24th July 2006 - South Kerry Minor Football League Division 1 Round 5 in Reenard

St. Mary's 5-07 V 0-07 Reenard

St. Minors made the short trip down the road to Reenard on Monday evening last to play the hosts in the latest round of the Corcoran’s Furniture and Carpets sponsored South Kerry Minor Football League, and the trip was worthy of the venture when the visitors took victory by 5 goals on a scoreline of 5-7 to 0-7. St. Mary’s captain Conor Moran was the influential man of the team chipping in with 4 goals and a point with the other scores coming from Aidan Walsh, Vinny Moriarty, Paul O’Donoghue and Sean Cournane with 1-2. Reenard were very under strength on the night and despite their best efforts they could only match the Mary’s with their point scoring however its goals that wins games.

St. Mary’s put the first three points on the board thanks to Sean Cournane from close range when he took the safe option with a goal on, Paul O’Donoghue from the wing while a punched point from Conor Moran left the score after 6 minutes, 3 points to nil. St. Mary’s then found the net twice in two minutes both from full forward Conor ‘Spud’ Moran, the first after 7 minutes when Patrick McGill could only parry the ball from Sean Cournane, Moran tapped the ball to an empty net, while the second came when McGill again denied Moran a goal at first time of asking but when Cournane rescued the attack he squared the ball to Moran across the goal line and he added his second after 9 minutes. Reenard finally found their shooting boots when Steven O’Sullivan pointed a close free and Shane ‘Marcos’ O’Sullivan hit a magnificent long range point to cut the margin to 7 points, but to no avail as Moran hit his third when he found himself one on one with the McGill in the Reenard goal and he buried it to extend his sides lead while O’Sullivan added another close free but once again Moran was on hand but this time for the assist when he managed a long range effort but when Patrick McGill could only manage to block the ball Cournane tapped the ball to the empty net and leave the half time score at St. Mary’s 4-3 Reenard 0-3.

As of the first half Sean Cournane opened the scoring with a point after 34 minutes while Reenard’s Steven O’Sullivan found form with four points without reply for his Reenard side, the first from a 45m free, good work from Kevin Kelly and Tim Dennehy lead to Sullivan’s second while his third and fourth came after 44 and 45 minutes from close frees after fouls on David Donoghue and Kevin Kelly to cut the margin to 9 points. But just as the Mary’s sideline were beginning to get worried St. Mary’s talisman Conor Moran stood up and collected his four goal of the game and brought his minor seasons tally to 11-06 and his sides to 5-4 for the evening. Further points from Aidan Walsh, a cracking long range effort from Vinny Moriarty and a point from Conor Quirke left the final score in O’Donoghue Park, Reenard, St. Mary’s 5-7 Reenard 0-7.

St. Mary’s will be please with a win but will have to work on their performance to be in with a chance of clinching the League title and have a good run in the South Kerry Championship while Reenard battled hard and were unlucky with some of the goalsthey conceded with minor mistakes being at fault. Man of the Match on the evening went to Conor Moran mainly due to his ease at finding the back of the net he has now hit 6 goals in 2 games and seems to be hitting form at the right time for the Mary’s. Aidan Walsh also stood out for the Mary’s and is playing some great football at the moment for both the Minors and U16’s and his recent run with Kerry South U16’s alongside Shane Horgan seems to have proved very beneficial. St. Mary’s have one final game left in the South Kerry Minor League group stage against Valentia and a win for the Mary’s will see both sides advance to the final.

Scorers: St. Mary’s – C Moran 4-01, S Cournane 1-2, A Walsh, V Moriarty Conor Quirke and P O’Donoghue 0-1 each. Reenard – Steven O’Sullivan 0-6, 5f, Shane O’Sullivan 0-1.

Teams: St. Mary’s – S Horgan, I Casey, Conor O’Shea, A Walsh, C Cournane, V Moriarty, M O’Shea, A Hutchinson, P O’Donoghue, C Moran, S Cournane. Subs Used: C Walsh, M MacGillicuddy, C Quirke, J Moran and Colm O’Shea.

Reenard – P McGill, K Casey, T Dennehy, B Curran, F Kissane, D O’Donoghue, Shane O’Sullivan, David Lyons, Steven O’Sullivan, D O’Neill, K Kelly. No Subs.

Referee – D Fitzpatrick (Waterville)