Action from the South Kerry V Kerins O’Rahilly’s Garveys Supervalu Senior County Championship tie on Sunday. Photo by Breda Dyland
IT WAS a miserable afternoon for Kerins O’Rahilly’s in Cahersiveen where, in the end, a seven point defeat to South Kerry flattered them writes Gavin O’Connor.
South Kerry 1-14
Kerins O’Rahilly’s 1-7
The conditions were dreadful with heavy rain descending for the majority of this first round Garvey’s Supervalu County Championship game.
But the pitch held up well and didn’t show any great sign of wear and tear as the game unfolded.
From the get-go, South Kerry were on top and it was Ciaran Keating in the second minute who got the south Kerrymen on the scoreboard.
Minutes later wing back Greg Gibson doubled the home side lead when he cut through the town side’s defence.
Early problems began to show in the Strand Road team’s attack, manager Barry O’Shea stressing to his charges to get the ball in to forwards quickly.
Twelve minutes in with O’Rahillys still scoreless South Kerry got the opening goal of the game when the extremely mobile Declan O’Sullivan passed to the charging Ciaran Keating who slotted the ball home without much fuss to put his side five points ahead, 1-3 to no score.
Inter county star Brian Sheehan was a in fine form as he kicked one of the points of the game, a superb effort 45 yards out on the right hand side off his right boot. South Kerry were cruising.
On 16 minutes O’Rahilly’s finally got on the board, Jack Savage and Barry John Keane linking up well with the inter county man slotting it over the bar to put the scores 1-4 to 0-1
The Blues would get another a minute later when veteran Declan Quill scored from a free off the hands 30 yards out on the right hand side.
An important aspect of the game was how on top South Kerry were in midfield with Brendan O’Sullivan and Denis Daly forming a formidable partnership.
South Kerry’s inter county stars were also a vital reason why they dominated so much. On 2o minutes Brian Sheehan’s excellent point from play was followed by a score from former ‘Young Player of the Year’ Killian Young, who charged up the park to knock over a rare point.
O’Rahilly’s were under a lot of pressure, Tomas Curran had his shot cleared off the line, soon after Brendan O’Sullivan got in on the act and kicked two points back to back to put the scores 1-8 to 0-2 with five minutes left in the half.
The half ended with an O’Rahillys point when Quill scored again from a free, but as the two sides entered the dressing rooms in a sodden Con Keating Park this game was over as a contest, the visitors trailing by eight points and severely outclassed.
What followed in the second half was basically a procession, but there was still some excellent scores to be admired – Tomas Curran getting one of the points of the game at the beginning of the second half when South Kerry scored four unanswered points.
Ten minutes into the half and trailing by 12 points, O’Rahillys were handed a potential lifeline when Greg Gibson got the line for striking Kieran O’Mahony, who also got a yellow for his troubles.
But the numerical advantage was dashed literally a minute later when Jack Savage was harshly given his marching orders for a late tackle, when a black card seemed to be sufficient punishment.
This resulted in the last quarter of the game being a niggly affair with conditions and tempers starting to get the better of a few players.
The Blues would finally get a goal from the boot of Barry John Keane who knocked the ball home soccer style.
They would also tag on a few more scores, one of which being a 45 by David Moran to make the scoreboard look a bit more respectable, but the game lacked a real competitive edge, in the end it finished 1-14 to 1-6.
It’s the losers round for Kerins O’Rahillys and on the evidence of this display it’s very difficult to see them make a real dent in the competition this year.
South Kerry: Damian Horgan, Paul O’Sullivan, Kevin Dwyer, Dominic O’Sullivan, Greg Gibson (0-1), Killian Young (1), Padraig O’Sullivan, Brendan O’Sullivan (2), Denis Daly, Paul O’Donoghue, Bryan Sheehan (6, 3p, 3f),Tomas Curran (1), Chris Farley, Declan O’Sullivan (1), Ciaran Keating (1).
Subs: Daniel Daly (Tomas Curran), Barry Dwyer (1) (Chris Farley), John Curran, Paul O’Donoghue.
Blackcard: John Curran (Padraig O’Sullivan)
Kerins O’Rahilly: Gary Kissane, Giles O’Grady, Cormac Coffey, Andrew Thompson, Mitchel Donnelly, David Moran (Capt) (0-1), John C O’Connor, John Ferguson, Kieran OMahony, Kevin Walshe, Declan Quill (0-3f), Barry John Keane (1-2, 1f), Jack Savage.
Subs: Sean Walsh (0-1), (John C O’Connor), Rory Molloy (John Ferguson), Greg O’Connell (Giles O’Grady), Ronan Quill (Declan Quill)
