Kilcummin 2-15 – 0-12 Kerins O'Rahillys
Competition: Kerry SFL Division 1, Round 1
Venue: Fitzgerald Stadium
A difficult start to our McCarthy Insurance Group County Football League Division 1 campaign as our men’s senior team failed to recover from a poor start against a well-drilled and impressive Kilcummin side in Fitzgerald’s Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
In a match played in very difficult conditions Kilcummin flew out of the blocks. Playing with a stiff breeze into the Lewis Road end they were eight points to the good after as many minutes. Momentum is a serious weapon and it was all with the Killarney side in the early exchanges, as a penalty goal from early sub Chris O’Leary was added to minors from Paul O’Shea and Sean O’Leary.
Strand Road had found possession difficult to come by early on, but began to grow into the contest around the middle of the half. A surging run by Shane McElligott was halted illegally, allowing Darragh O’Connor to open our account and Conor Hayes chipped in with a nice point from play shortly after.
Darragh followed up with two more – one from play and one from a free, but Kilcummin kept the scoreboard ticking over too and any sense that the gap could be narrowed was dimmed when Paul O’Shea stroked over a two point free after a three up breach by the Narries.
This left us with a mountain to climb as we trailed by 1-11 to 0-4 at the short whistle.
Any hope that we could start the second half as quickly as Kilcummin had started the first was dented when Kieran Murphy opened the scoring. What followed was the best spell of the game for the Blues. Con Barrett made a smart save from Paul O’Shea at one end before Shane McElligott landed a beautiful two pointer at the other. Jake Hoare picked off an attempted short kickout, Gearoid Savage landing a single before following up with another excellent two pointer.
The deficit was down to six at this stage and we looked to have the bit between our teeth. Our gallop was sadly halted soon after however on the awarding of a second penalty to Kilcummin in the 50th minute. While there were no complaints about the first, this one did appear to be of the soft variety - Chris O’Leary’s second cool finish all but settling the tie.
While there was no lack of effort in the closing stages, a booming Tom Hoare two pointer was the best we had to show for it as the contest ultimately fizzled out.
It was a tough afternoon for Strand Road, and Kilcummin were worthy winners but there were encouraging levels of perspiration on display even if the inspiration wasn’t always there to go with it on this occasion. There were strong performances in defence from the likes of Seamus Cahill making his first senior County League start, along with Tom Hoare around the middle who battled manfully. Up front Shane McElligott was full of endeavour while Darragh O’Connor made the most of limited possession.
Our next match in the competition will see us welcome Beaufort to Strand Road in two weeks’ time. The exact date & time will be posted on social media in due course, we will be hoping to have a big home crowd to cheer on the lads as they look to win their first points of the campaign.
Kerins O'Rahillys: Con Barrett; Seamus Cahill, Donagh Buckley, Jake Foley (JC); Gearoid Dillane, TJ Heaphy, Daniel Bowler; Tom Hoare, Ben O'Brien; Ben Hanafin, Barry John Keane, Shane McElligott; Gearoid Savage, Conor Hayes, Darragh O'Connor (JC).
Subs Used: Jake Hoare, Brayden Pierce.
Kerins O'Rahillys Scorers: Darragh O'Connor 0-4 (2f), Gearoid Savage 0-3 (1tp), Shane McElligott 0-2 (1tp), Tom Hoare 0-2 (1tp), Conor Hayes 0-1.
Competition: Kerry SFL Division 1, Round 1
Venue: Fitzgerald Stadium
A difficult start to our McCarthy Insurance Group County Football League Division 1 campaign as our men’s senior team failed to recover from a poor start against a well-drilled and impressive Kilcummin side in Fitzgerald’s Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
In a match played in very difficult conditions Kilcummin flew out of the blocks. Playing with a stiff breeze into the Lewis Road end they were eight points to the good after as many minutes. Momentum is a serious weapon and it was all with the Killarney side in the early exchanges, as a penalty goal from early sub Chris O’Leary was added to minors from Paul O’Shea and Sean O’Leary.
Strand Road had found possession difficult to come by early on, but began to grow into the contest around the middle of the half. A surging run by Shane McElligott was halted illegally, allowing Darragh O’Connor to open our account and Conor Hayes chipped in with a nice point from play shortly after.
Darragh followed up with two more – one from play and one from a free, but Kilcummin kept the scoreboard ticking over too and any sense that the gap could be narrowed was dimmed when Paul O’Shea stroked over a two point free after a three up breach by the Narries.
This left us with a mountain to climb as we trailed by 1-11 to 0-4 at the short whistle.
Any hope that we could start the second half as quickly as Kilcummin had started the first was dented when Kieran Murphy opened the scoring. What followed was the best spell of the game for the Blues. Con Barrett made a smart save from Paul O’Shea at one end before Shane McElligott landed a beautiful two pointer at the other. Jake Hoare picked off an attempted short kickout, Gearoid Savage landing a single before following up with another excellent two pointer.
The deficit was down to six at this stage and we looked to have the bit between our teeth. Our gallop was sadly halted soon after however on the awarding of a second penalty to Kilcummin in the 50th minute. While there were no complaints about the first, this one did appear to be of the soft variety - Chris O’Leary’s second cool finish all but settling the tie.
While there was no lack of effort in the closing stages, a booming Tom Hoare two pointer was the best we had to show for it as the contest ultimately fizzled out.
It was a tough afternoon for Strand Road, and Kilcummin were worthy winners but there were encouraging levels of perspiration on display even if the inspiration wasn’t always there to go with it on this occasion. There were strong performances in defence from the likes of Seamus Cahill making his first senior County League start, along with Tom Hoare around the middle who battled manfully. Up front Shane McElligott was full of endeavour while Darragh O’Connor made the most of limited possession.
Our next match in the competition will see us welcome Beaufort to Strand Road in two weeks’ time. The exact date & time will be posted on social media in due course, we will be hoping to have a big home crowd to cheer on the lads as they look to win their first points of the campaign.
Kerins O'Rahillys: Con Barrett; Seamus Cahill, Donagh Buckley, Jake Foley (JC); Gearoid Dillane, TJ Heaphy, Daniel Bowler; Tom Hoare, Ben O'Brien; Ben Hanafin, Barry John Keane, Shane McElligott; Gearoid Savage, Conor Hayes, Darragh O'Connor (JC).
Subs Used: Jake Hoare, Brayden Pierce.
Kerins O'Rahillys Scorers: Darragh O'Connor 0-4 (2f), Gearoid Savage 0-3 (1tp), Shane McElligott 0-2 (1tp), Tom Hoare 0-2 (1tp), Conor Hayes 0-1.
