6 (3f). Subs: Alan O’Sullivan for G White (inj, 41), Mike Milner for G O’Shea (49), Mark O’Shea for J Kiely (53), Billy Courtney for D Shaw (60).
REFEREE: Sean Joy (Cromane)