Seniors:
Following the win on Saturday night over local rivals, St Brendans, the semi final draw sees us pitted against reigning champions Dr Crokes, tie to be played on Sunday 14th Oct probably as a double header with East Kerry/Dingle at a venue to be decided by the CCC on this coming Monday night.
Given that the semi finals last year were played in Fitzgerald Stadium, its likely that Tralee’s Austin Stack Park will be the venue this year.
Dr Crokes were emphatic winners over their local rivals Killarney Legion on Sunday and remain favourites, not just for the county championship, but the All Ireland club also. Their claims lie in their experience & their overall strength in depth but as we have shown earlier in the month, a strong work ethic allied to an inner belief and a never say die attitude can often reap dividends – our comeback from 10 points down in Killarney earlier this month when fashioning a 5 point win was well merited and there is every reason to believe that we can emulate this feat again – Sunday 14th is therefore a date not to be missed!
Match report:
In the end it was all about ensuring we are in tomorrow’s semi final draw and though we laboured at times we were full value for our game win by two points against a spirited and courageous St Brendans side who battled to the final whistle.
St Brendans were forced to make 3 changes to their intended line up with Jack Barry, Kevin Shanahan and Cillian Fitzgerald being replaced by Brendan Poff, Sean Moloney and Alan O’Donoghue.
The opening minutes saw Brendans hit the first two points before a great catch and run by Gavin O’Brien saw us find the net when his initial shot was parried but finished to the net by David Moran who was up in support.
Prior to this, we were dealt a blow when Cian Sayers fell awkwardly and had to be replaced after only 5 minutes – Tom Hoare entered the fray with Cormac Coffey taking his place in the more usual surroundings of wing back.
The next attack saw Tommy Walsh fire over and from the resultant kick out, Gavin again out fielded his opponent and offloading to Tom Hoare after a fine run, Tom found the net with a powerful drive. Jack Savage added a free shortly after and though Niall Sheehy replied in kind Tommy was on the end of a free kick from Jack to punch to the net leaving us nine points to the good, 3-02 to 0-02.
Jack, who was unerring all night from frees then pointed a “45” and it looked like it was going to be a one sided affair from there on. However, St Brendans had other ideas and a goal on 23 minutes from Niall Sheehy, when their initial attack was stymied, saw them finish with a flourish and go in at half time five points in arrears, 3-07 to 1-08.
A feature of their play was the strong running from deep from the likes of Brandon Barrett, Diarmuid O’Connor and the ever dangerous Alan O’Donoghue but we defended well and never allowed them to penetrate our defence.
The second half saw us struggle as we too often took the wrong option or seemed to panic in possession close to goal, lacking the composure we showed against Dr Crokes in the previous round. St Brendans chipped away at the lead and three points in a row coming up to the 50th minute saw them reduce the deficit to two points; Barry John then broke through and when his floated ball across the square was finished to the net by Gavin O’Brien it looked like we had weathered the storm – however, the referee ruled a square ball and when another move broke down, Alan O’Donoghue was on hand to reduce the margin to the minimum with only 8 minutes plus added time left.
A promising move from Brendans was thwarted by a great block down by substitute John C O’Connor and when Eoghan O’Brien came up to take the resultant “45” extra time was looming – however his shot was short and taken superbly in the air by David Moran – a quick inter change of passing saw the ball end up with Karl Mullins who fired over to allow some breathing space.
In one last attack, Tommy was the saviour this time, and with a numerical advantage as we surged forward the ball was eventually sent wide when a goal seemed most likely – it probably summed up our night but the time was up and referee Edmund Walsh signalled the end from the kick out.
The result sees us advance to the semi finals and whilst we were never going to emulate the heroics performed against Dr Crokes the display fell short of what was expected – credit to St Brendans for much of that but with two weeks to the semi finals there is much to work on if we are to have aspirations of taking the field in the final on 28th October.
Final score: Kerins O’Rahillys 3-11, St Brendans 1-15.
Team: Gary Kissane, Danny O’Sullivan, Ross O’Callaghan, Shane Brosnan, Cian Sayers, Karl Mullins ( 0-01), Ryan Carroll, David Moran ( 1-01), Con Barrett, Gavin O’Brien, Jack Savage ( 0-06fs), Cormac Coffey ( 0-01), Barry John Keane ( 0-01), Tommy Walsh ( 1-01), John Ferguson.
Subs: Tom Hoare ( 1-0), John C O’Connor, Gearóid Savage, Darragh McElligott.
Edmond’s Departure:
Friday last 28th Sept marked the end of an era in Strand Road when our groundsman/caretaker Edmond Quirke, bade his fond farewell to the club which he has served so well over the past 23 years.
Edmond was a friend to all, a helpful voice on the other end of the phone and he will be sorely missed by all who frequent the club in any capacity be it players, mentors, opposition teams or any of the Kerry teams who avail of our facilities – his departure will be marked in an appropriate manner in the coming weeks but for now we wish him well for his next adventure and assure him that though he is gone, he will be fondly remembered by all who had the good fortune to make his acquaintance.
Academy:
A great morning in Strand Road on Sunday, plenty of excitement amongst the children with much talk about the seniors win the previous night from the parents and coaches – a rising tide lifts all boats!
A huge Congratulations to our players of the week :
U6 Boy Sean Lynch
U6 Girl Mia leane
U10 Girl Anna Corridon
U8 Girl Ansha Rahman
U10 Boy Conor Cronin
U-16s:
The 2nd round of the town league saw us play Churchill with little between the sides throughout the game – a good start from the opposition saw them lead by 3 points at the break and though we kept in touch all through, the Churchill boys took the points when winning by 5 points in the end. There were some great displays all over the pitch not least from Conor O’Sullivan with a hat trick of goals plus other green flags from Jack Savage and Alan O’Connor. We would like to wish a speedy recovery to Churchill keeper Michael Dolan who received an injury towards the end of the match.
Lotto:
There was no winner of last week’s lotto jackpot where the winning numbers drawn were: 16, 17, 23 & 30 – nobody matched 3.
The five entrants for the special December draw ( 4 X €250) are as follows: Teddie Kerins, Nettie Dowling, Mary Comerford, Ger Moran & Cora Savage.
Next week’s jackpot will be €2,600 and tickets are on sale online and the following outlets: Counihans Princes St., Foleys Spar Castlemaine Rd., The Abbey Inn & Jimmys on Strand Road as well as the club house.
