The Kerins O’Rahillys team before the game. Photo by Dermot Crean
Garvey’s Supervalu Co Senior Football Championship Round 3
East Kerry 0-20
Kerins O’Rahillys 3-09 (after extra time)
The fine margins that obtain at the highest level of football in Kerry were never more obvious than in Kerins O’Rahillys’ county championship campaign of 2019.
A one-point victory over Kenmare Shamrocks in the first round was followed by a loss to Dingle by the same margin before Strand Road bowed out of the competition when succumbing to East Kerry by a two-point margin after extra time in Austin Stack Park on Saturday evening last.
The rain of early morning had cleared giving a perfect evening for football, with a light wing blowing into the Horan End of the ground. East Kerry were backboned by five Spa and four Glenflesk players, but significantly also included the Clifford brothers from Fossa, Paudie and Kerry star, David.
If O’Rahillys were daunted by the task ahead of them, then they had a funny way of showing it as they goaled with the very first play of the game, when David Moran picked out Tommy Walsh who offloaded to Gavin O’Brien and he floated the ball across the square for Barry John Keane to fist home.
They followed up with a pointed free from Jack Savage from 25 metres after a foul on Walsh. East Kerry had halved the deficit by the eight minute with a trademark point from play from David Clifford from 30 metres and a pointed free from Dara Roche, but both sides went close before that with David Clifford having a goal ruled out for an earlier foul and O’Rahillys’ Con Barrett seeing his shot come back off the butt of the post.
The Blues fared much better however when they hit East Kerry for two goals in a two-minute spell. First, a speculative high ball from Ryan Carroll was broken down by O’Brien to the inrushing Karl Mullins who slid the ball home.
Then Moran found Walsh whose high ball was retrieved by Keane who placed Savage in behind the East Kerry defence and he rifled his shot low into the bottom left corner of the net to give O’Rahillys a 3-1 to 0-2 lead.
East Kerry replied with points from another Roche free and from play by Ronan Buckley, but after some typically patient build-up play from Strand Road led to a foul on Barrett, Jack Savage increased the gap to seven points from a placed ball.
Barrett showed his versatility shortly afterwards by tracking back to deny East Kerry a certain goal when he diverted the ball away for a “45” that was converted by Paudie Clifford.
The Reds put the squeeze on Strand Road at that stage and David Clifford saw his shot flash past the post before he converted a free from 45 metres to reduce the gap to five points.
East Kerry then made an important substitution when they brought on Mike Foley for Shane Courtney, as Foley popped over two points in the two minutes following his introduction and in the final minute of the half, O’Rahillys were turned over in possession and Brian O’Donoghue pointed to leave the half time score at O’Rahillys 3-2, East Kerry 0-9.
Worryingly for the Tralee side, they had failed to score since the 17th minute and had seen their lead whittled down from seven points to just two.
O’Rahillys introduced Conor Hayes for Tom Hoare on the resumption and were quickly on the attack with Moran sending in a high ball, but Barry John Keane was injured when contesting it and had to leave the field for treatment.
East Kerry then swept upfield and opened up the Strand Road defence, only to be denied at the expense of a penalty. While the stadium waited for the kick to be taken, Keane re-entered the field, but the referee’s attention was drawn to an incident involving the O’Rahillys captain and he was given a straight red card as a result.
However, Strand Road were spared the double-whammy when Gary Kissane dived low to his right to keep out Paudie Clifford’s spot kick. Although they were still two points to the good, O’Rahillys were very much up against it but after eight minutes, Jack Savage’s effort came back off an upright and it took a great block-down to deny Hayes’s goal-bound effort.
East Kerry then had several attempts at the O’Rahillys’ goals but were themselves denied by good defending. When in possession, Strand Road moved the ball very slowly, perhaps to deny East Kerry momentum and if so the plan worked as the half was 13 minutes old before East Kerry had a pointed free from David Clifford.
O’Rahillys persisted with their slow build-up play and it paid off after a foul on Barrett allowed Savage to point a 30-metre free three minutes later and he then turned provider by flicking the ball to Tommy Walsh who guided his shot between the sticks to put O’Rahillys three points to the good.
East Kerry replied immediately though when the ball was knocked into space down the left hand side and David Clifford gathered, swivelled onto his left foot and guided the ball over the bar.
Three minutes later, Clifford repeated the feat, this time from the opposite wing and we had a one-point game. Mike Foley stepped up to level matters after 27 minutes and East Kerry hit the front for the first time two minutes later through Liam Kearney.
Strand Road rallied though and a superbly struck free kick from 46 metres from Ryan Carroll tied the scores again in the first minute of injury time, before a flowing move involving Moran, O’Brien and Ross O’Callaghan culminated in Tommy Walsh pointing to put O’Rahillys in front once more.
As the clock ticked down, O’Rahillys adopted their possession game again, but just when this tactic looked to have paid off when they engineered a 2v1 situation, the final pass was intercepted by Jack Sherwood and East Kerry worked the ball to Shane Cronin who kicked the levelling score in the last minute of added time to leave it East Kerry 0-15, O’Rahillys 3-6 at full time.
Strand Road introduced Sean Walsh as they were restored to 15 players for the two periods of extra time and patient build-up play created an opportunity for Karl Mullins to put them one point up in the first minute.
However, the contrast in styles then became more apparent as East Kerry attacked at pace for the next eight minutes and were rewarded with points from Dara Roche, Mike Foley and David Clifford after a superb block-down denied Gearóid Savage a goal at the other end.
Strand Road rallied and after Tommy Walsh’s shot for goal was also blocked down, the ball broke for Jack Savage to swing it over the bar to make it a one-point game.
Then, with the last act of the first period of extra time, David Moran rampaged down the middle of the pitch and kicked a fantastic point from 40 metres to level things up at half time, East Kerry 0-18, Kerins O’Rahillys 3-9.
A feature of the second period of extra time was again the patient build-up play of O’Rahillys as they dominated possession, but they squandered their chances to kill East Kerry off by kicking four wides and with time up, East Kerry proved more incisive as they moved the ball to within 30 metres of the O’Rahillys goals and when a free was conceded, David Clifford obliged to nudge them in front once more.
Their more efficient use of possession continued into the second minute of added time when they freed up David Clifford who kicked the insurance score to leave it East Kerry 0-20, Kerins O’Rahillys 3-9 at the finish.
Kerins O’Rahillys: G Kissane; S Brosnan, R O’Callaghan, C Coffey; R Carroll, K Mullins, D McElligott; D Moran, G O’Brien; T Hoare, J Ferguson, C Barrett; J Savage, T Walsh, BJ Keane. Subs: S Foley, C Hayes, D Murphy, S Walsh, D O’Sullivan, P Begley, G Savage, G Dillane, S Collins, Rory O’Connor, D O’Brien, A Roche, K Mangan, S McElligott, J O’Leary.
LADIES NOTES
U12 GIRLS
We were away to Na Gaeil last Wednesday evening in The Town League. Well done to everyone.
Final score – Na Gaeil 4-14 , KOR 5-04.
BILLY KISSANE U13 DISTRICT
Congrats to the Tralee District on their win over St. Kierans last Saturday in the cup final. A great display of football from each girl from Strand Road, Na Gaeil, Mitchels and Stacks. Representing us we had Kelly Fitzgerald, Rachel Foley, Sophie Hassett, Anù Hayes, Nathali Mulumba, Aoibhín O’ Connor MacCarthy and Lauren Doody (injured). Well done to each of you and also to Eddie, Edward, Anthony, Danny, Katie and Mary – their mentors on the day. As always, we had a great turnout on the day from the parents.
Final score Tralee District 4-10, St. Kierans 2-02.
U14 GIRLS
Our U14 girls were away to Stacks last Tuesday night under lights in Connolly Park. It was a super game from start to finish and was very close all the way. Stacks took the lead scoring 1-01, but then Strand Road scored 1-01 in reply. Strand Road took the lead at half time by 5 points.
The standard of football was fantastic by both teams. We kicked two fast points in the second half to extend the lead to 7 points. Stacks clawed their way back with some top class goals . Kelly Fitzgerald was unreal in goals as always, making some great saves and her kickouts were top class. There was a great atmosphere in Stacks with plenty of support for both teams.
Our scorers on the night were Aoibhín MacCarthy 1 -04, Katie Nix 1-05, Sophie Hassett 1 goal, Keelan Coffey 1-01 and Lily O’ Brien 1 point. The whole team gave it 110% on the night with Hollie Leane very solid as always.
Lily O’ Brien and Keelan Coffey put in a great shift at mid field and the forwards were flawless with some great scores from Katie Nix , Aoibhín MacCarthy , Sophie Hassett and Keelan Coffey. The team performance was top class. Final score KOR 4-11 to Stacks 5-04.
We are away to Abbeydorney next week in the Division 1 North Kerry Shield Final. Best of luck to the girls and their mentors.
U16 GIRLS
Best of luck to the girls and their mentors in the North Kerry League v Na Gaeil.
SENIOR LADIES
Texts will be sent with training times.
CÚINNE NA NÓG
We had a busy weekend in Strand Road with games in town and in Killorglin for our Juvenile Academy.
Our U8 and U10 girls were in Na Gaeil on Saturday for Go Games. What started out as a horrible wet morning turned into a lovely afternoon for the girls. Thanks to Mike and everyone in Na Gaeil for hosting.
There was fierce excitement as early as Saturday for our U6 girls and boys, our U8 and U10 boys as they were looking forward to their trip out to Laune Rangers on Sunday morning.
We had an early start and the children were bussed out to Killorglin. We were lucky again with the day as the sun shone and there was some array of blue and white jerseys on display in J.P. O’ Sullivan Park.
All the kids really enjoyed plenty of football and enjoyed the treats even more afterwards. Good fun was had on the bus on the way out and on the way back. Thanks to all the coaches and a special word of thanks to Lianna, Danny and T.J. for helping out as we were down a few coaches. Many thanks to Laune Rangers, particularly Fergus Clifford and Paudie Lynch, for hosting us.
Congrats to our players of the week who displayed some fine skills back in Killorglin. Well done to Jack Behan who is also a fine hurler, Evan McCarthy and Conan Seino.
U16 Boys
The boys had their first outing of the Town League last Sunday having had a bye the previous weekend. We were away to Churchill. Conditions were much more pleasant than the forecast had predicted and the lads had plenty of support on the side line.
We got off to a very good start and had by half time slotted in 5 goals scored by Sean Healy (2), Darragh O Connor (2) and Sam Mc Carthy. We also had scored 8 points (3 frees). Score line at half time 5-08 to 0-01.
However, with about 15 minutes gone in the first half we lost Jack Savage to a nasty knee injury and we would like to acknowledge the assistance of Dr John Chute who luckily was on the sideline with Churchill and quickly came to Jack’s aid.
Jack will be laid up for a few weeks and we would all like to wish him a speedy recovery. The second half saw all our substitutes getting a chance to show just what they are capable of and everyone gave it their all. The game finished on a score line of 5-15 to 1-04.
Next game we play Mitchels in the final. This is fixed for Sunday next 13th October. Time and venue to be confirmed
Juvenile Academy
The Academy takes place at the normal time of 11am next Sunday. Hope to see everyone there for the last weeks before we finish up for the season.
HALLOWEEN
This year we will have our HALLOWEEN PARTY at Sandy Feet Farm. This will also be our end of year for the JUVENILE ACADEMY. The cost will be €5 per child. This includes entry to ‘HALLOWEEN AT SANDY FEET FARM ‘, the cost towards the bus and treats afterwards.
Normal admission fee is €10 but both the Juvenile club and Sandy Feet are subsidising the rest. Thanks again to Eleanor and Roy for their generosity throughout the year.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26TH is the date. LEAVING the club at approximately 12.30p.m. TBC.
We are NOW taking names of those who want to go as this is an online ticket event and we need to book asap.
Younger siblings within the family are also more than welcome to travel.
Please let us know as soon as possible if you want to reserve a place by texting Adrian (085) 1500199.
SNIPPETS from “top of the right”
• Hard luck to our Senior panel who lost in extra time to East Kerry on Saturday last in Round 3 of the Garvey’s Supervalu Co Championship. We have exited the championship but wish East Kerry all the best in the quarter final.
• Well done to everyone on their Junior Cert results.
CONDOLENCES
All at the club wish to extend our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of Billy O’Lehan of Woodlee, Thomas (Tommy) Leahy, Camp, Ballyseedy and Kathleen Twamley (née Kelliher) Renagowan Cross, Lyre,
