Austin Stacks 0-9
Dingle 3-9
GOALS win games and Austin Stacks came up empty in that department on Saturday evening in their clash with Dingle in the Garvey’s Supervalu Kerry SFC quarter-final in Austin Stack Park.
The men from the west struck three times in the first half in a game where the Rockies could never get going and poor decision-making and errors didn’t help their cause.
The game was notable for the presence of former Kerry minor, Mark O’Connor, who returned from Australia.
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He was tasked with keeping Kieran Donaghy under wraps and he did a good job too but, to be fair, the Kerry legend wasn’t helped by the poor quality ball dropped into him.
Stacks flew off the blocks with Darragh O’Brien pointing seconds after the throw-in but that would be the only time they would lead.
A brace from Dingle’s Paul Geaney and one from Paul Devane was followed by goal from the former and Dingle were looking dangerous at 1-3 to 0-1 up after 11 minutes.
Two minutes later Matthew Flaherty struck and Stacks looked like they would be overrun.
A Darragh O’Brien point and a good point from play from Shane O’Callaghan brought the deficit down to six with a couple of minutes to half time and Stacks would have welcomed the chance to regroup.
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However, Paul Meaney struck again with a goal followed by a Paul Devane point before the short whistle and the Rockies found themselves ten down and a mountain to climb.
3nd goal Austin Stacks v Dingle #GarveysSFC QF 🏐 #dinglegaa #dingle #kerrygaa #GAA pic.twitter.com/Qwf0RhxNiK
— Paul Geaney’s Bar & Restaurant (@GeaneysBar) September 29, 2018
On the restart, when Stacks hit five without reply in the first 11 minutes — through Darragh O’Brien (2), Ronan Shanahan, Dylan Casey and Jack O’Shea — the famous Rockie supporters found their voice on the terraces with the scoreline reading 3-4 to 0-8.
Tom O’Sullivan got a score for Dingle and on the 16th minute some unsavoury scenes ensued after a Stacks player was fouled in the middle of the field.
Mark O’Connor ended up being black-carded which should have helped the Tralee side, but they couldn’t get that quality ball to Donaghy to threaten the Dingle goal.
A free by Darragh O’Brien, to restore a five point gap with 13 minutes to go, would prove to be their final score.
The Dingle defence stood firm and two points from Tom O’Sullivan and frees from Tomás Sheehy and Paul Geaney rounded off a job well done for Dingle.
It’s back to the drawing board for Austin Stacks who have failed to get past the quarter-final stage since their glorious 2014 season. Scroll down for photos…
