Dingle stroll to facile win over depleted An Ghaeltacht

MORAN’S OF DINGLE WEST KERRY FINAL Dingle 0-20 An Ghaeltacht 0-9

FEW Dingle-An Ghaeltacht matches could be called bland, regardless of the competition or age group in question.

And when they meet in a West Kerry Senior Final, the action tends to be intense, often bruising and, whether the quality is high or otherwise, compelling viewing.

Sunday’s final, however, was that rarest of things: a positively watery renewal of this white-hot rivalry.

There was a sense beforehand that this wasn’t going to be your typical Dingle-An Ghaeltacht contest. The main talking point in the run up was of An Ghaeltacht’s absentees: the club lost Seán M Ó Conchúir’s services earlier this year when he emigrated to the UK; Dara Ó Sé, now working in Cork, has transferred from his home club to Clonakilty; and the westerners were also without PJ

Mac Láimh, Rob Ó Sé, Séamus Ó Muircheartaigh, and Ruairí Ó Beaglaioch through injury.

You felt An Ghaeltacht needed to be at full strength to give their highly ranked neighbours a run for the title – and, in the end, the stroll many predicted for Dingle came to pass.

Save for a brief An Ghaeltacht revival in the second quarter, this was facile all the way for the home team. By the quarter-hour mark, the town team led by 0-7 to 0-1 and had effectively served up a preview of the lopsided second half to come.

Dingle were facing little resistance on their advances into enemy territory. When they didn’t draw a free, they were given ample breathing space to pass the ball around and eventually find the man best placed to have a pop at the posts.

This was arguably best summed up by Paul Devane’s first point of the game, which came about after he roamed loose and accepted a short 45 from Mikey Geaney.

Whether An Ghaeltacht genuinely improved in the second quarter or just capitalised on a more relaxed Dingle approach was one of the few sources of debate on the day.

Whatever the cause of their revival, they did, if only briefly, tease the crowd with the prospect of a contest.

By half-time, they trailed by just three points, 0-6 to 0-9. Where they had previously made few advances into the Dingle third, An Ghaeltacht were now winning breaks, running at their opponents and drawing a steady supply of frees. Éanna Ó Conchúir pointed four of these chances, while Óigí Ó Sé chipped in with two nice points from play.

It was, nevertheless, the opposite of a sign of things to come. This game would be as good as done within minutes.

Following the break, Dingle riddled the westerners with nine points in 12 devastating minutes, and An Ghaeltacht’s retort was meek in comparison.

Dingle kicked five of those nine points inside six minutes, and this run included two scores by the previously quiet Paul Geaney, and one each from, arguably, the match’s three stand-out players: Barry O’Sullivan, Matthew Flaherty, and Conor Geaney. By now it was 0-14 to 0-7, with Colm Ó Muircheartaigh and Tomás Ó Sé points from play An Ghaeltacht’s only response to the devastation.

Whatever resistance An Ghaeltacht had left was thumped out of them by two superb Deividas Uosis strikes. Within three minutes, the goalkeeper strolled up twice to fire over a ‘45’ and a long-range free, and in the process he became the eighth Dingle player to mark the score-sheet.

While it was 0-18 to 0-8 on 42 minutes, the rich torrent of scores was reduced to nothing more than a trickle during a frankly boring final quarter.

Éanna Ó Conchúir’s pointed free on 47 minutes would be An Ghaeltacht’s last meaningful contribution, and all that was left was for two of Dingle’s county stars to decide the final score.

Paul Geaney scored his fifth point of the game from a free in the 50th minute, while Tom Sullivan roamed forward, as his way, to accept a pass and kick the last point of the game on 53 minutes.

The title, Dingle’s second in succession, pushed them ahead of An Ghaeltacht on the roll of honour – but this might have been the only shred of spice to take away from what was an otherwise flavourless occasion.

AN GHAELTACHT: Tomás Mac an tSaoir, Colm Ó Muircheartaigh (0-1), Cathal Ó Lúing, Peter Paul Sauerland, Pádraig Ó Sé, Brian Ó Beaglaioch, Adam Mac Amhlaoibh, Éanna Ó Conchúir (0-5, 0-5f), Franz Sauerland, Ciarán Ó Coileáin, Gearóid Mac an tSaoir, Seán Ó Lúing, Óigí Ó Sé (0-2), Tomás Ó Sé, Feargal Ó Cuanaigh. Subs: Máirtín Ó Gormáin for Gearóid Mac an tSaoir (38); Colm Ó Gráinne for Seán Ó Lúing (49); Cian Ó Murchú for Cathal Ó Lúing (56); Shane Ó Grifín for Feargal Ó Cuanaigh (56).

DINGLE: Deividas Uosis (0-2, 0-1 ‘45’, 0-1f), Micheál Flannery, Mikey Boyle, Breandán Kelliher, Aidan O’Connor. Tom Sullivan (0-2), Paul Devane (0-2), Billy O’Connor, Barry O’Sullivan (0-2), Matthew Flaherty (0-1), Mikey Geaney, Niall Geaney, Conor Geaney (0-5, 0-1f), Paul Geaney (0-5, 0-3f), Tomás Sheehy (0-1). Subs: Jack Sullivan for Mikey Boyle (H/T); George Durrant for Niall Geaney (47); Dara O’Sullivan for Billy O’Connor (48); Micheál Slattery for Paul Devane (51); Brian O’Connell for Tomás Sheehy (54); John B Brosnan for Breandán Kelliher (55)

REFEREE: Billy O’Shea (Keel)