28th July 2006 - County Junior Football League Division 2 Final in Cromane

St. Mary's 1-04 V 0-08 Spa

Spa took the County Junior Football League Division 2 title at second time of asking when they scored victory over St. Mary’s in Cromane on Friday evening last. The East Kerry side came out victors by the minimum but should have walked to victory as they kicked 14 wides and were denied a first half goal from the spot as Cormac O’Shea denied Sean Casey. Spa controlled the game from start to finish with all players giving 100 percent and their 8 points coming from Sean Morris, Sean Casey, Eoin Lawlor, Damien O’Sullivan, Brian Darcy and Andrew Regan while a first half goal from Declan O’Sullivan and points from Seamus Fitzgerald and Sean Cournane meant the Cahersiveen side went in at the break ahead by a point but a second half which only produced two points from Seamus Fitzgerald saw Spa claim victory and promotion to Division 1.

Spa raised the first white flag of the evening when Andrew Regan sent a long ball towards Sean Morris who opened his sides account, this lead lasted 8 minutes before St. Mary’s responded when good build up play from Paul O’Connell and Fergal O’Connell provided Seamus Fitzgerald with the perfect punched point opportunity to level the game, St. Mary’s took the lead two minutes later when Vinny Moriarty sent a long ball into the box and when Paul O’Connell collected it Declan O’Sullivan was on hand to burry the ball to the back of the net past Paul Casey. St. Mary’s saw this period of dominance continue when after a foul on Sean Cournane he pointed his own 21m free. This was as far as the Mary’s were going as Spa began to get back into the game when Sean Casey and Owen Cronin both pointed close range frees to cut the margin while Damien O’Sullivan kicked over a debatable point before Sean Casey saw a great goal chance denied by some fantastic defending from John Paul Mahony, Ml Pat O’Donoghue and Cormac O’Shea in the Mary’s net. Casey was presented with another goal scoring chance two minutes later when Sean Morris was felled in the area and when he stepped up to the mark Cormac O’Shea in the Mary’s goal proved to be a step ahead and pulled off a magnificent save and kept the scoreline at the break St. Mary’s 1-2 Spa 0-4.

Casey was denied another goal from Cormac O’Shea a minute into the second half when Andrew Regan set him up in front of goal, only for O’Shea, St. Mary’s were dead and buried, as he saved every thing that came his way. After a foul on Morris, Cronin converted his second from a close free, Seamus Fitzgerald got the Mary’s first point of the second half when he converted his own free after 36 minutes to put his side out in front. Spa were all over the Mary’s and the South Kerry side found attacks hard to come by while Spa were not making full advantage of their attack with wides in abundance. Brian Darcy pointed a close free while Seamus Fitzgerald got his sides last score after a good run from substitute Conor Moran resulting in a 45. With 10 minutes left on the clock the Iveragh side held the single point advantage but when Spa produced attack after attack the reliant defence finally broke down under pressure with two points from midfielders Brian Darcy and Andrew Regan and claim victory for the East Kerry side on a final scoreline of St. Mary’s 1-4 Spa 0-8.

Although the Mary’s lead with 10 minutes remaining in the game the one thing that Spa will be upset with is that they didn’t have the game wrapped up at half time with so many missed chance while the Mary’s put in another performance the same as Gneeveguilla but this time their second half left them down. The best on the day for the Mary’s were Cormac O’Shea, John Paul O’Mahony, Kieran Casey, Brian Curran and Ml Pat O’Donoghue while the best for the victors were Cormac Cronin, Eoin Cronin, Brian Darcy and Andrew Regan in the middle of the park, Sean Casey, Damien O’Sullivan and Sean Morris in the forward. The extra games in the East Kerry Junior League held to Spa while St. Mary’s were depending on challenge games and their County League games for match practice. This was the second year in a row in which St. Mary’s were knocked out by Spa as they were thrown out at the semi-final stage last year.

Teams & Scorers

St. Mary’s – C O’Shea, JP Mahony, D Mahony, K Casey, Ml P O’Donoghue, B Curran, J Donovan, V Moriarty, D O’Sullivan (1-0), P Connell, F O’Connell, C O’Connor, S Cournane (0-1), S Fitzgerald (0-3,2f), K Keane.

Subs Used – J O’Sullivan, C Moran, S O’Shea. Subs – P Corkery, A McCarthy, M Golden, D Walsh, C Hutchinson, P Donovan, N McCarthy, B Murphy, Ml O’Shea and S Horgan.

Management – Johnny Horgan, Batty Moriarty and Ger Horgan.

Spa – P Casey, R Cremin, B Devane, C Cronin, P Kelliher, P Russell, E Cronin (0-2), B Darcy (0-2), A Regan (0-1), D Cremin, S Casey (0-1), P Cronin, S Fenton, D O’Sullivan (0-1) and S Morris (0-1).

Referee – B Twiss (Milltown/C’maine)

County Junior Football League Division 2 Championship - Spa

County Junior Football League Division 2 Runners - Up - St. Mary's

Back left to right - Pat Corkery, Andrew McCarthy, Mike Golden, Diarmuid Walsh, Kieran Casey, Daniel Mahony (Capt.), Sean Donal O'Shea, Cormac O'Shea, Vinny Moriarty, Declan O'Sullivan, Connie O'Connor, Sean Cournane, Fergal O'Connell, Anthony Hutchinson, Michael Pat O'Donoghue, Paudie Donovan. Front left to right - John 'Casur' O'Sullivan, Niall McCarthy, Brian Murphy, Conor 'Spud' Moran, Micheal O'Shea, Brian Curran, Paul O'Connell, Shane Horgan, John Paul Mahony, Seamus Fitzgerald, John Donovan and Kevin Keane.