The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Shamrocks ride their luck against West Kerry
COUNTY SFC ROUND 3 Kenmare Shamrocks 2-11 West Kerry 2-8
A POWERFUL second half performance saw Kenmare Shamrocks progress to the next round of the County Championship as west Kerry completely faded away after a tremendous opening half hour.
The fact that the victors outscored their opponents by 1-8 to 1-3 in that second period of the game tells its own story. Kenmare Shamrocks had the extra gears when they needed to apply them, and West Kerry seemed to lack the ability and belief to reply in kind.
West Kerry might point to the sending off of centre half back Cian O Murchú for a second yellow in the 56th minute as having a bearing on the result, but the reality is that Kenmare Shamrocks were very much in charge of the game at that stage and had all of the momentum, as well as a threepoint lead.
The turning point had come four minutes prior to this when Paul O’Connor slotted his sides second goal to nudge Shamrocks 2-9 to 2-7 ahead, and the West Kerry body language seemed to indicate that it was game over.
The first half belonged to West Kerry. The first 23 minutes did anyway, as they built up a tasty 2-4 to no score lead with Éanna O Conchuir and Roibeard O Sé ruling the air in the middle of the field. West Kerry’s first goal had come in the fifth minute when PJ Mac Láimh applied the finish after good work from Dara O Sé and Brian O Béaglaoich. Their second came in the 10th minute after O Béaglaoich was allowed to slice through the Shamrocks defence at ease, before applying a neat finish past Ray O Shea.
Kenmare Shamrocks task wasn’t helped by some uncharacteristic wides from Sean O’Shea in this period, although the Kerry star did atone for his wastefulness with a towering performance thereafter. His battle with Brian O Béaglaoich was one of the highlights of the game with neither player giving an inch. In the end O’Shea shaded the duel with his voracious appetite for work a stand-out feature of his game.
The club side finally got motoring when O’Shea shot their first point in the 24th minute and the impressive Dan McCarthy added to it from the kick out. Then in the 27th minute Paul O’Connor, who had been very quiet up to then, took on the West Kerry defence to score a fine individual goal and ominously Shamrocks were starting to get into their stride. Sean O’Shea and Dara O Sé traded frees on the stroke of half time and West Kerry took a 2-5 to 1-3 lead in at the break.
Whilst West Kerry started the first half in flying fashion, it was Kenmare Shamrocks that came out of the dressing room with all guns blazing for the second. Kenmare played defensively for a large portion in the first period but they changed around their formation for the second period and had a much more positive result. Five unanswered points from Sean O’Shea (2 frees), Sean O’Leary, Stephen O’Brien and Paul O’Connor brought them level with West Kerry, 2-5 to 1-8 by the 46th minute.
Both sides continued to add to their wides total before Roibeard O Sé pushed West Kerry one ahead, with his side’s first point of the second half, in the 50th minute. Dara O Sé added another from play after the kick out, and suddenly West Kerry were two ahead after their barren period. The lads from the west had the stuffing knocked out of their challenge two minutes later when Stephen O’Brien forced Ray O’Shea into a point blank save, only for Paul O’Connor to show a sniper’s instinct and follow up with a goal, which put Kenmare Shamrocks ahead for the first time in the game.
The mood of the game changed dramatically after that. Griffin Wharton pushed Kenmare Shamrocks three ahead with a good score, but soon afterwards Cian O’Murchú received his second yellow card and was sent off. With the luxury of numerical advantage, Shamrocks bossed the remainder of the contest. Sean O’Shea slotted over a monster free from 50 metres, and in added time they nearly added another goal when substitute Kevin Price forced Toms Mac an tSaoir into a good stop.
West Kerry desperately needed a three-pointer, but all they could manage was an Éanna O Conchuir point at the death, which was too little, too late.
KENMARE SHAMROCKS: Ray O’Shea, Dara Crowley, Dara O’Shea, Tommy O’Sullivan, Griffin Wharton (0-1), Dan McCarthy, James McCarthy, Kevin O’Sullivan, David Hallissey, Mark Crowley, Sean O’Shea (05, 4f), Sean O’Leary (0-1), Fionan O’Sullivan, Paul O’Connor (2-2), Stephen O’Brien (0-1). Subs: Tom Murnane for F O’Sullivan (54), Donal O’Connor for M Crowley (62), Kevin Price for P O’Connor (63).
WEST KERRY: Tomas Mac an tSaoir (An Ghaeltacht), Adam Mac Amhlaoibh (An Ghaeltacht), Brian O Béaglaoich 1-0 (An Ghaeltacht), Cathal O Luing (An Ghaeltacht), Pádraig O Sé 0-1 (An Ghaeltacht), Cian O Murchú (An Ghaeltacht) , PJ Mac Lámh 1-0 (An Ghaeltacht), Éanna O Conchuir 0-1 (An Ghaeltacht), Roibeard O Sé 0-1 (An Ghaeltacht), Killian Falvey (Annascaul), Dara O Sé (0-3, 2f) (An Ghaeltacht), James Crean (Annascaul),Tomas O Sé (An Ghaeltacht), Cathal Ferriter (Annascaul) (0-1), Jimmy O’Grady 0-1 (Castlegregory). Subs: Jason Hickson (Annascaul) for K Falvey (40), Ruadhri O Béaglaoich (An Ghaeltacht) for J Crean (48), James Scanlon (Annascaul) for A Mac Anhlaoibh (50), Alan Fitzgerald (Castlegregory) for C Ferriter (56).
REFEREE: Denis Sayers (Austin Stacks)