10th September 2006 - South Kerry Minor Football League Division 1 Final in Valentia

St. Mary's 1-10 V 1-15 Valentia Young Islanders

An estimated 100 supporters thronged the Valentia venue for what was the home clubs biggest win since the South Kerry senior championship success of 10 months ago. It was to be the free taking of Mark Lynch and the dominance of full forward Muiris O’Sullivan who masterminded this particular triumph which borne out of sheer guts and determination, and no little amount of skill. In Con Keating Park four weeks ago, Sean Cournane rescued the Cahersiveen side with a last-gasp winning goal to get them to the final stage of the competition, but on this day the strong Valentia midfield and defense prevented Cournane and top scorer Conor Moran from having many clear cut goal chances, despite Cournane’s first half punched goal. The home side held a slender lead at half-time thanks to a Callum Smith goal, St. Mary’s fought back to within a point before on two occasions but an inspired Valentia team hit four unanswered points in the final quarter to clinch a great victory. Although St. Mary’s held the belief they were good enough for the victory and probably had the better individuals, on their day, they could have no complaints as Valentia’s greater work ethic enabled them to dominate the possession stakes and their perseverance eventually paid off. The home side were well on top in the early stages, and held a 6 point lead after 15 minutes, while the Valentia defensive half of the pitch were well in control in the excellent conditions with the result that just only two St. Mary’s scores were registered in the first twenty minutes. After a foul on Callum Smith, Mark lynch opened the scoring for the home side in the second minute, only for Paul O’Donoghue to reply with a point from 25m two minutes later. Valentia then went on a rampage scoring 1-3 in the following 8 minutes due to Mark Lynch (2,1f), Paul Sullivan and a goal from prolific goal scorer Callum Smith after being put through by Muiris O’Sullivan. Paul O’Donoghue for the Mary’s and Alan Curran and O’Sullivan again exchanged points before St. Mary’s finally got a grasp of the game when Colin Walsh sent dangerous ball across the goal and Sean Cournane was on hand to punch to the net in the 20th minute. The Cahersiveen side then enjoyed their best spell of the game with four points from Aidan Walsh, Paul O’Donoghue (2) and Sean Cournane. With Mark Lynch and Brendan O’Sullivan kicking two excellent points, Valentia held their lead, 1-8 to 1-6 at the break. Cournane resumed the scoring a minute after the turnaround and Alan Curran missed a 21m free, before young Paul O’Sullivan saved his blushes two minutes later to restore their two point advantage. Paul O’Donoghue kept his side in toe with his free taking before Conor Moran saw his sides best goal chance of the second half trickle past the far post from close range, Mark Lynch and Brendan O’Sullivan stretched the Valentia lead. Aidan Walsh tried to revive his side with a point but to no avail as Alan Curran from a 35m free and Mark Lynch from a close free finished the game as a contest two minutes from time. Even with referee Paul O’Sullivan bring the game to a close with only a minority of the required injury time played the game seemed dead and buried from the 40th minute.

Teams & Scorers
Valentia – TJ Gilligan, J Sullivan, M Reidy, B Sullivan (0-3), S Connor, A Sugrue, A Curran (0-1), B Connor, M Lynch (0-8,6f), C Smith (1-0), J Curran, M Sullivan (0-1), P Sullivan (0-2). Sub – J Sheehan.
St. Mary’s – S Horgan, I Casey, C O’Shea, J Moran, C Cournane, M O’Shea, V Moriarty, A Walsh (0-2), J Stapleton, C Moran, C Walsh, S Cournane (1-2), P O’Donoghue (0-6,6f). Sub – D Daly.