2nd July 2006 - Credit Union County Senior Football League Division 1 Round 6 in Con Keating Park

St. Mary's 1-03 V 0-16 Laune Rangers

Austin Stacks went home with the spoils on Saturday evening last when they made the trip to Cahersiveen to take on St. Mary’s in the latest round of the Credit Union County Senior Football League. After an even opening 15 minutes Stacks minus Kerry midfielder Kieran Donaghy, stepped up a gear and never really looked back with 6 great scores before the break from Mickey Collins and Dara Long, while St. Mary’s two first half points came from Darren Corcoran and Austin Constable. The second half was much more of the same with Stacks dominating all areas of the pitch and added 10 more points to their tally from Daniel Bohan, Wayne Quinlann, Seani Power and Long and Collins again while St. Mary’s found form too late when Diarmuid Walsh goaled from close in with 4 minutes remaining and Paul O’Donoghue kicked over a 30m free.

Austin Stacks opening score came from Mickey Collins but it was St. Mary’s, missing Niall O’Driscoll, Daniel O’Sullivan, John M Clifford, and Bryan Sheehan, who raised the first white flag when Darren Corcoran shot at goal but when it dropped into the small box  a deflection off of Kenneth Leen sent the ball over the bar after 10 minutes. However, the Rockies proceeded to dominate the exchanges with further points from Dara Long (0-3) while their shooting was still patchy when they kicked 7 wides in the opening 20 minutes due to huge pressure from Ml Pat O’Donoghue, Brian Curran and Mike T O’Connor, while the home side when seldom in front of goal but took their chances when they came about ,after 23 minutes Austin Constable kicked over a cracking point from 35m on the left wing to cut the margin to two points. Stacks could have wrapped up the game a minute before the break when corner forward Owen Colgan struck wide from close rage when a goal was on. Daniel Bohan and Long put the home side in deep trouble when they pointed to leave the half time score St. Mary’s 0-2 Stacks 0-6.

In the second half the home side put in a below par display but playing catch up was their lot for the entire 30 minutes. While the visitors made a flying start to the second half with a well struck point from Long, they quickly consolidated their firm grip on the game with further points from Collins (0-2). Young Paul O’Donoghue struck a 30m free to pull one back for his side but to no avail when the Tralee side added further points from Wayne Quinlann (0-2) and Mickey Collins before St. Mary’s John Quirke struck for goal after 26 minutes of the second half but when goalkeeper Mark Moriarty could only parry the ball Diarmuid Walsh had the simple task of slotting the ball to the back of the net. This didn’t stop the Stacks from continuing their scoring spree with three more points from Collins, Power and Bohan to leave the final score in Con Keating Park St. Mary’s 1-03 Austin Stacks 0-16.

This was a dismal performance by the home side and after drawing Renard in the first round of the South Kerry Championship another performance like this one could see an early exit. However there is plenty of time to prepare for that, while they will play host to Kerins O’Rahillys in their next game due to be played the August Bank Holiday weekend. Austin Stacks looked impressive when they got going and without Donaghy looked to have secured their status in Division 1 for next year. Best for the victors on the day were Kenneth Leen, Nessan Creen, William Kirby, Daniel Bohan, Wayne Quinlann, Mickey Collins, Seani Power and especially Dara Long at full forward.

Scorers: Austin Stacks – M Collins (0-6,3f), D Long (0-4,2f), D Bohan, W Quinlann, S Power (0-2) each. St. Mary’s – D Walsh (1-0), P O’Donoghue (0-1,1f), D Corcoran, A Constable (0-1) each.

Teams: Austin Stacks – M Moriarty, N Creen,  K Leen, A Gray, P Hennebry, B Dennehy, T Costello, W Kirby, D Bohan, W Quinlann, M Collins, S Power, G O’Connell, D Long and O Colgan. St. Mary’s – C O’Shea, MT O’Connor, Ml P O’Donoghue, B Curran, A Quirke (S Cournane), A O’Sullivan, R Keane (C O’Connor), J Quirke, V Moriarty, P O’Donoghue, A Constable (L Corcoran), J Fitzgerald, K Keane, F O’Connell (D Walsh), D Corcoran.

Referee: Mike Hickey (Milltown/Castlemaine)