The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
No Kerry club success at Comórtas Peile Páidí Ó Sé as 600 footballers descend on Dingle peninsula
THERE was no silverware for Kerry clubs at this year’s Comórtas Peile Páidí Ó Sé, which took place across the West Kerry peninsula at the weekend and brought over 600 Gaelic footballers to the festival of football, music and socialising.
Corca Dhuibhne, Scartaglin and MKL lined out in the ladies intermediate round-robin competition where Corca Dhuibhne had a winning start beating Ballymore of Longford 4-6 to 1-3 but fell to St. Maur’s of Dublin 2-11 to 4 points. On the other side of the draw, Kerry’s MKL and Scartaglen lost out on their matches to Sligo’s Eoghan Rua, the eventual winners of the cup who beat St. Maur’s of Dublin in the final by 3-4 to five points. Scartaglen did get a victory in their final round-robin match, beating MKL by 2-8 to 2-2.
Daingean Uí Chúis lost out in the junior ladies first round to eventual cup winners Round Towers of London by 1-10 to 0-2.
Galbally of Limerick beat Kerry’s Beale, last year’s champions, in the junior men’s cup straight semi-final after extra time by 2-14 to 2-9 in Castlegregory. Galbally went on to beat Johnny B’s Cahir of Tipp by a single point on a score of 2-8 to 13 points.
St. Anne’s of Dublin, managed by Dublin footballing legend Joe McNally won the intermediate men’s final, beating Ballycumber of Offaly 4-20 to 2-9.
In the senior men’s final, Clane of Kildare coasted to victory this one against Courtwood of Laois by 5-10 to 6 points while last year’s ladies senior cup winners Clonguish of Longford lost to Burrishoole of Mayo by 13 points to six points.
It is 35 years since the Lidl Comórtas Peile Páidí Ó Sé began and there is no stopping this juggernaut of a GAA club festival with over 600 players playing football, socialising and filling up hotels and B&Bs across the Dingle peninsula last weekend, a huge economic boast to the area during the off-season.
As usual, some well-known people were part of the line-up including former Down 1994 All-Ireland winning captain DJ Kane, who managed Cooley Kickhams in the senior men’s cup, multi All-Ireland winning Dublin all-star Lyndsey Davey, who lined out Skerries Harps in the junior ladies cup, Dublin legend Joe McNally, who managed St. Anne’s to victory in the intermediate men’s cup, and Johnny B O’Brien of The Two Johnnies who was player/ manager whose native Cahir club of Tipperary lost the junior men’s final by one point to Galbally of Limerick.
Comórtas chairman, Pádraig Óg Ó Sé said: “We are thrilled to keep driving forward Páidí’s vision to attract new people to the peninsula every year to play Gaelic football. It’s a big organisational and financial undertaking and special mention has to go to Lidl, our title sponsor. They have really changed the ladies game in Ireland and have been with us for six years now, which shows their commitment to our national sport.
“QWe also have strong partners in Dooctor.ie, Medel healthcare, EJ menswear.ie, Udaras Na Gaeltachta and Kerry County Council Tourism Unit who see the value of being part of one of the most wellknown GAA club tournaments in the country.
“Our volunteers and locals clubs who give us their pitches are vital and the goodwill is unreal from everyone involved to make this happen annually.”