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Tralee teams will fancy their chances in final four of Kerry SFC

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Austin Stacks supporters light flares at the Kerry SFC quarter-final tie against South Kerry in the Fitzgerald Stadium. Pic: Tatyana McGough.

Eamonn Fitzgerald reports on the Kerry SFC quarter-finals as the county’s premier football competition begins to take shape.

Now it is down to four teams left standing in the Kerry SFC after last weekend’s quarter-finals, three clubs and one district board side.

Going forward to the semi-finals on the weekend of November 20/21 are Austin Stacks, Dr Crokes, Kerins O’Rahillys and St Brendan’s Board. Out went South Kerry, Templenoe, Dingle and Legion.

The semi-final pairings are St Brendan’s v Austin Stacks and Dr Crokes v Kerins O’Rahillys. The two Tralee teams will fancy their chances of making it an all-Tralee final and the battle for bragging rights for the great town rivals. However, St Brendan’s and Dr Crokes will be bidding to scupper those ambitions.

Last weekend’s double bills both on Saturday and Sunday proved very successful for the Kerry County Board and for the fans starved of real live action for much of the past two years.

Unfortunately, all four winners won easily and the lack of real opposition left little championship bite in the games. Not that it will bother the semi-finalists. Job done, now for the semi-finals.

The structure of the championship this year suits the teams, the fans, Jack O’Connor and the new Kerry management team.

Have they seen any new prospects to deliver the Sam Maguire, not seen in this county since 2014? More specifically have they seen a solid full back, an even more solid centre-back and another option of a midfielder to partner Diarmuid O’Connor?

The jury is still out on that aspiration. By December 5 they should be capable of drawing up the new Kerry football panel. The current championship is the shop window for any aspiring panellists. More about that in the future. Now for a look back on last weekend’s games.

Austin Stacks 0-14 South Kerry 0-6

After their heroics in knocking out the three-in–a-row-seeking East Kerry team, Stacks were installed as favourites by the bookies and one can see why. They are still favourites to draw level with Dr Crokes as kingpins of Kerry football. They are extremely fit and can gallop all over the field for 60 minutes, and they do it with purpose. With the reliable Wayne Guthrie in goal - not that he spends too much time on the goal line - their defence is secure and very disciplined, rarely committing a foul. The Kerry team needs to learn that particular ploy.

Stacks break en masse on turnovers, usually by-pass midfield, deliver quickly up field and still keep travelling forward. On Sunday how many times did we see their two corner backs up in good positions to score? Midfield is also strong with Joe O’Connor catching the eye.

They applied this gameplan from the very start and it was noticeable that Kieran Donaghy did not position himself in front to the Lewis Road goal but hung on to the extremities of the terrace side line. This created acres of space down the middle and left the full back, Waterville’s Frank Clifford, in a pucker. Should he stay at home or move out sideways on Star?

Stacks didn’t score the goal they planned for but were content to kick six points in the opening period with Darragh O’Brien most prominent and not the expected Shane O’Callaghan. South Kerry didn’t get near scoring until Jack Daly kicked a point, even though the umpires deemed it wide. Éanna O’Connor, Jack’s son, pointed two frees and they were lucky to be only nine points to three adrift at half-time. 

South Kerry received a double blow and were down to 13 men at one stage following a black card for Niall O’Shea and two yellow cards to the influential Robert Wharton at midfield. Hamstring trouble for Kerry player Graham O’Sullivan compounded their difficulties when he had to retire. This defender was huge loss and one expected Stacks to run up a huge score.

Fair dues to South Kerry, they were at their best in adversity. Mark Griffin, the former Kerry player, showed the way with surging runs and South Kerry cut the deficit to four points, 0-10 to 0-6.

They lacked accuracy in the attack and really Stacks should have been out of sight. Shane O’Callaghan and Jack O’Shea missed goal chances, but one must credit Pádraig O’Sullivan, the South Kerry keeper, for depriving the Rockies.

Top scorer for the winners was Darragh O’Brien on eight points, six from frees. For South Kerry, Éanna O’Connor scored three points, all from frees.

Stacks will improve further in their bid for the ultimate success.

Dr Crokes 1-22 Templemore 0-6

Dr Crokes had a point to prove on home territory, seeking revenge for a five-point defeat away to Templenoe in the Club Championship. This was the opportunity to up their game, winning by 19 points and going into their sixth consecutive semi-final. It was a very convincing win for Crokes. They hit such a high tally and the margin could have been much greater only for splendid goalkeeping by the Templenoe netminder Mark Looney.

Crokes were always going to win this game as Templenoe really missed their top scorer, Killian Spillane. To confound their problems further they lost Teddy Doyle and Stephen O’Sullivan through injuries in the first quarter. This is a small rural club, fielding three Kerry senior players, and they didn’t have the supply or the quality on the bench to mount any real challenge to Dr Crokes.

Shane Murphy excelled in sending long kickouts beyond midfield and short ones when they were warranted. Fionn Fitzgerald and Gavin White anchored the central defensive plank. Johnny Buckley and Mark O’Shea dominated midfield and the forwards ran up that huge score.

Veterans Buckley, Kieran O’Leary and Brian Looney showed all the skills and craft that has garnered them several Kerry SFC titles. Their understanding of each other’s play was a delight to behold. Instinctively, each one knows where to be for that deft pass and a clinical score. Linking up with Buckley, Brian Looney kicked five glorious points in that second half.

Looney played his first Kerry SFC match in 2005 and has been an automatic starter for all of their championship games for the past 16 years. He leads the way in the county in terms of appearances, well ahead of Kieran Donaghy’s 61 appearances. He has been Crokes’ most reliable player. Mr Consistency.

In the opening minutes, Gavin White went on his customary searing run up to the Dalton’s Avenue end to open the scoring, and then they tacked on further points to lead by 0-8 to 0-2 by the first water break.

By half-time the result was never in doubt as Tony Brosnan was fouled in the square and fired home the resultant penalty. More of the same in the second half as Templenoe tried their best to keep out the torrent but Crokes had a half-time cushion of 1-10 to 0-5.

Crokes were able to run the bench and Jordan Kiely impressed scoring two points and only splendid goalkeeping by Mark Looney deprived him of a goal. He also prevented Micheál Burns and Mikey Casey from rattling the net in a spectacular display of goalkeeping.

A big win for Crokes, but plenty to work on to improve their performance in the semi-final versus Rahillys.

St Brendan’s 1-17 Legion 1-9

A blistering start by St Brendan’s which yielded 1-3 to no score in just nine minutes left Legion with a mountain to climb.

The divisional side has been their nemesis for the past few years, while the winners will wonder if they can break their three-year semi-final hoodoo.

The Brendan’s full forward line in particular dominated the opening period. Alan O’Donoghue, James Duggan and goalscorer Dan Goggin did most of the early damage for the divisional team with Kerry pair Diarmuid O’Connor and Jack Barry prominent. In defence, the Barry brothers did well.

Darragh Lyne got Legion on the scoreboard with a point in the 10th minute and they welcomed the first water break to plot a revival, trailing 1-5 to 0-1. Cian Gammell was black carded in the 23rd minute and Brendan’s piled on the attacks. They led at half time 1-9 to 0-2.

Legion’s best period was at the start of the second half, bagging a goal via Pádraig Lucey. The same player got the determining score of a goal against Spa which set them on the road to victory in the first round. Legion mounted several attacks and the experienced James O’Donoghue nailed four points from frees. All of a sudden, Legion were right back in the game.

Brendan’s responded to the challenge and added the points, especially when Legion lost Kieran Slattery, their best defender, who was black-carded late in the game.

In fairness to Legion they kept plugging away, but they could make no impression on a rampant St Brendan’s side who won 1-17 to 1-9.

Kerins O’Rahillys 2-16 Dingle 0-13

Kerins O’Rahillys are going great guns and ramping up high scores with Tommy Walsh and Jack Savage in splendid scoring form. They proved far too good for Dingle who were fortunate to snatch a late goal to oust Mid Kerry in the opening round.

Rahillys were hugely impressive and they dominated early on but Dingle came back, powered by Kerry star Paul Geaney, to tie the sides in the 36th minute. Then Strand Road exploded with a barrage of scores, hitting 2-7 by the 54th minute. The Tralee side put the issue out of the reach of struggling Dingle.

Dingle finished well by scoring four points, but the gap was too great to bridge as Kerins O’Rahillys marched confidently into the semi-final.

Rahillys were strong in defence and had a free-scoring full forward line. Tommy Walsh lorded the exchanges at number 14, playing the role of an assisting scorer, gaining possession and offloading to the impressive Conor Hayes (1-2) and Barry John Keane (0-3). Keane delivered the pass for Gavin O’Brien to score Rahillys other goal.

Dingle rued the loss of key defender Mikey Geaney who injured his knee early on and they were too dependent on Paul Geaney who scored seven points, four of these from frees.

So that’s it as Stacks go into the semi-final as outright favourites, but St Brendan’s, Kerins O’Rahillys and Dr Crokes will also fancy their chances.

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Almost impossible to look beyond East Kerry but Dingle are best placed to challenge

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2 weeks ago

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15 September 2023

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Adam Moynihan breaks down the groups and likely contenders in the 2023 Kerry Senior Football Championship

Group 1: East Kerry, South Kerry, West Kerry, Templenoe

Defending champions East Kerry are on the hunt for their fourth county title in five years and with a talented squad that’s looking as stacked as ever, only the brave would back against them.

Rathmore’s promotion back to senior level means that Kerry players Shane Ryan and Paul Murphy are missing from last year’s nine-point final victory over Mid Kerry but East Kerry’s strength in depth in all sectors means that no individual player is irreplaceable – excepting the obvious.

David Clifford’s performance for the ages in Fossa’s landmark intermediate semi-final win over Stacks provided a stark reminder of his awe-inspiring talents. Paudie Clifford was excellent too and this year the Two Mile brothers are joined on the panel by four clubmates – another glaring indicator of how far Fossa have come.

James O’Donoghue must be considered an injury doubt after only managing a cameo in Legion’s last outing but his clubmates Brian Kelly, Jonathan Lyne, Darragh Lyne and Cian Gammell are all likely to feature. Current Kerry senior panelists Chris O’Donoghue and Darragh Roche (Glenflesk), Ronan Buckley and Ruairí Murphy (Listry), and Donal O’Sullivan (Kilgarvan) would also be expected to play their part, with plenty of young talent from all seven clubs hoping to break into the starting line-up.

Realistically, the holders should navigate Group 1 with little fuss with South Kerry, West Kerry and Templenoe battling it out for second.

South Kerry and Templenoe played out a draw in the group stage of last year’s championship so there might not be much between them this year either.

West Kerry will be aiming to pick up at least one result after losing all three of their fixtures in 2022.

VERDICT: East Kerry and Templenoe

GROUP 2: Kenmare Shamrocks, Rathmore, St Kieran’s, Feale Rangers

Kenmare came mightily close in the Senior Club final and they should be able to carry that momentum through to the County Championship. Seánie O’Shea is obviously their one bona fide match winner but they’re also strong around the middle third where James McCarthy, David Hallissey and Kevin O’Sullivan put in the hard yards.

The fact that Feale Rangers reached last year’s semi-final indicates that they’re on an upward trajectory. The question now is can they repeat the trick? In 2022 the team was backboned by Listowel Emmets players (seven started that defeat to Mid Kerry) and those lads are coming into this competition in confident form having secured a spot in the still-to-be-played Junior Premier final.

Rathmore are always a tough championship team and the Ryans (Cathal and Mark at midfield and Shane at full forward) are sure to be a handful for any opposition.

St Kieran’s have troubled decent teams in the not-too-distant past – although they lost all three group games (including one against Kenmare) a year ago.

VERDICT: Kenmare and Feale Rangers

GROUP 3: Mid Kerry, Spa, Kerins O’Rahillys, Shannon Rangers

In 2022, Spa found the going tough in a Group of Death that included East Kerry and Dingle. The draw has been kinder to them this time around and they would probably expect to beat Rahillys and Shannon Rangers.

The wheels came off against Dingle in this year’s Senior Club Championship but they impressed the week before against Kenmare. Dara Moynihan, Evan Cronin and Cian Tobin will be important players in attack, with Dan O’Donoghue manning the midfield and Shane Cronin protecting their defensive third from number 6.

Mid Kerry, runners-up last season, will provide their sternest test in this pool. A lot of eyes (including those of Jack O’Connor) will be on Cillian Burke after his heroics for Milltown/Castlemaine in the semi-final of the Intermediate Club Championship. His clubmate Éanna O’Connor (son of the Kerry bainisteoir) will also play a crucial role at centre forward.

Rahillys are facing a relegation playoff if they fail to reach the final of the Kerry SFC and their form in recent weeks would suggest that making it that far is a long shot.

VERDICT: Mid Kerry and Spa

GROUP 4: Dingle, Dr Crokes, St Brendan’s, Na Gaeil

Breaking free of East Kerry’s stranglehold will not be easy but crafty Senior Club champions Dingle are surely best placed to wriggle loose. With four in-form Geaneys in the forwards – Paul, Mikey, Conor and Dylan – they have the tools to trouble any defence, and the return of their established AFL player Mark O’Connor adds solidity going the other way. They also have the incomparable Tom O’Sullivan pulling the strings. As things stand, they are easily the standout club team in the county.

Their Group 4 opponents Dr Crokes will be aiming to improve upon their showing in 2022 when they bowed out at the quarter-final stage. Naturally much will depend on the availability or otherwise of star players Gavin White and Tony Brosnan. White missed the recent Senior Club semi-final defeat to Kenmare with a hamstring injury. Encouragingly, Brosnan (who has been sidelined with a recurrence of a lung problem) was togged for that match, though he did not play.

The Killarney club will be fancied to qualify from their group alongside Dingle, although St Brendan’s – strengthened by the addition of an unknown number of Austin Stacks players to their ranks – could be dangerous.

The other team in the pool, Na Gaeil, are facing a relegation playoff against Rahillys once both sides are finished with the Kerry SFC. Reaching the final of this competition would spare them but Na Gaeil can count themselves unlucky to have been handed a difficult draw for the second year in a row.

VERDICT: Dingle and Dr Crokes

All things considered East Kerry and Dingle appear to be the frontrunners to capture the Bishop Moynihan trophy but there will be plenty of twists and turns along the way, starting this weekend with a full round of fixtures.

All eight matches will be either televised or streamed online. Dingle v Dr Crokes is on TG4. The remaining seven matches are on Clubber.

Fixtures

Friday 8pm Na Gaeil v St Brendan’s (Austin Stack Park)

Saturday 3pm Templenoe v West Kerry (Fitzgerald Stadium)

Saturday 5.30pm Rahillys v Shannon Rangers (Austin Stack Park)

Saturday 7.30pm East Kerry v South Kerry (Austin Stack Park)

Sunday 1.30pm Rathmore v St Kieran’s (Fitzgerald Stadium)

Sunday 2.15pm Dingle v Dr Crokes (Austin Stack Park)

Sunday 3.30pm Feale Rangers v Kenmare Shamrocks (Fitzgerald Stadium)

Sunday 4.15pm Mid Kerry v Spa (Austin Stack Park)

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Kerry’s old dogs ready for Tyrone challenge in All-Ireland final

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2 weeks ago

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15 September 2023

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Adam Moynihan chats to Kerry Masters goalkeeper Tony Lyons ahead of the over 40 All-Ireland football final

Hi Tony. Thanks for speaking to me.

No problem, Adam.

Can you tell me about the Kerry Masters’ season to date?

We played six round robin games in the league phase to see which competition we would be in at the end. There are five championships in all with the senior championship being for teams that finish 1st to 4th in the league, the plate for 5th to 8th and so on. There were 23 counties involved in total this year with new entrants like Armagh, Derry and Limerick.

We won five of our six league games against Limerick, Cork, Waterford, London and Clare. Unfortunately we were well beaten by Dublin during the league phase but that served us well because we knuckled down after that and upped the training to twice a week.

We also got a physical trainer on board from Keel, David Clifford, and he has had a huge influence on our development the last couple of months, allied to Adam and Gary O’Reilly from Glenflesk, and Jason Foley from Keel.

We then beat Derry in the All-Ireland quarter-final by a point, setting up a semi-final against Galway in Limerick which we won by 12 points to 7 a couple of weeks back. it That quarter-final win against Derry was our most pleasing result of the season because we were down a few bodies.

What’s the standard like?

The standard is actually very good. While we don’t have a lot of former Kerry players with us – aside from William Kirby and Aidan O’Mahony – we do have a very good calibre of club player with us, the likes of John O’Connor from Kerins O’Rahillys and John Paul Leahy from Ballyduff for example. We’ve come across some big names in some of the games. Limerick had Ciarán Carey, Dublin had Denis Bastick, Cork had Nicholas Murphy and John Miskella, and Derry had Paddy Bradley.

The first halves of the games are really competitive with the second halves probably becoming more of a war of attrition. The key is having depth in your squad and being able to bring players in and out at the right time as players tire, and I think Adam and his management team have mastered that at this stage.

Would a number of the players have represented Kerry at some level in the past?

We haven’t a huge amount of former Kerry seniors but some of the guys would have represented Kerry at junior and underage level at various stages. What the management team focused on when it became apparent some of the former players weren’t joining was getting good quality club players who could commit and make most of the trainings, and I think that has worked well for them.

What’s key as well is that a lot of the players have been playing very recently for their clubs either at senior or junior level. That’s a huge help.

How are the fitness levels?

Depends on what time of the season you’re talking about! The first few weeks is all about trying to knock off the pounds and get to a certain level of fitness. In fairness to Adam O’Reilly, he places a big focus on the warm-up which is important for players of all ages but especially for those of us over 40.

Very few of the starting 15 would last the 60 or 65 minutes so it’s important that the replacements coming in can add an impetus and build on what the guys before them have done. Last year our panel was probably a little light but we have added well with the likes of Kevin Lynch (Castleisland Desmonds), Mark Crowley (Kenmare) and James Nagle (Keel) – all strong and very fit guys – coming in.

Tell me more about your management team.

Adam O’Reilly is the manager. He came on board this year and brought Gary O’Reilly and Jason Foley with him. Gary looks after the statistics, gear and so on and Jason is a selector as well as taking parts of training at various times. David Clifford came on board about two months ago as physical trainer and he has added greatly to the set-up, improving our fitness levels and tackling in particular.

What’s the most enjoyable part of playing with the Kerry Masters?

A huge part of it, Adam, is playing with guys who you would have tried to knock lumps out of at club level over the years! There’s a big social part to it also with us meeting for a pint or two after games and, as well as that, guys getting back into a dressing room environment and having the craic at training.

For some guys who were never lucky enough to wear the Kerry jersey, there’s a huge sense of pride to put it on at this stage. It’s a real an honour. To be fair to the other teams we played, they have treated us with a lot of respect because they know Kerry teams will play football first and foremost.

Also it’s nice to involve our families, kids, partners, and wives and for them to come to the games. We have noticed a lot more people coming to our matches this season.

Which of your teammates are the best craic?

There are a few fellas like Tim O’Donoghue who thinks he’s hilarious but the jury’s out on that one. I suppose the goalies, myself and Niall Hobbert, would be jokers but then the rest of the panel would tell you the jury is out on us too! Kirby is good craic, as is the former Spa man Brian O’Sullivan Darcy. It’s great fun. I would thoroughly recommend it to any guy 40 or over who wants to play a bit of competitive football and also continue training in what is almost like a club environment.

How would you rate your chances in the final on Saturday? Are you expecting a difficult challenge from Tyrone?

Look, it’s going to be very tough. Tyrone have won the last two All-Ireland finals at Masters level and they have the experience, whereas this is our first go, as it were. They have a solid team built with the likes of Seán Cavanagh, Conor Gormley and Stephen O’Neill in their ranks.

It will be a tall order for sure but we’ll give it our all and the whole panel are chomping at the bit and ready for action.

Kerry v Tyrone takes place on Saturday at 4pm in Roscommon. Follow @KerryMastersGAA on Twitter for more information.

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