St Marys/Renard ease to Minor Championship title

SOUTH KERRY MINOR CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL St Mary’s/ Renard 2-18 Skellig/Valentia 2-5

FOR three quarters of this contest it was nip and tuck but one could see it go only one way after that as St Mary’s Renard eventually converted their superiority to the scoreboard. After a 41st minute Keith Brennan penalty for Skellig /Valentia to leave the score 1-10 to 2-8 in favour of St Mary’s/Renard. It was the victors who rattled 1-8 off all from play bar one.

The first quarter was tight points from Tadhg O’Connor and Cian O’Donoghue got St Mary’s /Renard off to a flyer but in the sixth minute they were rocked back by a Keith Brennan penalty for Skellig/ Valentia. Joe Lynch landed three great scores and one from Sonny Curran but it was St Mary’s /Renard who finished strongest. Firstly a cracking move started by Cian O’Donoghue set up William Galvin for a top corner finish. Points by man of the match Sean Teahan, Tadhg O’Connor (free), Ian Moriarty, and Rob Wharton left the half time score 1-9 to 1-4 in favour of St Mary’s/Renard.

The second half started with three superb saves by Skellig/ Valentia’s goalie Cian O’Sullivan. Tadhg O’Connor pointed the resultant ‘45’, Ben Egan replied for Skellig/Valentia. Then came the second Keith Brennan penalty beating Austin Murphy for the second time. But it was only a small blip for St Mary’s/ Renard as they upped their game. A good finish by Tadhg O’Connor to the net and points from Niall McDaid, Sean Teahan (3), Tadhg O’Connor (3) and Rob Wharton (2) saw them finish on a convincing victory and being crowned South Kerry Minor champions for 2019. Maurice Murphy was a highly competent referee and Joe McCrohan vice-chair of the South Kerry board presented the Eugene Ring Cup to St Mary’s Renard captain Ronan Quinlan.

ST MARYS/ RENARD: Austin Murphy, Donagh Quinlan, Brendan Kelly, Ferdia Greaney, Ronan Quinlan, Cathal O’Shea, Ian Moriarty, Robert Wharton, William Galvin, Jack Sugrue, Cian O’Donoghue, Tadhg O’Conner, Sean Teahan. Subs used: Niall McDaid, Sam O’Driscoll, Aodhan O’Neill, Sammy Behrens, Jack Kelly.

SKELLIG/VALENTIA: Cian O’Sullivan, Finn Corcoran, Sean Kennedy, Steve Reardon, Fionan O’Sullivan, Tadhg Lynch, Joe Lynch, Sonny Curran, Stephen Keating, Keith Brennan, Jack Whelan, Ben Egan, Kevin O’Connor. Sub: Aaron O’Sullivan.

Renard, runner-up of the South Kerry League Final