Kenmare District 1-11, John Mitchels 1-10
A free deep into injury time, converted by Killian Spillane put the Kenmare District into the final of the Kerry County Minor Championship. The match was played in a very well attended Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney.
Both sides took a while to settle before Killian Spillane opened the scoring with a free. Stephen O’Sullivan. Kenmare followed up with a goal, which was finished to the net by Stephen O’Sullivan after an initial save by the John Mitchels goalie Peter Murphy. Soon after The Kenmare District worked another opening, but this time the Mitchels goalie came out on top after the chance again fell to Stephen O’Sullivan.
Adrian Spillane added another point to ensure that The Kenmare District had the better initial period of the match. John Mitchels started to work their way into the match, and followed with two points through Adam Leahy and Niall Sheehy. The continued their good work and an opportunity fell to Shane O’Connor who fired a bullet of a shot to the back of the Kenmare district net. This levelled the scoring on 1-02 apiece with ten minutes left in the half.
Kerry Minor star Niall Sheehy hit a fine point while under pressure, but the Kenmare district replied with scores through Denis O’Neill, Brian Crowley and Adrian Spillane. The last score of the half went Mitchels way as Niall Sheehy converted a free to leave the half time score Kenmare District 1-05, John Mitchels 1-04
Within a minute of the restart, John Mitchels were level when Adam Leahy pointed from play and soon after they took the lead with a lovely point from Sean Maloney. The Kenmare District worked a quick one – two from a 45 meter free to again level matters through the boot of Adrian Spillane. Both teams swapped points through Dara O’Neill and Cian Hallissey before an Adam Leahy point left Mitchels with a slender one point lead with fifteen minutes to go.
The Kenmare District again equalised matters with an Adrian Spillane free going into the last five minutes. John Mitchels quickly tacked on two points with Sean Maloney and Captain Jake Moran providing the scores. The Kenmare District continued to work and a move between Brian and Gavin Crowley set up Killian Spillane who was fouled as he went through on goal. Killian pointed the resulting free. The next Kenmare District move fell to Cian Hallissey who levelled the match with a kick under fierce pressure.
Deep into injury time, The Kenmare District again attacked and a move saw corner forward Denis O’Neill fouled. Killian Spillane converted the resulting free to leave the Kenmare district victorious on a score line of Kenmare District 1-11, John Mitchels 1-10.
Scorers:
Kenmare District: Adrian Spillane 0-04, Killian Spillane 0-03, Stephen O’Sullivan 1-00, Cian Hallissey 0-02, Denis O’Neill 0-01, Brian Crowley 0-01
John Mitchels: Niall Sheehy 0-03, Adam Leahy 0-03, Shane O’Connor 1-00, Sean Maloney 0-02, Dara O’Neill 0-01, Jake Moran 0-01
Teams:
Kenmare District: Martin McCarthy, Aidan Quinlan, Gavin Crowley, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Johnny Breen, Colm O’Sullivan, Gary Harrington, Adrian Spillane (Capt), Brian Crowley, Shane O’Sullivan, Thomas Harrington, John Rice, Cian Hallissey, Killian Spillane, Denis O’Neill.
Subs: Richard Palmer, Brian Clifford, Patrick O’Shea, Dan Hawker, Conor Harrington, Fionan O’Sullivan, Stephen O’Sullivan, Patrick Clifford, Dean Cassidy, Kieran O’Donoghue, Michael Godfrey, Ryan De Venter
John Mitchels: Peter Murphy, Gary Murphy, Shane O’Connor, Frank O’Donnell, Cian Sheridan, Jake Moran (Capt), Argent Kastrati, Dara O’Neill, Jack Cahalane, Michael wren, Adam Leahy, Akeem Molly, Sean Maloney, Niall Sheehy, Jared O’Sullivan.
Subs: Josh O’Reilly, Michael O’Donovan, Cian Casey, James Duggan, Ben O’Neill, Keith Madden, Niall Sheehy, Gary Roach, Wayne Duggan.
