Our hurling analyst, Mike O’Halloran, looks at the semi-final pairings in the Supervalu Kerry SHC…
The draw for the 2014 Kerry Senior hurling Championship has pitted Lixnaw against the 2013 champions St Brendan’s Ardfert, a repeat of last year’s final.
On the other side of the draw, Ballyduff take on Kilmoyley. The semifinals will take place on the last weekend of August.
St Brendans made their way to the semi-finals with wins over Ballyduff in the first round and an extra time win over Lixnaw in round two.
They defeated Ballyduff by six points on a scoreline of 2-10 to 10 points before overcoming Lixnaw in extra time by one point.
An incident in that game could have a bearing on the semi-final; Darren Dineen received a rather harsh red card and misses the game.
Darren’s contribution to St Brendan’s has been massive and St Brendan’s will need others to step up to the plate if they are to overcome Lixnaw.
Lixnaw bossed Abbeydorney in the last round in a pretty tight, dour game, where Lixnaw’s better scoring forwards and superior game management as well as a teak-tough defence choked the Abbeydorney challenge.
Lixnaw had already beaten Ballyheigue in the first round. They will be hoping that their young star Brendan Brosnan will be recovered for this game and if he is, along with the influence of Paul Galvin, they will give St Brendan’s a very stern test.
Kilmoyley awaited their semi-final opponents since the second round as they awaited the winners of the Ballyduff v Crotta O Neills quarter-final. Some pundits expressed surprise that Kilmoyley are in the semi-finals but anybody that saw them play in the county league were not a bit surprised.
Kilmoyley have been producing great underage players for quite a while now and that production line is now bearing fruit.
In Daniel Collins, Tom Murnane, Adrian Royle, Conor and Dougie Fitzell they have match winners all over the field. They booked their place in the semis with a 1-16 to 1-12 win over Crotta O’Neills.
Ballyduff also booked their place in the semis with a win over the home of the Game Cocks, on a score line of 1-22 to 0-13.
Ballyduff were defeated by St Brendan’s in the first round by six points, but overcame Causeway to progress to the quarter-final game with Ctotta O’Neills.
Ballyduff have been steadily improving in every game and with a few more of their panel returning to full fitness they should be more than a match for Kilmoyley come the end of August.
A great boost for Ballyduff was the return to form of Bobby O Sullivan in the quarter-final where he was excellent from play and frees.
The Cashensiders are awaiting news on Padraigh Boyle who fractured a bone in his hand in the game against Causeway.
The last weekend of August should see an improvement in the standard of hurling which has been full of honest endeavour but of mediocre quality.
• Follow Mike on twitter on @StageandSport
