St Kieran’s 1-21 Kenmare 2-12
The major talking point following St Kieran’s destruction of Kenmare at Fitzgerald Stadium on Saturday was not the manner of the victors’ emphatic win, but the bewildering antics of former county star Paul O’Connor who left the pitch after referee Sean Joydisallowed a goal from a quickly taken free.
O’Connor, holder of three All-Ireland medals, seemed to take umbrage at the referee’s decision to disallow his goal and, after exchanging words with the match official, ran off the field and into the dressingroom. O’Connor’s action was a sour footnote to a game in which his side was comprehensively outplayed by an impressive St Kieran’s outfit.
The foundation for St Kieran’s victory came in the early stages. Opening points from Tom McGoldrick and Aidan Breen were followed by a fourth-minute goal from the impressive Eamon John O’Donoghue, who scored 1-5.
Kenmare, battled bravely but could not rectify the damage inflicted by St Kieran’s in the opening 10 minutes. They did, however, manage to narrow the deficit to four points with half-time approaching, Stephen O’Brien scoring a fine goal.
That was as good as it got for the losers, however, as St Kieran’s ran riot in the second half, running up an impressive 1-21 in the process.
Similar to the opening 10 minutes of the game, they took charge of the opening 10 minutes after half time, notching five points in the process. That left it 1-15 to 1-5 and the final result purely academic.
ST KIERAN’S: S Óg Ó Ciardubhain; P Galvin, E Kiely, M Galvin; J Walsh, (0-2, 0-1 free), P Reidy, F McAuliffe; S Scanlon (0-1), EJ O’Donoghue (1-5); M Hickey (0-2), M Coakley (0-1), A Breen (0-1); T Hickey (0-2), E Walsh (0-3), T McGoldrick (0-3, 0-2 frees).
Subs: J Buckley (Currow) (0-1) for T McGoldrick (44), P McCarthy for T Hickey (56), D O’Connor for M Hickey (60).
KENMARE: S O’Sullivan (Tuosist); T O’Sullivan (Kenmare), K O’Neill (Templenoe), G Crowley (Templenoe); S O’Leary (Kenmare) (0-1), T Morley (Templenoe), B Crowley (Templenoe); F O’Sullivan (Tuosist), A O’Sullivan (Tuosist) (0-1); J Spillane (Templenoe), M Crowley (Kenmare (0-2), A Spillane (Templenoe); L O’Shea (Tuosist) (1-0), P O’Connor (Kenmare) (0-4, 0-2 frees), S O’Brien (1-2, 0-1 free).
Subs: DJ Brennan (Kenmare) (0-2, 0-1 free), for J Spillane (16), K O’Sullivan (Kenmare) for A Spillane (36), A O’Leary (Kenmare) for K O’Neill (42), C Brosnan (Tuosist) for P O’Connor (50), D Crowley for B Crowley (57).
Referee: Sean Joy (Killorglin).
