22nd April 2006 - Credit Union County Senior Football League Division 1 Round 4 in Con Keating Park

St. Mary's 0-07 V 1-09 Dr. Crokes

As both the home side St. Mary’s and Dr. Crokes took to the field very much depleted, in their recent County League game, the Killarney team took the honors by 5 points thanks to brilliant displays from Ambrose O’Donovan, James Fleming and Kieran O’Leary. St. Mary’s opened the scoring but until the 27th minute the sides were very evenly matched, when Crokes were awarded a penalty in which corner back Donal Kavanagh converted. Crokes never looked back from here and controlled the game and finished worthy victors.

Declan O’Sullivan gave the Mary’s the lead with a point inside the first minute but a James Fleming free, two points from Kieran O’Leary one from play and one from a free put the Crokes men in front with eight minutes played. Kieran O’Leary had a great chance to put his side further in front 5 minutes later when he hit the butt of the post, O’Leary made up for this when after a foul on Batt Moriarty, he pointed the free from 21m. Brian McMahon, from a long range effort, extended the Crokes lead at the end of a flowing move while Paul O’Donoghue added two frees without reply from 35 and 40 meters respectively for the South Kerry side. With 3 minutes left on the clock in the first half Crokes were awarded a penalty after Darren Corcoran pulled off a great save from James Fleming, Batt Moriarty was felled in the area and Donal Kavanagh stepped up and placed the ball to the bottom left of the goal just beyond Corcoran’s outstretched hand. O’Donoghue and Fleming exchanged points from frees before the break to leave the half time score St. Mary’s 0-4 Dr. Crokes 1-5.

Crokes started the better after the turnaround when Kieran O’Leary showed the instinct of a natural with two fisted points after 2 and 4 minutes, to bring his sides lead to 6 points. The under strength St. Mary’s were now in desperate need of a scores, and when the Cahersiveen side raided forward, both O’Donoghue and Austin Constable converted kicks from 40m to cut the gap to four points, although St. Mary’s added two points the Crokes had more of the possession but silly mistakes and poor ball handling let the home side back into the game. With 5 minutes left on the clock O’Leary added his 4th point from his own free, while a minute later O’Leary’s long ball found full forward Edmond O’Sullivan and he duly pointed. St. Mary’s young Paul O’Donoghue had the final say of the game when referee Tommy Gilligan brought a 40 m free up to the 21 for back chat and O’Donoghue had the easy task of slipping the ball between the posts to leave the final score in Con Keating Park St. Mary’s 0-7 Dr. Crokes 1-09.  

Best for the victors were Shane Doolin, Brian McMahon, Enna Kavanagh, Ambrose O’Donovan, Batt Moriarty, James Fleming and Kieran O’Leary, while St. Mary’s were best served by Darren Corcoran, Paudie O’Shea and Paul O’Donoghue. For what was a St. Mary’s side missing the likes of Bryan Sheehan, John M Clifford, Aidan O’Sullivan, Liam Sheehan, Ray Keane and James Fitzgerald, they done reasonably well and never left their heads drop and battle hard right till the final whistle. Meanwhile Crokes missing Colm Cooper, Eoin Brosnan and James Jones didn’t look like the force they were in last year County Championship, but spectators in Con Keating Park would think should the opportunity have arisen Crokes could have added a few more scores to settle the game. Crokes will square up against Laune Rangers in a County League back game next weekend while the Mary’s will have a rest of three to four weeks for their next game.

Scorers: Dr.Crokes – K O’Leary (0-4,2f), J Fleming (0-3,2f), D Kavanagh (1-0,pen), B McMahon and E O’Sullivan (0-1) each. St. Mary’s – P O’Donoghue (0-5,5f), D O’Sullivan and A Constable (0-1) each.

Teams: St. Mary’s – D Corcoran, C Moran, B Curran, P O’Shea, C O’Connor, MT O’Connor, C Casey, N O’Driscoll, V Moriarty, Daniel O’Sullivan, A Constable, P O’Donoghue, S Cournane, F O’Connell, Declan O’Sullivan. Subs: A Quirke for C O’Connor, J Quirke for F O’Connell. Dr. Crokes – K Cremin, D Kavanagh, L Quinn, S Doolin, P Sheehan, B McMahon, E Kavanagh, K Brosnan, A O’Donovan, V Cooper, B Moriarty, J Fleming, K O’Leary, E O’Sullivan and A Kennelly.
Referee: Tommy Gilligan (Valentia)