SENIOR FOOTBALL: Austin Stacks 2-22; Kenmare District 0-6.
Played in ideal conditions in Connolly Park on last Saturday evening (1st Sept) our Seniors progressed to the second round of the Co. Championship with a 22 points winning margin – the second highest win in our 91 seasons of Championship football – only our 32 points victory (6-22 to 2-2) over Beale in 1994 surpasses it.
Just 18 seconds had elapsed when Jack O’Shea, from the throw-in, found Kieran Donaghy and Star put over from an acute angle. Kenmare’s opener came just over a minute later from a pointed free. We then dominated the next ten minutes – scoring a goal and six points without reply. First the O’Brien brothers had a point each – Ferdia from play and Darragh from a free. Then in the 9th minute Star was fouled in the square after being put through by Greg Horan and, with aplomb, Pa McCarthy beautifully tucked away the resultant penalty to the keeper’s left. Four more points followed from four different players – Darragh O’Brien from a free and three from play by Wayne Guthrie, Ferdia O’Brien and Shane O’Callaghan.
Kenmare then added two points in the space of two minutes with Greg Horan pointing in between. And it was Greg again in the 22ndminute who got through for our second goal after good work by Joseph O’Connor. But Kenmare responded well putting over three points in the space of the next five minutes. And then in added time, it was Michael O’Donnell who had the last score of the half to leave us with a nine points lead at the break (2-9 to 0-6).
We didn’t know it then but Kenmare were not to score again for the rest of the game while we added a further 13 points during the second period. Some of those could easily have been goals – two in particular put over by Shane O’Callaghan when, on another day, he would have found the net.
So congrats to Wayne and his colleagues and the whole squad for a job well done. Ten of our starting 15 were 25 and under with four players making their Senior Co. Championship debuts, and all four played superbly. Three of these were just 19 years old – Ciarán O’Reilly, Joseph O’Connor and goalkeeper, Robbie Murphy – what a save Robbie made in the 39th minute from a well-taken penalty. But it was the 4th debutant who really excelled. Dylan Casey was the youngest man on the pitch (just turned 18 in July) and he really gave a Man of the Match performance all through.
Team: Robbie Murphy, Dylan Casey, Conor Jordan (0-1), Ronan Shanahan, Pa McCarthy (1-0 – pen), Jack O’Shea (0-1), Ciarán O’Reilly, Michael O’Donnell (0-1), Joseph O’Connor, Greg Horan (1-2), Darragh O’Brien (0-5 – four frees; one 45), Wayne Guthrie (0-1), Ferdia O’Brien (0-5), Kieran Donaghy (0-1), Shane O’Callaghan (0-4).
Subs used: Shane Carroll (33m) (0-1), Ciarán O’Connell (45m), Shane Guthrie (47m), Denis Costello (48m), Fiachna Mangan (52m), Barry Walsh (53m).
So now it’s back to action straight away as we have drawn South Kerry (away) in round 2 to be played on this coming week-end. This will be the 12th meeting between the sides since we first met away back in 1930 and our record against the southerners is mixed. So far we have won 4 (1930, 1936, 1986 and 2012), drawn 2 (1986 and 2016), but we have lost 5 (1957, 1959, 1981, 2009 and 2016). So it’s all to play for next week-end.
CONGRATULATIONS: to Senior Footballer, Mikey Collins and his wife Michelle on the recent birth of a baby girl – their first daughter and a sister for Muiris and Fiachna.
B FOOTBALL: Austin Stacks 5-15; Beaufort 3-5.
We qualified for the Final of the McElligott Cup with a comfortable win in last Friday evening’s (31st Aug) semi final in Connolly Park. From finding ourselves four points down inside the first minute we had drawn level by the 9th minute and went in at the break with a two points lead (1-8 to 2-3).
A 3rd goal by Beaufort – 38 seconds after the resumption – left us trailing again by one point. But that was as good as it got for the visitors as we held them to just two more points for the remainder of the game while we went on to score a further 4 goals and seven points to leave us with more than a double scores win at the end (30 pts to 14 pts).
All 19 who lined out had a hand in this win. We had eight different scorers, including two of our four substitutes. Fergal Ryan scored the first of our five goals in the 25th minute while substitute Rory Forbes scored of 5th and final goal in the 53rd minute. However, in between it was Michael Linnane who made the headlines, scoring a hat-trick of goals during a ten minute spell (41st to 51st) in the second half. He also added two points during the game to equal the Bomber Liston’s record in that famous 1978 All Ireland Final against Dublin.
But it wasn’t all just down to our forwards. Beaufort always looked threatening on the attack but a solid display by our defence thwarted them throughout the hour.
It was good to see Barry Shanahan back in a Black & Amber jersey again after spending some time down under – putting over a beautiful point half way through the second half. And also nice to see new man Jonathan Boulding making his debut and he was unlucky not to have added a 6th goal late on.
So now we meet Rathmore in the final after they overcame Glenbeigh/Glencar in their semi final encounter by 3-18 (27) to 4-7 (19). We await the official fixture for this game but we believe it will be on this Friday evening (7th Sept).
Team: Seamus Bastible, Shane Kelliher, Paul Galvin, James Quigley, Andrew Morrissey (Capt), Barry Shanahan (0-1), Eoghan Galvin, Gearóid McCann, Darragh Scanlon, Theo Diggin (0-1), Alan Duggan (0-3 – one free), Fergal Ryan (1-2), Donagh McKivergan (0-5 – one free), William Kirby, Michael Linnane (3-2).
Subs used: John Dennis (ht), Paul Barrett (39m) (0-1), Rory Forbes (41m) (1-0), Jonathan Boulding (51m).
MINOR FOOTBALL: Well done to the Kerry Minors on winning an historic 5th All Ireland MF title in a row in Croke Park last Sunday. It was Kerry’s 16th title in total since their first in 1931, now racing well ahead of Dublin and Cork who have 11 and 10 titles respectively. And well done to our own Seán Quilter who became the 29th Rock man to win a Minor since Brendan Reidy’s first medal in 1931. That brings out total haul of Minor medals to 36.
But a lot of those Minors will get no rest as they will be back in action again on this Wednesday evening (5th Sept) with their Clubs and Divisional teams in the two semi finals of the Co. Championship. We are due to travel to Castleisland to play East Kerry while St. Brendans and St. Kieran are on duty in Austin Stack Park. Both games throw in at 6pm.
HURLING: Duagh 3-12 (21); Austin Stacks 2-14 (20).
This South Kerry League Final, played at the home ground of the recently-crowned Co. SH Champions (Lixnaw) on last Wednesday evening (29th Aug), ebbed and flowed throughout the 63 minutes played by Referee, Tom Godley (Kilmoyley). And in a game that could have gone either way it was the Duagh boys who finally came out on top when they finished the stronger with just one point to spare at the end. Any neutrals at the Lixnaw venue (which was in perfect condition) would really have enjoyed this game such was the intensity and quality of the hurling on display by both sides.
They say that it’s always easier to take a hammering in a game rather than come away after a one point defeat, but our lads have nothing to be guilty of after such a display.
The game, as we said, ebbed and flowed, with Duagh racing into a 1-2 to no score lead after just four minutes. But once we settled we had wiped out that lead by half time with the sides level on 2-7 a piece at the interval. Our two goals were simply brilliant – both scored in exactly the same manner by Ronan Gilsenan. The first was our opening score coming in the 6th minute when a high ball into the square by Andrew Foley was tapped to the net by Pip. And he was the end of another high ball into the square, this time from Kieran McCaughley (what a game Cox had throughout the hour) right on the stroke of half time.
In between we put over seven points – many from long-distance. Ronan also scored two of these to add to his two goals, with the others coming from Paul Daly (two frees) and one each from Daniel Teahan, Cillian O’Riordan and Colm Ó Giollagáin.
A good start to the second half saw us race into a four points lead – the first time we were ahead in the game. Paul Daly scored three – one from play, one from a 65 and one from a free – and the 4th came from Kieran McCaughly – all this in the first six minutes after the resumption. A brilliant save by Danny McGuire, a minute later, kept our lead intact and we still had a three points lead (2-12 to 2-9) at the end of the third quarter after Duagh added two more points to one for us (Kieran McCaughley from play.
A goal by Duagh in the 46th minute leveled matters again but we regained our lead with two Paul Daly points in the 50th and 52ndminutes. However, three unanswered points came from Duagh in the 57th, 58th and 61st minutes to give them that narrow one point victory.
While all 15 played superbly, if we were to pick a Man of the Match it would be hard to overlook Kevin O’Leary, especially after that first half display.
Team: Danny McGuire, Kevin O’Leary, Eoghan McKivergan, Tadhg Meehan (Capt), Johnny Downey, Andrew Morrissey, Rory Forbes, Kieran McCaughley (0-1), Cillian O’Riordan (0-1), Andrew Foley, Paul Daly (0-8 – five free; one 65), Daniel Teahan (0-1), Colm Ó Giollagáin (0-1), Ronan Gilsenan (2-2), Thomas Meehan.
BEST WISHES: One man who was badly missed at the Hurling last Wednesday was Peter O’Regan. Peter’s absence was as a result of he having to accompany his young son, Fionn, to a Dublin Hospital the day before the game after Fionn became ill. We are glad to hear that Fionn has made a good recovery and should be back home in the Kingdom again as we read this.
BEST WISHES: also to all involved in this week-end’s Annual Denis O’Connor/U13 Lee Strand Tournament. This will be the 33rdconsecutive running of the competition since its inauguration in 1986. Stacks won the event that year, narrowly defeating Na Gaeil in the final (0-11 to 1-7).
For the record the following was our 24 man panel that year: Anthony Moriarty, Armin Heinrich (capt), Bernard Flaherty, Brendan Shalvey, Brian Culloty, Brian Lally, Brian Shanahan, Cormac O’Connor, David Kelliher, David Walsh, Declan Breen, Denis O’Connor, Denis Sayers, John Dunworth, John Healy, John Mason, Karl O’Brien, Kenneth O’Lehan, Liam Carroll, Michael Guykes Murphy, Michael Slattery, Shane Cotter, Stephen Fernane and Tim McMahon.
CLUBHOUSE: As always the Clubhouse is available for all types of Parties and Functions. Enquiries about Club Bookings should be made by contacting Harry Hynes at 087 2467286.
CARDS: The 45 Card Sessions continue in the Clubhouse on every Monday and Thursday nights, commencing at 9.30pm each night.
LOTTO: Last week’s (27th August) Jackpot, worth €9,050, was not won. The numbers drawn were 1, 6, 11, 17. The €20 winners were: David Leonard, John Slattery (Lixnaw), Luke Halligan and Enda Lynch, all c/o The Club; and Sonny Healy, c/o Richard Healy.
Tickets are on regular sale at the Rock Street Post Office and at the Stacks Clubhouse, as well as from our other regular sellers.
SYMPATHY: Sincere sympathy is offered to the families of the following who died recently – Anna Hayes (nee Madden), Old Golf Links Road; and Nora Walsh (nee McKenna), Ballyenaghty, The Kerries and formerly Killorane, Ardfert.
