JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED
DR CROKES will meet last year’s champions Corofin at HQ on St Patrick’s Day after the Kerry side ended Longford champs’ Mullinalaghta fairytale in Thurles.
In truth the Kerry champions, who played most of the game with just 14 men, were never in any danger of losing this one and hard though Mullinalaghta tried, they lacked the necessary firepower and never looked like repeating their shock win over the other Crokes from Kilmacud in the Leinster final.
Crokes dominated the opening half, despite Mullinalaghta getting goals from Gary Rogers and Jayson Matthews after Crokes suffered a body blow when they lost midfielder
Dr Crokes 0-18 Mullinalaghta 2-7
Johnny Buckley to a straight red card after 21 minutes.
But Crokes refused to panic and with Tony Brosnan kicking some fine points along with David Shaw, Gavin O’shea, Daithi Casey and Brian Looney, Crokes still managed to lead 0-11 to 2-3 at the interval.
Crokes tagged on five more in a row after the break with intricate forward play and looked in cruise control but the Longford side stuck at it and three points towards the end of the third quarter brought them back to within four as they made the extra man count.
Crokes should have put the game to bed with a goal but centre-back Gavin White’s shot came back off Rogers’ legs. DR CROKES: S Murphy; J Payne, M Moloney, F Fitzgerald; D O’leary, G White, S Doolan; J Buckley, D Casey (0-2, 1f); M Burns (0-1), G O’shea (0-1), B Looney (0-1); D Shaw (0-3), K O’leary (0-4), T Brosnan (0-6, 2f). Subs: M Potts for Doolan (35); A O’sullivan for D O’leary (50); C Cooper for O’shea (51); E Brosnan for Burns and J Kiely for T Brosnan (both 58). MULLINALAGHTA: P Rogers; S Cadam, P Fox, C Brady; F Mulligan, S Mulligan, D Mcelligott (0-1); D Mcgivney (0-5, 4f), J Keegan; G Rogers (1-0 pen), J Mcgivney, B Fox (0-1); J Matthews (1-0), R Brady, A Mcelligott. Subs: M Cunningham for F Mulligan (27); C Mcelligott for Fox (58). REFEREE: S Hurson (Tyrone).