Kerins O’Rahilly’s 1-16

John Mitchels 0-6 

KERINS O’RAHILLY’S made light work of John Mitchels in this local derby of the Acorn Life U21 County Championship semi-final in Connolly Park on Thursday night.

The Blues have booked a final spot against East Kerry and a shot at winning a first U21 County Championship title in the club’s history.

It was really an uphill battle from the start for John Mitchels, who before the match lost Kerry U21 star Niall Sheehy to injury and full-forward James Duggan to the Kerry minor panel after he was called up for Kerry’s All-Ireland quarter-final against Sligo on Monday.

To make matters worse for the Mitchels, midfielder, Mike Wrenn, was black-carded after eight minutes which gave O’Rahilly’s, Gavin O’Brien, an almost free pass to dominate midfield for the entire game.

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The 13 point winning margin is a true reflection of the authority O’Rahilly’s commanded on this game, in fact it could have been more had they not been as wasteful in the first quarter of the second half.

A resilient Mitchels’ defence had done its utmost to stop O’Rahilly’s getting in for goals, but could do nothing in 42nd minute when Cormac Coffey hit the net, after linking up with Ryan Carroll and Jack Savage in a nice move to put O’Rahilly’s nine points ahead and the game beyond doubt.

For all their possession, O’Rahilly’s only went in at the break four ahead, 0-8 to -0-4. Kerry U21 Jack Savage was commanding a lot of the ball, linking up well with his fellow forwards and chipping in with eight points in total, four from play.

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O’Rahilly’s scored the first four scores of the match before Mitchels eventually got on the board in the the 14th minute, when Akeem Molloy, tapped over a point.

All of the Strand Road full-forward line managed get on the scoresheet from play in the first half – Gearoid Savage, Padraig Griffin and Ronan Quill, were seeing a lot of ball and things were looking ominous for Mitchels.

The opening quarter of the second half was low scoring, Strand Road, sensing they could wrap up this game easily became wasteful in good positions going forward. However, it was a different story in the final quarter of the half, O’Rahilly’s scored 1-7 without reply and cruised to victory.

So a final place is now in the bag and a chance for an unprecedented first U21 championship coming to the blue side of tralee.  The final will take place on August 11 against an East Kerry team comprised of players from seven clubs. A venue for the match is as yet to be decided.

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Scorers 

Kerins O’Rahilly’s: Jack Savage (0-8,4 f), Cormac Coffey (1-0), Gearoid Savage (0-2),  Eoin Carroll (0-2), Diarmuid O’Sullivan, Cian Sayers, Padraig Griffin and Ronan Quill a point apiece

John Mitchels: Cian O’Brien (0-3, 2f),  Wayne Duggan (0-2, 2f), Akeem Molloy (0-1)

Kerins O’Rahillys: Robert O’Connor, David Murphy, Martin Tierney (c), Tommy Begley, Karl Mullins, Cormac Coffey, Mitchell Donnelly, Diarmuid O’Sullivan, Cian Sayers, Gavin O’Brien, Jack Savage, Brian Scannell, Gearoid Savage, Padraig Griffin, Ronan Quill

Subs: Eoin Carroll, Dylan Ronan, Derek Horgan, Ryan Carroll, Shane O’Sullivan, Daniel Nix.

John Mitchels: Josh O’Reilly, Argjent Kastrati, Cian Sheridan, Pat Kearney, Gary Murphy, Frank O’Donnell, Jonathan O’Halloran, Mike Wrenn, Jake Moran, Akeem Molloy, Conor Hurley, Sean Moloney, Wayne Duggan, Shane O’Connor, Cian O’Brien

Subs: Gary Roche, Peter Murphy, Aaron O’Keeffe, Mikey Walsh

Referee: Jonathan Griffin (Glenbeigh-Glencar).