Kerins O’Rahilly’s midfielfer, Con Barrett, tries to power through in the county championship quarter-final loss to Legion. Photo by Dermot Crean.
Gavin O’Connor on Kerins O’Rahilly’s v Laune Rangers, in the Senior Football County Championship Relegation Playoff at Castleisland 2:30pm
TWO of the county’s most storied clubs will fight it out for their championship survival and for Kerins O’Rahilly it will be for a second year in a row.
Last year, The Blues, were faced with a relegation battle after losing two games, something they would have been spared this year had a rejig of the amount of club teams in the championship not conspired against them.
Their opponents, Laune Rangers, are joint all-time record holders of the competition and are only one of three Kerry clubs to win a senior All-Ireland crown and the last one to do so.
Continued below…
.
Those days seem all too distant now for the Killorglin club, who stare at relegation to division three of the County League.
Laune Rangers bucked the trend by surprisingly defeating divisional side West Kerry in the first round, who would go on to beat last year’s finalists, Mid Kerry, in the ‘losers round’.
That win was followed up with a crushing 15 point defeat at the hands of Kenmare District, which has landed them in this predicament.
Continued below…
The Killorglin side’s most prominent player, Peter Crowley, is due to have surgery on his shoulder, but will grind it out with the club to fight for senior status.
Kerins O’Rahilly’s will feel hard done by having ran finalists Legion, so close in the quarter-final. They will feel that match was theirs to be won and were it not for James O’Donoghue, there’s no doubt it would.
Still, this year saw improvements in the side although, one match won, was the only gain that was made in the senior championship. The U21s were a different story however, when they brought home the bacon winning the county championship.
When the decision to cut the amount of club teams was made, it was done with teams like Laune Rangers in mind. A side capable on their day of taking a scalp, but would they have a chance of winning the competition? Highly unlikely.
With the quality at their disposal, Strand Road are operating on another level to Laune Rangers who have been stagnating for a good few years now. It’s hard to see anything other than a comfortable O’Rahillys win tomorrow.
Verdict – Kerins O’Rahilly’s by 6
