12th August 2006 - County Senior Football League Division 1 Round 7 in Con Keating Park

St. Mary's 1-05 V 1-16 Kerins O'Rahillys

The Strand Road side took full advantage of a St. Mary’s team which ran out of steam in the second half to take full points in the battle of top versus bottom. The home side got off to the best possible start with an Austin Constable goal inside the opening minute but  the Rahillys got into full stride and they took control with Declan Quill in particularly good form. Yet two more points from Paul O’Donoghue and Constable kept the Mary’s in touching distance at the break. A second half which was dominated by the Rahillys  from the beginning was sealed 4 minutes in when Colin Magner goaled and further points from Quill, Pat Madden and Mark Fitzgerald made sure the visitors stayed top of the Division 1 table at the final whistle.

It took 50 seconds for the Austin Constable and St. Mary’s to make their mark when Vinny Moriarty came out on top in a midfield tussle with Timmy O’Sullivan and then he sent a long ball towards the full forwards, good support play between Fergal O’Connell and Declan O’Sullivan meant Austin Constable could get through on goal and he buried the ball in the top corner past Garry Kissane. The Rahillys retaliated with 3 points in 4 minutes from Declan Quill (2) both from close frees and a handy point form Pat Madden. Paul O’Donoghue put the Mary’s out in front again with a 45m free and Austin Constable extended his sides lead further 3 minutes later with a cracking point from the left wing. This was as far as the Mary’s were going in this half but the Rahillys took flight from here to the break with points from a Declan Quill 30m free, another from Pat Madden as he ran straight through the heart of the Mary’s defence while Quill added three more great points in 2 minutes with Colin Magner rounding off the first half scoring with a punched point to leave the score at the break St. Mary’s 1-2 Kerins O’Rahillys 0-9.

St. Mary’s once again opened the scoring with a good long range point from Darren Corcoran, who limped off soon after due to injury, 2 minutes after Rory Molloy opened his account with a point but the tie was wrapped up after 34 minutes when the outstanding Micheal Quirke won St. Mary’s Cormac O’Shea’s kick out and when he found Colin Magner in space he buried the ball to the back of the net to extend his sides lead to 7 points. Rahillys didn’t stop there with the two Quills combining when Brendan found Declan unmarked and he slipped the ball over the bar, Quill added another 5 minutes later before substitute Ger Molloy came off the bench and turned all the Rahillys possession into a fine score. St. Mary’s finally found a way through the ever strong Strand Road defence when Connie O’Connor, who came on for the injured Liam Sheehan, found young Paul O’Donoghue, 17, and he added his second point of the day and his 12th point in this years County League. Kerins O’Rahilly’s were now dominating all over the pitch with Barry O’Shea finally getting the better of Fergal O’Connell in the full back position, Michael Quirke seemed to field everything in the midfield while Colin Magner and John O’Connor pulled the string in the forwards, but the man of the moment was Declan Quill and he showed what the intercounty side are missing when he pointed his 8th point of the evening and his 3rd free, Gary Kissane kept the Rahillys big advantage in tact when he denied Austin Constable from long range with a good save before Mark Fitzgerald and Austin Constable exchanged points while Mark O’Sullivan raised the final white flag of the evening from a free after a foul on Magner and leave the final score in Con Keating Park St. Mary’s 1-5 Kerins O’Rahillys 1-16.

Although only one decent half of football was in the Mary’s they did give a good showing of themselves in this half with good performances from the likes of Brian Curran at times got the better of Declan Quill, John M Clifford pulled off some good interceptions, while James Fitzgerald tried very hard in a fantastic battle with Michael Quirke, Austin Constable gave his best performance of the year in centre forward and chipped in with 1-2 to extended his top scorer lead advantage to 20 points from the injured Niall O’Driscoll while Fergal O’Connell gave a good showing of himself against former inter-county star Barry O’Shea. Best for the visitors on the evening were Morgan O’Shea, Paul Heaslip, Timmy O’Sullivan at midfield, the half forward line of Madden, Rory Molloy and goal scorer Magner with John O’Connor and Mark Fitzgerald displaying very well in the full forward line. However the Man of the Match would have to be tossed up between Quirke and Quill with both men showing their worth Quirke with his fielding and Quill with his scoring. The Rahillys now sit top of the pile by 2 points to Crokes and will provisionally play hosts to the second placed side next weekend, meanwhile St. Mary’s are competing at the other end of the table where they sit bottom with only a single point are provisionally set to play second from bottom Milltown/Castlemiane away where points will be hard to come by aswell.

Scorers: Kerins O’Rahillys – Declan Quill (0-8,4f), Colin Magner (1-0), Mark Fitzgerald (0-2,1f), Pat Madden (0-2), Rory Molloy, Ger Molloy and Mark O’Sullivan (0-1) each.
St. Mary’s – Austin Constable (1-2), Paul O’Donoghue (0-2,1f), Darren Corcoran (0-1).

Teams: St. Mary’s – Cormac O’Shea, Diarmuid Walsh, Brian Curran, Gearoid O’Driscoll, Liam Sheehan, John M Clifford, Mike T O’Connor, James Fitzgerald, Vinny Moriarty, Daniel O’Sullivan, Austin Constable, Paul O’Donoghue, Darren Corcoran, Fergal O’Connell and Declan O’Sullivan. Subs Used: Sean Cournane, Connie O’Connor.
Kerins O’Rahillys – Garry Kissane, Morgan O’Shea, Barry O’Shea, Paul Heaslip, Brendan Quill, Johnny Kelly, David Flaherty, Timmy O’Sullivan, Micheal Quirke, Pat Madden, Rory Molloy, Colin Magner, Declan Quill, John O’Connor and Mark Fitzgerald. Subs Used: Kieran Scannell, Ger Molloy, Ger O’Brien, Tommy Kennedy, Mark O’Sullivan.

Referee: Mike Murphy

Above: St. Mary's Sean Cournane taking time out to smile for photographs during his sides County League game v Kerins O'Rahillys.