Stacks triumph in turgid battle with below par Feale Rangers
THE omens, if you’re to believe in such things, weren’t good.
Just before the ball was thrown in the sky fell dark, the rain fell and throughout the hour the drizzle never lifted. Damp and dark off the pitch, mirrored in a contest on it that struggled to capture the imagination, a contest that struggled for light.
Unless both side drastically improve in the weeks and months ahead – and Stacks with Kieran Donaghy and Daniel Bohan to return to the fold stand a much better chance – then neither side is going to threaten for this year’s championship.
Indeed, if things don’t take a huge turn-up for the books then Feale Rangers could be bidding farewell to this year’s championship at the weekend. A lot of us had them down as championship darkhorses, Sunday afternoon went a long way towards dispelling the notion.
Sure in theory Feale Rangers have a great panel of players to choose from. In practice? Not so much. Even accounting for the injuries to Duagh’s Kieran Qurike and Finuge’s Pat Corridan, it was disconcerting to see so few of those clubs’ players on view. Just Anthony Maher for Duagh and not a single Finuge man.
I n those c ir- cumstances the Rangers were always going to be up against it and so it proved. That they weren’t able to open up any sort of a lead against Austin Stacks in the first half with the breeze at their backs was ominous.
As district teams often do at this time of the year they lacked fluidity up front, relying on Conor Cox frees to keep them ticking over. After David Sheehy got Rangers first of the day – in response to Shane Carroll’s opener – they never scored from play again. That’s about 56 minutes of play, not taking into account time added on.
By the twentieth minute Feale Rangers had opened out a three point advantage – on the back of Cox placed balls. It was the least they required to be ahead going in at half-time to stand any chance of winning the game.
Sensing this Austin Stacks rallied. The hugely impressive Carroll got at the end of probably the finest passage of play in the game – William Kirby and Shane O’Callaghan combining to set him up – to point what was an outside chance of a goal. Further points from Carroll and brace by David Mannix gave them the lead – six point to five – with just minutes to the break. A Cox free gave the north Kerry men parity. They had to know then it wasn’t likely to be enough.
In fairness they battled hard in the second half, their defence was good and Damien Somers impressed at midfield, but their forward line failed to fire. With a little over ten minutes to play the sides were still level.
No mean feat for Feale Rangers in the circumstances. Stacks, however, with Carroll in fine form, had that little bit more guile about them. Carroll hit a senstational point from the sideline to fire them into the lead with less than ten minutes to go.
The cohesiveness of the club side began to tell. Greg Horan hit his first of the game shortly after to double the advantage. Rangers’ resistance was flagging. Darragh O’Brien pounced on a loose pass out of the Rangers defence to give Stacks a near unassailable three point lead. Another Carroll free and a po int from substitu te Wayne Guthrie rounded out the scoring. It was the least S tacks deserved. They were by no means impressive, but they were more impressive than Feale Rangers.
That said, big improvements are needed from both sides and in Feale Rangers’ case the sooner
the better.
FEALE RANGERS: Brendan Galvin (Moyvane), Brendan Guiney (Listowel Emmets), Jack McGuire (Listowel Emmets), Sean T Dillon (St Senans), Ger McCarthy (Listowel Emmets), Denis Walsh (Listowel Emmets), Brian McGuire (Listowel Emmets), Anthony Maher (Duagh), Damien Somers (St Senans), Padraig Quille (St Senans), David Sheehy (0-1) (Listowel Emmets), Cormac Mulvihill (Listowel Emmets), Noel Kennelly (0-1f) (Listowel Emmets), Conor Cox (0-7, 6f, 1 ‘45) (Listowel Emmets), Sean McCarthy (Listowel Emmets) Subs: Con Mulvhill (Moyvane) for D Sheehy, Bill Madden (Moyvane) for D Walsh AUSTIN STACKS: Jonathan Conway, Ronan Shanahan, Fergal McNamara, John Dennis, Pa McCarthy, Conor Jordan, Ciaran O’Conell, Barry Shanahan, William Kirby, Greg Horan (0-1), Shane Carroll (0-8, 5f), Fiachra Mangan, David Mannix (0-2), Michael Collins, Shane O’Callaghan (0-1) Subs: Darragh O’Brien (0-1) for M Collins, Michael O’Donnell for F Mangan, Joe Kelly for C O’Connell, Wayne Guthrie (0-1) for W Kirby REFEREE: Christy Crowley (Gneeveguilla)