St. Mary’s Senior team made the journey to West Kerry this weekend for the Paudie O’Se invitational tournament, in which they were paired with Newtown Blues, of Drogheda, for their first game in Annascual. The South Kerry side opened the scoring 6 minutes in after some good work from Niall O’Driscoll, Adam Quirke pointed but his work was to undone soon after when Cormac O’Shea could only parry a great save to the feet of Cormac Reynolds who smashed the ball to the back of the net. Niall O’Driscoll brought the margin back to the minimum with a 45, after St. Mary’s had a very strong penalty claim turned down. John M Clifford saved the Mary’s blushes for a second goal with a clearance of the line, but with Newtown Blues dominating for a period they added two points before the break from Ronan Philips and Ray Hughes, while St. Mary’s Vinny Moriarty scored his first Senior point just before the break to leave the half time score St. Mary’s 0-3 Newtown Blues 1-2. Niall O’Driscoll was once again involved in St. Mary’s next score when his free dropped short and Liam Sheehan took the opportunity to swipe at the lose ball and added a point. Keith Lynch and Barry Kelly both added points for the blues but the Mary’s kept in touch with pointed frees from both Austin Constable and Liam Sheehan to bring the sides level. St. Mary’s Adam Quirke then produced the defining moment of the game when a long ball landed at his feet and he hit the back of the net from close range. Niall O’Driscoll and Jed Kellit added points for their respective sides to finish up the tie at St. Mary’s 1-8 Newtown Blues 1-5. This was a tough workout for the Mary’s and they were best served by the experience players such as John M Clifford, Mike T O’Connor, John Quirke, Niall O’Driscoll, Adam Quirke and Ray Keane.

St. Mary’s then went trough to the semi-final where they were pitted against John Mitchells of Tralee, in a bitterly cold Gallarus. After a 30 minute delay, St. Mary’s were on the back foot from the very beginning, when the Tralee side, played with a very strong wind, goaled in the first minute, the Mitchell’s added 5 points and were denied a goal after John M Clifford cleared off the line in the following 20 minutes. St. Mary’s once again had to call upon Clifford this time for the full back to take the Mary’s first score of the game when he brought the ball some 30 yard and slipped a point, Mitchels added another point before the break to leave the half time score St. Mary’s 0-1 John Mitchels 1-6. The Cahersiveen side began the second half without Ray Keane (injured in the previous game), John Quirke (injured in the first half) and Adam Quirke, but started positively when Liam Sheehan pointed his own free, but to no avail as Mitchels retaliated with two more points. Niall O’Driscoll then turned on the style for the Mary’s scoring 1-2 without reply, all coming form long range to leave 4 between the sides. As St. Mary’s began to grab a grasp of the game John Mitchels turned things around with a point and forced an own goal upon St. Mary’s Kieran Casey. St. Mary’s went out on a high when Austin Constable added two well struck points to leave the final score St. Mary’s 1-6 John Mitchels 2-9. St. Mary’s showed a spirited second half display but with limited numbers St. Mary’s were in arrears before the throw in, although they made the most of the supplies on the day. The two games will hopefully prove beneficial for next weeks game away to Skellig Rangers, stay tuned to local press for day and time.

Tournament Team: Cormac O’Shea, Paudie O’Shea, John M Clifford (0-1), Brian Curran, Aidan O’Sullivan, Mike T O’Connor, Diarmuid Walsh, John Quirke, Niall O’Driscoll (1-4), Daniel O’Sullivan, Ray Keane, Adam Quirke (1-1), Vinny Moriarty (1-0), Austin Constable (0-4), Liam Sheehan (0-3), John Paul Mahony, John Donovan, Kieran Casey, Declan O’Sullivan.