Kerins O’Rahillys players celebrate at the final whistle after winning the U21 county championship for the first time. Photo by Dermot Crean
Gavin O’Connor was in Castleisland this evening to see Kerins O’Rahillys win the Acorn Life Kerry U21 County Championship Final…
Kerins O’Rahilly’s 2-15 (21)
East Kerry 2-9 (15)
Cormac Coffey races away from Kieran Murphy of East Kerry. Photo by Dermot Crean
It was an evening to savour for the blue side of Tralee with their side putting in an incredible performance against a hotly fancied East Kerry outfit.
Goals by man of the match, Cormac Coffey and midfielder Diarmuid O’Sullivan, helped them on their way to a victory in Castleisland, where they showed passion for the jersey and a flair the divisional side could not compete with.
They led 1-9 to 0-3 at half-time and despite a brief comeback by East Kerry, they never relinquished that lead.
“So did we win dad?”…Little Nathan Walsh looks at his happy dad, Ray, coach of the winning Kerins O’Rahillys U21 team. Photo by Dermot Crean
“This is absolutely mind-blowing” said Kerins O’Rahilly’s U21 manager Ray Walsh after the game. “It’s a huge day for the club, but I’m just delighted for the lads themselves because of the effort they put in,” he said.
“We said if we performed, we’d have a right chance. We went in at half time with a commanding lead. It was sign of the character of the team as we had a few hiccups at the start of the second half – we were pegged back to about four or five points – but we showed serious character.”
Centre-back, Cormac Coffey gave a man-of-match performance, scoring 1-3 from play showing boundless energy from start to finish.
“This is unbelievable, it’s a dream come true, I couldn’t sleep for the last few weeks!”he said after.
“To get man-of-the-match is a bonus, but we’ve never won this competition before. We always said to ourselves to keep the cool. We knew we would be up against because they’re a district side and they were hot favourites,” said Coffey.
“We knew we could do it, because at training we were gelling as a unit, we could feel the vibes. We knew that if we could put them on the back foot at the start they would crumble” he said.
So, Kerins O’Rahilly’s are U21 champions for the first time ever, the clubhouse will be hopping tonight and there may be a few sick-notes tomorrow morning!
We’ll have a full match report tomorrow morning. In the meantime, see the Blues celebrating below…
Kerins O’Rahillys captain Martin Tierney lifts the cup. Photo by Dermot Crean
Declan Quill with his brother Ronan celebrate the victory. Photo by Dermot Crean
Gary Nolan (centre) celebrates. Photo by Dermot Crean
Cormac Coffey with his man of the match award. Photo by Dermot Crean
Kerry U21 Champions 2015, Kerins O’Rahilly’s. Photo by Dermot Crean
