Sheehan shines as south rises again
SOUTH Kerry supporters left Con Keating Park with a pep in their step having watched the home side turn in a largely impressive performance with a deserved seven-point victory over Kerins O'Rahillys.
In fact it may well have been a larger margin had the southerners not switched off in the final quarter with the Tralee side bagging 1-2 late in the game to put a better gloss on the score board.
However, maybe the most significant moment may have come long after supporters had left as South Kerry players stayed in a team huddle for up to 10 minutes with Declan O'Sullivan focusing his troops. It certainly points to the fact that South Kerry are serious about this season's championship.
Indeed serious would have been the word to describe their first half performance as they dominated all quarters of the field. Early points by Ciarán Keating and Greg Gibson were just reward for South Kerry as they teased and probed the O'Rahillys defence at will.
They had a goal on the ninth minute with Keating at the end of a fine sweeping move, which involved Paul O'Donoghue and Declan O'Sullivan in the build-up.
Keating had enough time to dummy the on rushing Gary Kissane as the South Kerry attacks just kept coming. Bryan Sheehan playing at centre-forward began to come more to the fore and followed a trade point 40 yard free from the sideline with a similar effort from play to increase the home sides lead to seven.
O'Rahillys opened their account on the 17th minute with a point from Barry John Keane and within in a minute had added a second from a Declan Quill free. However, O'Rahillys would only add one further first half score through another Quill free on the 28th minute, but by this stage, they trailed 1-8 to 03, which indeed was the half-time score.
Rahillys struggled at midfield with South Kerry's Brendan O'Sullivan the outstanding player in this sector. His brace of points in the closing stages of the opening half brought loud applause from the locals.
South Kerry put the contest to bed inside the opening ten minutes of the second half as points by Sheehan (2), Curran and Declan O'Sullivan put South Kerry 1-12 to 0-3 clear before a 43rd minute talking incident saw Paul Sullivan received a red card from Padraig O'Sullivan.
The game had threaten to boil over at stages with a few flash points, but O'Sullivan was in no mood and made his mind up instantly. A few minutes later both sides were down to 14 as Jack Savage received a black card and this with his earlier yellow card correctly earned him a red card.
The final quarter played out in training pace, as both sides seemed content to count down the clock. O'Rahillys kept plucking away and outscored their opponents 1-4 to 0-2 as Barry John Keane's efforts were rewarded with a well taken late goal.
SOUTH KERRY: Damian Horgan (St. Mary's), Paul O'Sullivan (Valentia), Kevin Dwyer (Waterville), Dominic O'Sullivan (Dromid), Greg Gibson (Waterville) 0-1, Killan Young (Renard) 0-1, Padraig O'Sullivan (Dromid), Brendan O'Sullivan (Valentia) 0-2, Denis Daly (St. Marys), Paul O'Donoghue (St Marys), Bryan Sheehan (St. Marys) 0-6 (0-3F), Tomas Curran (Dromid) 0-1, Chris Farley (Dromid) Declan O'Sullivan (Dromid) 0-1, Ciaran Keating (Skellig Rangers) 1-1 Subs: John Curran (Valentia) for Dwyer (BC) (43), Daniel Daly (St. Marys) for Farley (50), Barry Dwyer (Waterville) 0-1, for Curran (50), Brian O'Sullivan (Renard) for Keating KERINS O'RAHILLYS: Gary Kissane, Giles O'Grady, Martin Tierney, Tommy Begley, Cormac Coffey, Andrew Thompson, Mitchel Donnelly, David Moran 0-1 (45”), John C O'Connor, John Ferguson, Kieran O'Mahony, Kevin Walshe, Declan Quill 0-3 (0-2F), Barry John Keane 1-1 (0-1F), Jack Savage Subs: Rory Molloy for Ferguson (21), Sean Walsh 0-1 for O'Connor (22), Ross O'Callaghan for Walshe (H/T), Ronan Quill for Quill (47) REFEREE: Padraig O'Sullivan (Firies)