Kerins O’Rahilly’s 1-13
Killarney Legion 1-14
AN injury time winner by Killarney Legion substitute Chris Davies, sent Kerins O’Rahilly’s out of the club championship in the first round for the second year in a row.
A Legion side playing with the breeze in Strand Road for the second half outscored O’Rahilly’s by seven points to one in the final quarter.
Legion were geed up by the return to competitive football of James O’Donoghue who scored four points after being introduced at the start of the second half.
In the second half, when Jack Savage added a point straight after a superb goal by Barry John Keane, the Blues were five points ahead and looked like they would push on, but Legion battled hard and were worth their victory.
After a cagey start to the game, with Kerins O’Rahilly’s winning the toss and electing to play with a stiff breeze, it took, seven minutes before the first score was registered – a point coming from the boot of Jack Savage.
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On a few occasions, Strand Road, attempted to play it long to Tommy Walsh in full forward, but it wasn’t sticking.
Walsh did however come into the game more as the game wore on, linking up well to set up scores for Barry John Keane and Jack Savage and tagging on three of his own.
After some tit for tat scoring the game was poised 0-4 to 0-2 after 20 minutes. A big moment came in the 18th minute, when Cormac Coffey missed a gilt-edged goal chance.
The Kerry u21, was one on one with Brian Kelly after making a blistering run, he coolly attempted to place the ball into the net with the outside of his boot, but it glanced wide.
With such a strong wind advantage, O’Rahilly’s, really were not making it count. That was until five minutes to go in the half when they hit over three in a row, Tommy Walsh, Jack Savage and Barry John Keane the scorers.
At the end of the first half, O’Rahilly’s sat on a four point lead, the scores, 0-9 to 0-5.
Murmurs echoed around the ground when James O’Donoghue, who had been on runner duties, emerged with the tracksuit top off and headed straight for the goalmouth.
The 2014 Player of the Year making his first competitive appearance since undergoing shoulder surgery at the end of last year.
Unlike almost every inter-county team last year, the O’Rahilly’s management decided to go man to man on O’Donoghue.
Cormac Coffey, was entrusted with marking O’Donoghue and it was Coffey who won the first battle between the pair, but it wasn’t long before O’Donoghue was at his destructive best.
With the next ball, O’Donoghue charged at the blues defence and set up Conor Keane, who knocked in the first goal of the evening making it now a one point game.
O’Rahilly’s answered back well with a point from Tommy Walsh. Then, with 40 minutes on the clock they struck for a goal.
Starting off the move David Moran, linked up Barry John Keane with a beautiful ball down the right wing. Barry John Keane then turned inside, running passed the Legion defence, then smashing the ball to the net to send the home crowd into raptures.
With the strong wind at this point being subdued to a puff, it seemed the Gods were smiling on Strand Road, but they let it slip.
Lead by ‘JOD’, Legion bossed the final quarter of the match to claw them back into contention. With time almost up the Killarney side were one point down.
It was two men who came off them bench that would be their saviours. Coming at the O’Rahilly’s defence in their droves, they forced an equalizer with 60 minutes on the clock, Kevin Slattery, the scorer.
It seemed he would have the final word, but after some sloppy play coming out of defence by O’Rahilly’s, the ball fell for Chris Davies, who drove the ball over the bar from 30 yards, to sink the hearts of the Strand Road faithful.
The result is a huge disappointment for Kerins O’Rahilly’s who, after the return of some top talent to the side and also boasting three senior and two U21 Kerry players, felt they had a real shot at winning this competition.
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Kerins O’Rahilly’s: Barry John Keane 1-4 (1f), Jack Savage 0-5 (1f), Tommy Walsh 0-3, John O’Connor 0-1
Killarney Legion: James O’Donoghue 0-4 (1f) Conor Keane 1-1, David O’Sullivan 0-2 (1f), Denis Sheahan, Jamie O’Sullivan, Jonathan Lyne, Kevin Breen, Kevin Slattery, Billy Maguire 0-1 apiece
Kerins O’Rahilly’s
1. Gary Kissane 2. Gavin Duffy 3. Danny O’Sullivan 4. Robert O’Shea 5. Cormac Coffey 6. Martin Tierney 7. Tommy Begley 8. Con Barrett 9. David Moran 10. John O’Connor 11. Jack Savage 12. David McLoughlin 13. Kieran O’Mahony 14. Tommy Walsh 15. Barry John Keane
Subs: Giles O’Grady for Kieran O’Mahony
Killarney Legion
1. Brian Kelly 2. Tom Slattery 3. Danny Sheahan 4. Cathal Sheahan 5. Podge O’Connor 6. Denis Sheahan 7. Damian O’Sullivan 8. Shaun Keane 9. Jamie O’Sullivan 10. Sean McCarthy 11. Jonathan Lyne 12. Kevin Breen 13. Billy Maguire 14. David O’Sullivan 15. Conor Keane.
Subs: James O’Donoghue for Sean McCarthy, Chris Davies for Cathal Sheahan, Kieran Slattery for Kevin Breen