The Losing Team in the Relegation Final shall be relegated to Tier 2, and Tier 2 Champions shall be promoted to Tier 1.

            2004 Allianz National Hurling League
                       

Youthful Kerry enjoy facile opening win
By: Kerry O'Shea (The Kingdom)

Allianz National Hurling League Division 2 B
Kerry 5-15, Mayo 1-12

UNLIKE their footballing counterparts, the Kerry hurlers easily negotiated the first hurdle to their new league campaign when they powered their way to a comfortable 5-15 to 1-12 victory over Mayo in this Division 2 B encounter, played in bitterly cold but dry conditions at a near-deserted Austin Stack Park on Sunday afternoon.The trick now is to stick to winning ways as sterner tests lie ahead, and if the hurlers can take a leaf from the footballers book in how to deal with the goliaths then those forthcoming test should been a lot spicier than this damp squib. The handful of supporters – the vast majority of them from Kerry – who turned up saw the home team cruise to what was one of the easiest successes they’ve had to date.

Kerry, who fielded several newcomers, were always the likely winners despite struggling when playing with the wind in the opening 10 minutes and it took them quite a while to assert their authority, but once they clicked into top form there was no looking back.This was a big step up in class for Mayo, who, this year, are competing in Division 2 for the first time in their history. They won promotion in successive seasons, and as their manager Gerry Spellman said afterwards, they fought right to the end.

Mayo took the game to their opponents in the early stages but lacked a quality scoring forward whereas Kerry, who were denied the Division 2 title by Antrim last year, will fancy their chances of going one better this year. And this was the perfect start to what hopefully will be a very fruitful year for the boys from the Kingdom.The home defence was very solid throughout with Aidan Boyle and Pat O’Connell strong in the pivotal central positions and they got good support from Michael Lucid, Andrew Keane, Colin Harris and John Griffin.At midfield, Ivan McCarthy and Conor Flaherty held the edge over Conor Ryan and Pierce Higgins, while up front, all six forwards scored, sharing 5-10 between them, with John Mike Dooley in particular scoring a memorable hat trick.

Kerry’s management team of Maurice Leahy and Eddie Murphy know there are tougher tests ahead, particularly against Carlow next Sunday and Meath on the weekending of March 13, but for now they will be pleased to have the points in the bag from this opening assignment.Kerry played with the aid of the arctic breeze in the first half and found it difficult at times to find their rhythm. Michael Conway opened the scoring in the second minute when he pointed from play after Dooley provided the spadework and the Lixnaw sharpshooter was on hand to fire the first goal of the game in the seventh minute, with John Mike Dooley again the provider.

Dooley himself got on the score sheet when his rasping shot sailed over with Mayo keeper Thomas Duffy beaten, but as the contest wore on, it was only a matter of time before the floodgates would eventually open.Points from Pat O’Connell (a ‘65’), Joe Bunyan and Aidan Cronin saw Kerry extend their lead to six points, 1-6 to 0-3 by the 20th minute, Keith Higgins, Derek McDonald and Adrian Hession finding the range for the Connacht men.

Kerry were at last beginning to find their rhythm and when John Mike Dooley scored his second goal in the 23rd minute the writing was on the wall for the visitors. And what a great goal this was with much of the donkey-work done by Shane Brick, who as usual had a competent outing for the home side. The Kilmoyley man drew out his marker and fed Dooley who soloed in along from the right corner before unleashing a powerful drive past Thomas Duffy from a most difficult angle. It was as sweet a goal as one would wish to see.Aidan Cronin added his second point of the game in the 25th minute and with nine minutes remaining, John Mike Dooley and Joe Bunyan played a lovely onetwo with each other before the Causeway man found the net for the second time.Errol Tuohy bagged Kerry’s fourth goal by the 30th minute and Colin Harris had a Kerry point in between two points for Mayo from Anthony Healy and Derek McConn as Kerry retired at the break with an unassailable 4-8 to 0-5 lead. Mayo had the aid of the breeze for the second half and got off to a good start when Keith Higgins pointed a free.Anthony Healy added a goal for the westerners in the 41st minute, but Kerry were in no mood to surrender their grip on the proceedings and Shane Brick (free), Aidan Cronin and Joe Bunyan all raised white flags by the 43rd minute.Dooley completed his hat trick in the 47th minute when he was in the right place to flick Joe Bunyan’s pass to the net. With his day’s work done, Kerry could afford the luxury of taking off their top scorer to be replaced by Mike ‘Boxer’ Slattery.Adrian Hession, with his third point of the game, reduced the arrears to 16 points, but Kerry reeled off four unanswered points from Ivan McCarthy, Shane Brick and two from substitute Michael Boxer Slattery.With 14 minutes left, Kerry were not to score again, and Mayo were to finish strongly with points from Keith and Pierce Higgins, Derek McConn, Aidan Healy and Derek McDonnell to bring the game which was as a contest already over.

Kerry: T Flynn, M Lucid, A Boyle, A Keane, C Harris (0- 1), P O’Connell (0-1, ‘65’), J Griffin, I McCarthy (0-1), C Flaherty, E Tuohy (1-0), A Cronin (0-3), M Conway (1- 1), J Bunyan (0-2), JM Dooley (3-1), S Brick (0-3). Subs: J McCarthy for C Flaherty, M Slattery (0-2) for J M Dooley, K O’Sullivan for I McCarthy, T Cronin for A Keane, G O’Brien for M Cronin.

Mayo: T Duffy, D Walsh, P Barrett, K Healy, S coyne, G Whyte, S Barrett, C Ryan, P Higgins (0-1), A Healy (1-0), D McDonnell (0-2), D McConn (0-3), S Broderick, K Higgins (0-3), A Hession (0-3). Subs: J Hogan for C Ryan, B Delaney for A Healy, P McConn for S Broderick.

Referee: K Healy (Cork).

Munster U-21 Hurling C'ship First Round      Thursday, June 17, 2004
Limerick 2-10  Kerry 1-10

PRIDE was somewhat restored to Kerry hurling in the wake of this absorbing Munster U-21 Hurling Championship first round match but there is no glory in defeat, and Kerry can be justifiably disappointed that they left this one behind them last Thursday.

Even prior to the announcement of the senior team withdrawing from the All-Ireland qualifiers, local hurling needed a shot in the arm and it was emphatically delivered by the next generation of Kerry hurlers. Limerick are fast learning the hard truth that Tralee's Austin Stack Park is
no longer a holiday destination for their hurlers, and their U-21 side can consider themselves somewhat fortunate to have survived this contest, that theoretically shouldn't have troubled the Shannonsiders the way it did.

The reality is - contrary to what might be the natural conclusion - that it wasn't a case of Limerick under performing, but that Kerry hurled capably with them for the whole hour, save for a bleak twominute spell in which Limerick saved themselves from defeat. Those two minutes - 10 minutes into the second half - saw Limerick forage 2-1, enough to give them much needed
breathing space as Kerry courageously continued to breath down their necks, so much so that after substitute Sean Maunsell's fine goal, Kerry pinned Limerick back for all of the three extra minutes but couldn't find an equalising goal.

If the state of the local game took a backward step with a disappointing showing in the latter stage of the National League along with an ignominious beating by Cork in the Munster senior championship, then this performance alone should at least restore hope that the county's hurlers have a future. Limerick complacency might have been a factor coming into this game, but once Kerry set about their task early and with confidence, the visitors had to abandon any notions of a saunter and dig deep to match Kerry's verve.

That confidence was evident as early as the second minute when Mike Conway won a 14-metre free (actually it looked as if the foul was committed in the 'square'), and lashed in his shot on the Limerick goal. The shot was deflected out for Conway to re-gather and strike over the first point but it epitomised Kerry's plan to take the game to Limerick.

The ploy of moving corner forward, Brendan Harris out to act as a sweeper behind the half back line - leaving Conway and John Egan as a two-man full forward line - worked a treat. Harris was a revelation in his role, as were the half back line of Paudie Lyons, John Griffin and especially Aidan Boyle in the centre. Lyons lasted only 10 minutes, going off with a facial injury to be replaced by Ballyduff's Alan O'Connor, but the Kerry defence stuck to its task admirably, and again that confidence was evident in the number of times they opted to play the ball short out of defence. Indeed, the short ball tactic caught them out a couple of times, but it was significant in
that Kerry had the self-belief to hurl on a par with Limerick. The trimmed full forward line worked too, as Kerry seniors, Darren Young and Ivan McCarthy, enjoyed the upper hand at centrefield and worked plenty of fast ball into Conway and Egan, who looked sharp and committed.

Limerick, with senior hurler, Andrew O'Shaughnessy well marshalled in the corner, had to depend on their other senior, Niall Moran to keep them in the hunt as they traded points with Kerry the whole way to the interval, at which point it was 0-6 each. Conway flicked over an under hit Harris free just after the break to give Kerry the lead but there were little signs that Limerick might have something in reserve. As he has done all year for the senior team, Tadhg
Flynn was magnificent in goals, keeping out a pile-driver form O'Shaughnessy in the 40th minute, but five minutes later Limerick struck with more purpose.

First, sub Alan O'Connor poked an O'Shaughnessy pass past Flynn, although the legality of the pass was questionable, and then two minutes later O'Shaughnessy followed up his own rebound to the Kerry net, putting Limerick 2-8 to 0-7 clear. Kerry could have been expected to crumble under such a damaging blitz but to their credit they rallied on, until substitute Sean Maunsell's excellent 57th minute goal left just a goal in it, but despite applying huge pressure in those final minutes, Kerry couldn't find a way through to cause what would have been a very surprising, but not undeserved win.

Under 16 hurlers narrowly beaten in tournament decider

WESTMEATH 2-16 KERRY 2-13

THE Kerry Under 16 hurlers travelled to Nenagh on Saturday to take on Westmeath in the plate final of the Arnaboun Co-op sponsored Inter-County HC. Wins over Kildare and Carlow the previous Saturday meant the team had hopes of capturing the crown that would have been a much needed boost for hurling in the county.
Both teams served up a great game, with some excellent scores accruing on both sides throughout.But unfortunately the big talking point after the game by supporters, players and management was not about the game itself, but rather about the performance of the referee, John Casey of Nenagh.

Kerry felt hard done by with many of the decisions, and while Kerry did score points from frees awarded, the fact that Westmeath scored 1-13 out of their total of 2-16 from placed balls, many of them dubious from even the most neutral of supporters, left Kerry wondering what might have been. Kerry went into this game without their ace forward John Galvin, who was injured. However, they opened the better and a pointed free from James Flaherty after David Galvin was fouled, opened the scoring.

Westmeath’s Thomas Gillen quickly equalised and he was to prove a major obstacle in Kerry’s quest for victory as he scored a total of 1-12, albeit all from frees. Both sides narrowly missed goals with both goalkeepers called into action early. They traded points, mainly through Flaherty and Gillen, and Westmeath led 0-7 to 0-4 when the winners struck for the game’s first goal. It came in the 21st minute when Gillen’s free was saved by Hannifin. However, the Westmeath marksman acted the fastest for the rebound and shot to the net.
Gillen kept picking off frees in the latter stages of the half while Flaherty kept Kerry in contention and at the break the Leinster side led 1-11 to 0-7. After the restart, Kerry started brightly with early points and six minutes into the half, they hit the net to get back into contention. Rory Horgan was upended and Flaherty took the free. His shot deceived the Westmeath rearguard and Kerry were right back into it at 1-12 to 1-9.
Things got even better when Nigel Roche’s sideline cut was met by full-forward Eoin Murphy and now it was anybody’s game, Westmeath leading by only the bare minimum, 1-13 to 2-9. However, disaster struck for Kerry when they failed to clear their lines and Westmeath’s Niall Kilroy shot the loose ball to the net. This put four between them again and while Kerry pressed, luck was not on their side as a David Galvin effort hit the upright while Thomas Moloney and Rory Horgan saw their shots go the wrong side of the net.

Try as they might, they couldn’t close the gap, and at the final whistle, it was heartache as they went down by a three point margin, 2-16 to 2-13. On the day, Kerry were best served by Alan Kelly, Matt Lynch and Rory Horgan in the backs, midfielder Edward Fitzgerald and Seamus Skinner, Eoin Murphy and top scorer, James Flaherty, in the forwards.

TEAMS: Kerry — Tim Hannifin, St Brendans, James Godley, Kilmoyley, Alan Kelly, St Brendans, Matt Lynch, Crotta O’Neills, Mike Walsh, Ballyheigue, David Galvin, Crotta O’Neills, Rory Horgan, St Brendans 0-1, Edward Fitzgerald, Kilmoyley, Philip Twomey, Crotta O’Neills, Nigel Roche, Abbeydorney, Seamus Skinner, St Brendans 0-1, Robert Wallace, Lixnaw, Niall Young, Kilmoyley, Eoin Murphy, Dingle 1-2, James Flaherty, Lixnaw 1-8. Subs used: Tommy Moloney, St Brendans, Sean Brennan, do, 0-1, Dan Ryan, Dingle.
Westmeath — Jim Greville, Graham Jackson, Shane Collins, Brendan Foran, Darren Geanagh, Enna Doolan, Danny Malone, Thomas Gillen 1-12 (frees), Niall Kilroy 1-1 (free), Rob Jackson, Shane Egan 0-2, John Salmon, Noel Comaty, Jerry Clarke, Alan Devine 0-1. Subs: Jerry Rynne, James Shaw, Brian Doolan, Darran Deighnan.
Referee: John Casey (Nenagh)