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Gavin O’Connor reports on Saturday’s Super Valu Senior Football County Championship Round One match at Austin Stack Park (see photos below)…
Austin Stacks 1-13
St Michael/Foilmore 2-6
AUSTIN STACKS got their defence of the Bishop Moynihan Cup off to a successful start when they defeated St Michael’s Foilmore by four points in Austin Stack Park on Saturday evening.
David Mannix was on sparkling form for the evening, scoring eight points and being The Rock’s go-to guy in attack.
The scoreline doesn’t show the gulf in quality between both sides; two fortuitous goals for St Micheal’s/Foilmore added respectability to the scoreline for the south Kerry Men.
Continued below…
Austin Stacks David Mannix about to strike another score. Photo by Dermot Crean
Right from the off, St Micheals/Foilmore set their stall out by defending extremely deep and attempting to hit Stacks with long balls into the square on the counter.
The game started brisk enough, with both sides trading scores. The sides were level 0-2 apiece when Stacks got their only goal of the game after eight minutes, Shane O’Callaghan the scorer.
The goal came when O’Callaghan got onto a rebounded 45 from Shane Carroll after finding himself unmarked just outside the square.
After that, David Mannix got his second score of the game on the 15 minutes to leave 1-3 to 0-2. Stacks looked to be edging away, but out of nowhere St Micheal’s/Foilmore got a goal of their own.
Bernard Kelly drove in a speculative effort toward the Stacks goal, it then fell short and somehow slipped through the fingers of goalkeeper Jonathan Conway and into the net.
Stacks would answer back with three scores on the bounce, two from Mannix and one from Pa McCarthy, but with five minutes left in the half, calamity came calling again.
Once again a long ball was rifled into the square from way out, but this time it went completely uncontested and straight into the net. The Stacks following were left scratching their heads as their side was really making hard work of this.
The Rock would go in a point in front at the break the scores 1-7 to 2-3.
The second half of this match wasn’t filled with as much incident. Austin Stacks didn’t have to push themselves too hard and St Michaels/Foilmore, did their best to soak up pressure and keep the score decent.
The Rock outscored their opponents by six points to three in the second half, keeping them at arm’s length at all times. The highlights of the half were two excellent points from Pa McCarthy.
On this evidence, Austin Stacks will have to do a hell of a lot more if they are going to reach the heights of last year. Not a great display, but when it comes down to it, they did enough to advance.
Scorers
Austin Stacks: Jonathan Conway, Ronan Shanahan, Fearghal McNamara, Denis McElligott, Pa McCarthy (0-3), Conor Jordan, Ciaran O’Connell, John Dennis, Kieran Donaghy, Mikey Collins, Shane Carroll, Fiachna Mangan, David Mannix (0-8), Shane O’Callaghan (1-2), Darragh O’Brien
Substitutes: Ciaran O’Shea for Jonathan Conway, Brian Mangan for Conor Jordan, Sean Ryan for Fiachna Mangan, Jack Morgan for Ciaran O’Connell, David O’Sullivan for Mikey Collins
St Michael’s/Foilmore: Jason O’Shea, Darragh Scanlon, Mark Griffin, Adrian O’Connell, DJ Moran, Sean O’Shea, Alan Smith, Sean O’Connor, Damien Kelly, Padraig King, Chris O’Sullivan, Darren O’Sullivan, Sean O’Sullivan, Mark McCarthy, Bernard Kelly
Substitutes: James Moran for DJ Moran, Vinny Casey for Darren O’Sullivan, Fionan Tarrant for James Moran
Denis McElligott, and Mikey Collins close in on St Michael’s Foilmore’s Mark Griffin. Photo by Dermot Crean
Stacks’ Fearghal McNamara tackles Sean Fogerty. Photo by Dermot Crean
Stacks’ Shane Carroll in a tussle. Photo by Dermot Crean
Stacks’ Pa McCarthy evades the tackle of Chris O’Sullivan. Photo by Dermot Crean
Darragh Long and Shane Carroll put pressure on Mark Griffin. Photo by Dermot Crean
Mikey Collins lets fly at goal. Photo by Dermot Crean
Kieran Donaghy rises for the ball. Photo by Dermot Crean
Players fight for possession. Photo by Dermot Crean
Shane O’Callaghan has a shot on goal. Photo by Dermot Crean
