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New Beaufort course for Road Race Championships

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6 years ago

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Killarney Cycling Club will host the county’s biggest one day cycling event next Thursday evening.

The Kerry Road Race Championships will take place on a new 15km course near Beaufort on August 22.

The honour of hosting the annual Kerry Road Race Championships is divided amongst the biggest clubs in the county. Tralee Manor West Cycling Club, Currow Cycling Club and Killorglin Cycling Club all take turns at organising the event on a four-year rotation system and this year the opportunity to stage the race falls to the local Killarney club.

One of the favourites for the County Championship is local rider Conor Kissane. The Barleymount-based rider, the current county hillclimb champion, narrowly missed out on the county road racing league title last week.

The final round of the series took place in Tralee on Thursday, August 8. Kissane needed to finish in front his main rival, Tralee Manor West’s Cathal Moynihan, but tactical riding by the Tralee club kept Kissane out of the top six and handed the league to Moynihan.

County league races are run on a handicap system where the elite A1 and A2 category riders start three minutes behind A3 riders and six minutes behind the A4 competitors.

Killarney Cycling Club’s Marcus Treacy (A3) won the Tralee event. Crucially, two other Tralee Manor West riders, Ross Culloty and Owen Moriarty, both A3 riders, took second and third overall meaning Moynihan and Treacy finished on equal points but the championship was decided in the Tralee man’s favour as he had two wins over the season compared to Treacy’s solitary victory.

Kissane finished in the A1 bunch and ended up third in the standings.

“There were five riders in our group,” Kissane told the Killarney Advertiser. “Two from the Tralee club, including Cathal, and three from the Killarney club. There was no way the Tralee riders were going to share the workload to close the gap. There’s nothing sour in these tactics, it’s just the way cycling works. They knew I had to win the race to take the championship.”

Kissane will be hoping to make amends in the County Championships in less than a week’s time. It will be his first time competing as an A1 rider at the same time his home club is the host.

The championship race also runs on a handicap system but each group is only separated by 30 seconds for this event.

“They [organisers] look at the league events as a training race for us and always make us work that little bit harder,” Kissane added. “The Killarney club will working together [in the County Championships] and I would hope there will be a Killarney winner at the end of the day.”

Riders that could scupper Kissane and his Killarney Cycling Club colleagues include Moynihan and his Tralee Manor West clubmate Cormac Daly.

Killorglin’s Mike O’Shea, a winner of a round of the cycling league this season, is another dark horse. He is capable of breaking away from the main bunch and launching a solo bid for success.

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Home cup tie for St Paul’s could be epic

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1 month ago

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7 November 2025

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Paudie O’Connor National Cup (Round 1)

Utility Trust St Paul’s v GCU Brunell

Saturday 7.30pm

Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre

The St Paul’s women’s team will be hoping to get their National Cup adventure off the ground on Saturday when they welcome 2024 champions Brunell to Killarney. Tip-off in the Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre is at 7.30pm.

Paul’s have displayed some fine early season form, although their unbeaten start in the Super League came to an abrupt end last weekend when they lost to the Trinity Meteors in Dublin. James Fleming’s side weren’t at their best on the day but they were well in contention heading into the final quarter with the scores at 47-45 in favour of the hosts. The Meteors pushed on in the fourth, however, eventually running out 63-53 winners.

St Paul’s scorers on the night were Maisie Burnham (13), Tara Cousins (12), Lorraine Scanlon (12), Lovisa Hevinder (9), Denise Dunlea (5) and Leah McMahon (2).

The Killarney club are now joint second in the table alongside the Meteors with both teams holding a 4-1 record. Killester are top having won each of their first five games.

Paul’s opponents on Saturday, Brunell, have won three out of five league matches so far.

LAKERS

The Utility Trust St Paul’s Lakers have now won three of their last four games in Division 1 of the Men’s National League following an impressive home victory over Moycullen in Killarney.

Eoin Carroll and Jack O’Sullivan made significant contributions of the Boys in Black; Carroll hit 17 points and collected 13 rebounds while O’Sullivan had 14 points, 12 rebounds and some spectacular blocks.

Steve Kelly posted 30 points and the durable Sam Grant played every second, adding 21 points along the way.

The Lakers started well before the visitors found their footing and the sides went in level at the half-time break after scores by home captain Carroll. There was still nothing to separate the teams entering the fourth quarter (68-65) but buckets by Carroll, Pablo Murcia and Grant opened up a nine-point lead. Moycullen fought back admirably, however, cutting the deficit to just four, but Luke O’Hea’s charges held firm to prevail by eight (88-80).

Next up is a cup tie against the Tipperary Talons, a side they defeated by 30 points just a couple of weeks ago. The cup can be very different to the league, though, and they will need another solid performance to advance to the next round. Tip-off in in Killenaule is at 6.30pm on Saturday.

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Chances of Kerry v Cork Munster final in 2026 decrease as Munster GAA delay seeding plan

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1 month ago

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7 November 2025

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After facing a backlash from Limerick, Clare, Waterford and Tipperary players, Munster GAA have postponed their plan to keep Cork and Kerry separate in the 2026 Munster Football Championship.

The new seeding system – which gives the two highest ranked Munster teams in the National League byes to separate semi-finals – will now come into play in 2027, twelve months later than initially planned.

This will give Clare and Limerick a chance to earn promotion to Division 2 of the league, potentially overtaking Cork if the Rebels were to get relegated to Division 3.

Despite traditionally being the two main contenders for Munster football honours, Kerry and Cork haven’t met in a provincial decider since 2021. The Kingdom have won each of the finals since then (one versus Limerick and three versus Clare) by an average margin of 15.75 points.

More high-profile Kerry v Cork finals might be desirable for fans of those teams, businesses in Killarney and Cork, and neutrals alike but Munster GAA’s plans to effectively keep the great rivals on opposite sides of the draw understandably drew criticism from the other participating counties. A statement by the GPA confirmed that players from Limerick, Clare, Waterford and Tipp had met via Zoom to discuss the matter. They were said to be “deeply disappointed and concerned” by the decision.

The 12-month delay will at least give two of those disaffected teams an opportunity to benefit from the new seeding process.

The draw for the 2026 Munster Football Championship will take place on November 27 under the old rules. As 2025 finalists, Kerry and Clare will get byes to the last four (but they will not necessarily be kept apart).

Nine members of Kerry’s squad are up for All-Stars at tonight’s awards ceremony in Dublin with Joe O’Connor and David Clifford also in contention for the prestigious Footballer of the Year award.

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