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DR CROKES booked their place in the last four of this year’s County Championship with a fairly comfortable 0-17 to 0-12 win over Kenmare Shamrocks in the Fitzgerald Stadium on Sunday.

Kenmare managed to force extra time when the sides met in the Club Championship final a few weeks back but Crokes were more dominant this time out, youngster Micheál Burns leading the way with four well-taken points from play.

The victory has set up a semi-final date with West Kerry who defeated Austin Stacks on Saturday with six points to spare. With a team made up predominantly of players from An Ghaeltacht (12 of the starting 15 last weekend), West Kerry have recovered well from their opening round defeat to Feale Rangers by beating St Kieran’s, Legion and now Stacks to reach the last four.

Five points (two frees) from Seán Micheál Ó Conchúir and 1-1 from Éanna ó Conchúir helped them to a 1-17 to 0-14 victory over the Stacks who have certainly had a year to forget.

Crokes and West Kerry last met in the first round of the 2016 Championship when 2-7 from Tony Brosnan helped the Killarney side to a 22-point win.

Elsewhere, South Kerry secured their passage to the semis with a 0-15 to 0-12 win over Rathmore. Rathmore started the brighter but were dealt a significant blow when corner forward John Moynihan was forced off through injury early on.

The teams were level at the break but South Kerry really pushed on in the second half, Robert Wharton, Brendan O’Sullivan and Daniel Daly in particular impressing.

Their opponents in the last four will be Kerins O’Rahilly’s who hammered East Kerry on Saturday in a surprisingly one-sided affair. It was expected to be the Battle of the Forwards in Austin Stack Park but, in truth, East Kerry never really got going. They only managed 1-3 from play in the first half (1-4 total) and fared even worse in the second, two David Clifford frees their only scores of the period.

Clifford showed well but struggled to make a real impact in his first senior County Championship start, although it’s difficult to judge his performance when East Kerry as a team were so poor. The minor star cut a frustrated figure towards the end of the game and he was booked for retaliating following a cynical foul by Danny O’Sullivan.

Rahilly’s, meanwhile, amassed 3-12 - an impressive enough tally considering the conditions - and could have scored a lot more. Barry John Keane got 0-6 (four frees) while Tommy Walsh, David Moran and Gavin O’Brien kicked 1-1 apiece.

It’s still difficult to look beyond the Crokes for this year’s Championship although West Kerry are a good, young team and should provide Pat O’Shea’s men with a stern test in the semi-final.

In the other side of the draw, South Kerry will be hoping to avenge their opening round defeat to Kerins O’Rahilly’s but they’ll have to be at their best defensively to deal with the likes of Jack Savage, Tommy Walsh and Barry John Keane.

Both semis will take place on Saturday, October 7, in the Fitzgerald Stadium.

 
Above: Micheal Burns, Dr Crokes. Pic: Eamonn Keogh