Gavin O’Connor reports on Sunday’s Garvey’s Super Valu Kerry Senior Football Championship Round 2 clash…
Kerins O’Rahilly’s 0-20
Milltown/Castlemaine 1-14
DESPITE playing with a man down for 45 minutes, Kerins O’Rahilly’s, got past a gritty Milltown/Castlemaine to set up a Round 3 match with East Kerry next Saturday evening.
The match looked in jeopardy for the Blues, when a tiring O’Rahillys trailed with ten minutes left on the clock. But the side dug in thanks to the scoring exploits of Barry John Keane and Jack Savage who combined to score the last six points for the Tralee side.
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David Moran goes up for the ball with Milltown/Castlemaine’s, Brendan Delaney in close quarters. Photo by Dermot Crean.
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In an enthralling match at a sunny and windy Strand Road, the home side hit ten points in both halves.
Barry John Keane fired over eights points and showed leadership throughout in a match that was in the melting pot right to the very end.
Strand Road started playing against a stiff breeze and we’re without the services of David Moran ,who was on the bench because of a few knocks sustained in the All-Ireland Final. After 15 minutes the Blues were hit a blow when they went down to 14 men.
Corner forward, Kieran O’Mahony was harshly issued a straight red after an altercation with Milltown’s John Blennerhasset.
With the scores 0-4 to 0-3 to O’Rahilly’s, the home side, spurred on by the injustice of the sending off, outscored the Mid Kerry men by six points to one over the following 10 minutes.
During this period, midfielder Con Barrett put in a real shift at midfield catching a number of kick-outs to setup his attack.
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Kerins O’Rahilly’s Con Barrett takes on Milltown/Castlemaine’s Damian Murphy. Photo by Dermot Crean.
With their tails up, Giles O’Grady and Cormac Coffey scored two excellent points running from deep. Coffey taking off like a hare at every opportunity was being a considerable nuisance for the visitors. During this purple patch, Strand Road established a six points lead.
With two minutes left in the half, Milltown set about putting a different complexion on the scoreboard when Jonathan O’Sullivan, who was left free, took advantage of a hopeful ball into the square and despite the efforts Gary Kissane – who saved his first shot – he finished the ball to the net.
The half ended with two quick fire points from Milltown making it a one point game once again, the scores 0-10 to 1-6.
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Cormac Coffey, fires a shot towards goal. Photo by Dermot Crean.
Strand Road began the second half with the wind and with Jack Savage, who didn’t start because of a bout of glandular fever he has been suffering from.
The Kerry U21 player’s introduction was soon followed by David Moran, entering the fray a couple of minutes into the second period.
In this half however, Milltown showed their numerical advantage by crowding midfield and sucking up much of the breaks.
On 31 minutes, Tommy Walsh scored his third and final point from play. The big man’s aerial advantage never really tested Milltown, the wind hampering any good quality high ball going into him. Milltown backs also looked as though they were getting a bit of an easy ride in their attempts at marking Walsh.
Milltown brought the game back level on three occasions before they took the lead with ten minutes remaining. With the attacks mounting, the Strand Road defence looked in disarray and in trouble.
Pa Wrenn from wing back knocked over two points in this period and caused the world of damage along with Milltown’s top scorer, Cathal Moriarty, who scored seven points in total.
Jack Savage pointing one of his two frees in the second half. Photo by Dermot Crean.
Ross O’Callaghan, who has been suffering with an ankle injury, was brought on to steady the ship. Jack Savage, who had started slowly, began to come more into it and he and Barry John, acted as a foil for each other in attack.
Midway through the half Tommy Walsh was switched to midfield to partner up with Moran while Barrett was sent into full-forward.
Despite playing 45 minutes a man down, the Blues came alive in the final ten minutes outscoring Milltown by six points to two. Four of the scores coming from Savage and the other two from Barry John.
With the final score on 31 minutes, the two linked up masterfully. Barry John galloped forward and using his experience drew the man, only to shimmy away into space to knock a cross field pass to Savage, who was located 30 yards out in the centre.
Savage controlled the ball coolly to send the the ball over the bar and his team into round 3 of the county championship.
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Scorers
Kerins O’Rahilly’s: Barry John Keane 0-8 (3f), Jack Savage 0-5 (3f), Tommy Walsh 0-3, Cormac Coffey 0-1, Giles O’Grady 0-1, David Mcloughlin 0-1, John O’Connor 0-1
Milltown/Castlemaine: Cathal Moriarty 0-7 (4f), Johnathan O’Sullivan 1-1, Jack McCarthy 0-3, Jack McCarthy 0-2, Pa Wrenn 0-2
Teams
Kerins O’Rahilly’s: Gary Kissane, Danny O’Sullivan, Giles O’Grady, Shane Brosnan, Cormac Coffey, Kevin Walshe, Cian Sayers, Gavin Duffy, Con Barrett, Barry John Keane, John O’Connor, David McLoughlin, Kieran O’Mahony, Tommy Walsh, Greg O’Connell
Subs: Jack Savage for John O’Connor, David Moran for Gavin Duffy, John Ferguson for David McLoughlin, Ross O’Callaghan for Kevin Walshe, Tommy Begley for Cian Sayers
Milltown Castlemaine: Cornac Leane, David Rochem Damian Murphy, John Blennerhasset, Paul Carroll, Ciaran Kelliher, Pa Wrenn, Mike Burke, Brendan Delaney, Marcus Mangan, Shane Murphy, Jonathan O’Sullivan, Donal Kelliher, Cathal Moriarty
Subs: Jerome Flynn for Shane Murphy (Black Card), Kieran O’Connor for John Blennerhasset, Stephen Roche for Paul Carroll, Donal Dennehy for Brendan Delaney
Barry John Keane tormented the Milltown/Castlemaine defence all afternoon. Photo by Dermot Crean.
Greg O’Connell runs at the Milltown/Castemaine defence. Photo by Dermot Crean.
Tommy Walsh scored three points from play. Photo by Dermot Crean.
David McLoughlin, gets at the Milltown defence. Photo by Dermot Crean.
Gavin Duffy, who started instead of David Moran, arrows in a pass to the forward line. Photo by Dermot Crean.
