Seniors: The build up to our championship 1/4 final in two weeks time continued on Sat night last when we played Stacks in the Coiste Trá Lí senior semi final in Austin Stack Park.
We faced the strong breeze in the opening half but the elements did not seem to matter as both sides traded scores in the opening 15 minutes to leave the sides level at 0-03 apiece, our scores coming from Tommy Walsh who had the opener and two converted frees from Barry John, both for fouls on himself.
The first goal of the game arrived on the 16th minute when after good approach work Tommy worked his way inside the defensive cover and fired beautifully to the top corner of the net off his left for a fine goal; we continued to press forward for the next 10 minutes through the good work of David & Con at midfield and fired over 5 points in this period through Con, Barry John ( 2), Jack and John Ferguson to leave us ahead 1-08 to 0-04 with 27 minutes gone on the clock.
A defensive lapse allowed Greg Horan in on goal and he duly converted and when Stacks added another two quick points before the short whistle, we found our lead cut to two, 1-08 to 1-06. The second half saw us resume where we left off with Ryan Carroll having the opening score which was quickly followed by another white flag from Tommy, 1-10 to 1-06.
A Stacks break was broken up by Karl Mullins who quickly dispatched the ball down field to Ross O’Callaghan who in turn found John Ferguson raiding on his left – John fed Barry John at the far post and he duly found the net – Barry John from a free and John Ferguson from play added further points to leave the score @ 2-12 to 1-06 on the 45th minute.
The next two scores were both green flags raised by Ross and John Ferguson following some great moves with these scores effectively killing off the game.Stacks had their first score of the second half on the 50th minute and managed to add another two from here to the finish but we also raised another white flags in that period to leave us convincing winners at the end, 4-17 to 1-09.
Management will be pleased with many aspects of the play particularly our movement and scores but will be all too aware of the stiffer test that lies ahead and nobody will be getting carried away with the result given that Stacks were short some key players in Kieran Donaghy & Ronan Shanahan. The game was well handled by referee Brendan Griffin who was always up with the play and allowed the game to flow in a relaxed and unhurried manner.
Minors: We were defeated by Laune Rangers in Central League minor final on Sat played as a curtain raiser to the seniors game; we were wind assisted in the first half but failed to capitalise on this advantage going in at the break 3 points in arrears , 0-02 to 0-02, Darragh Fitzgerald with both of our scores.
Laune Rangers kicked on in the second half though finding scores hard to come by and we trailed by 4, 0-08 to 0-04 with five minutes remaining – Darragh Fitzgerald and Shane McElligott. Similar to the county championship game played earlier in the year in Strand Road, the Killorglin side finished the stronger and added 1-03 in the remaining minutes to win out on a final score line of 1-11 to 0-04. Our lads deserve great credit for reaching the final and though matters did not go our way, we never gave up and tried all the way to the finish.
Charlie Kerins: Our quarter final game vs Skellig Rangers has now been fixed for Sun 24th Sept @ home, time to be confirmed.
Junior Blues: Our U-13 boys competed in the Austin Stacks organised/Lee Strand sponsored invitational tournament on Sat and left with their heads held high after some great games before eventually exiting at the Cup semi final stage when losing out to Naas by the minimum margin.
We were drawn in Group A along with St Pauls ( Mungret, Limerick), Nemo Rangers ( Cork) and Clontarf ( Dublin); our first game vs St Pauls saw us take the initiative from the word go and we made inroads on their defence despite playing into the stiff breeze; with Jack Savage & Sean Healy dominant in the middle our forwards enjoyed plenty of possession and made good use of their chances to rack up a winning score of 2-07 to 1-01;
Danny Hennessy and Jack were goal scorers whilst in defence T J Heaphy & Matthew Higgins shone. Next up were the famed Nemo Rangers and it was obvious from an early stage that we had their measure.
Quick fire goals from Darragh O’Connor and Tomás Kennedy left us in the lead at half time 2-02 to 0-03 and further goals from Seán Healy & Jack Savage saw us win out 4-05 to 0-04.
Our final group game was a winner take all contest against Clontarf who, like ourselves were unbeaten at this stage.
We attacked from the first whistle and Ben O’Brien found the net with a great drive for the first score of the game – this was a big score as it settled the lads and gave Clontarf plenty to think about.
From here to half time we added a further goal and 5 points to lead on a score line of 2-05 to 0-03 having to face the breeze in the second half.
The next 15 minutes were real backs to the wall stuff as Clontarf threw everything at us in a bid for supremacy – however, we were not found wanting at the back with great work from all our defenders to keep scores to a minimum and whilst we failed to add to our tally, we restricted the opposition to 4 points – this win guaranteed our place in the Cup semi final where we faced Naas.
This was a tough game from the beginning but facing the elements we took the game to our opponents and were two points to the good at half time, 0-04 to 0-02 and looking good for a place in the final.
The second half saw us tire and Naas bagged two goals to turn the game on its head – despite our best efforts we could not peg them back and exited the competition losing out by only one point. Whilst the lads were naturally disappointed, they can be justifiably proud of their performances and were a credit to themselves, their club and mentors ( Denis & Mark); the Coiste Trá Lí league will continue for this group and they can look forward to this competition with confidence.
This Sunday we had the pleasure of hosting Na Gaeil juveniles ,their families and mentors.
The U8 and U10 boys had an early start arriving in Ballyrickard to play at the earlier time of 10.30 a.m. The U6 girls and boys, U8 and U10 girls played at the usual time .
The weather unfortunately wasnt on our side with a few showers of heavy rain at times but all players took it in their stride and made the most of a fun morning – we would like to thank Na Gaeil players, mentors and parents for coming out on a wet morning – well done to all .
There were lots of treats, teas coffees for parents and players, and we would like to thank all parents for their donations – a morning like this would never be a success without everybody’s help and generosity.
Training continues next Sunday at 11am and new members are always welcome .
U-16 Boys: We had a good start to Tralee Town board Suits Select league when we defeated Ardfert on Sunday morning by one point, 2-08 to 1-10.
Facing the wind and rain in the first half, we trailed at half time by 0-07 to 0-05 but turned matters around in the second half with goals from T J McMahon and Conor Hayes; our defence was tight with Barry Foley and goalkeeper Joe Hanafin to the fore and at midfield Daniel Bowler and Conor O’Sullivan ensured plenty of possession. A good start with St Pats up next on Sunday next in Blennerville @ 12 noon.
Lotto: There was no winner of last weeks jackpot where the winning numbers drawn were: 5, 19, 22 & 32. There was no match 3 winners with the following five entrants being chosen for the special Dec draw: Josephine Griffin, Annette & Tom, Amel, Eamonn Griffin & Billy Thompson. Next weeks jackpot will be €9,200.
PRO Contact: If you have any thing you feel is of interest for the Kerins O’Rahillys notes please get in touch. You can contact me at pro.kerinsorahillys.kerry@g aa.ie. Why not join our Facebook group to keep up to date with all fixtures and what is going on in the club?
Just follow the following linkhttps://www.facebook.com/g roups/Narries/ or follow us on Twitter @korgaa Also, we are on line @ www.kerinsorahillys.com
