6th September 2006 - South Kerry Minor Football League Division 1 Round 6 in Con Keating Park

St. Mary's 3-06 V 1-11 Valentia Young Islanders

In a very evenly and closely contested fixture, St Marys were triumphant over Valentia Young Islanders on Wednesday evening last in Con Keating Park in the final round of games in the South Kerry Minor Football League, writes Stephen McCarthy. After a magnificent first half performance which saw two goals from Sean Cournane and Conor Moran, the home side were in the driving seat and looked set for victory only the visitors had other things on their mind when they launched a fantastic revival in the second half and took the lead after 6 minutes with a Mark Lynch goal. It wasn t until the 26th minute of the half when St Marys finally opened their second half account as Cournane added his second goal of the night and two minutes later Sean Cournane sealed the victory for a poor Mary s side on a score line of 3-6 to 1-11.

Mark Lynch was first to raise the white flag after 5 minutes from a close free, but only a minute later it was to be cancelled out by a Sean Cournane free from the same distance. Micheal O Shea and Paul O Sullivan exchanged points before the opening goal of the tie came on 13 minutes when Colin Walsh looked to have put Conor Moran through on goal but when he hit the crossbar Sean Cournane followed up to rattle the net for St Marys. Sean Cournane added to his tally a minute later with a handy point before he turned provider in the same minute as he and Conor Moran played a one two and Moran buried the ball for his 13th minor goal of the year and extend his sides advantage to 7 points after 14 minutes. Callum Smith and Conor Moran exchanged points before Valentia added three unanswered points in 5 minutes from Paul Sullivan after a great Muiris O Sullivan run, and Mark Lynch (2) from close frees. A combination of passes between Vinny Moriarty and Mark McGillicuddy presented Sean Cournane with the halves final score and leave the score at the break St Marys 2-5 Valentia 0-6.

Muiris O Sullivan got the contest restarted after 31 seconds when he turned and pointed, this sparked the Valentia revival when O Sullivan added a punched point 2 minutes later and then when he assisted Mark Lynch to a goal Valentia were right back in the game and level. Lynch and O Sullivan added two more points for the Islanders after 36 and 38 minutes respectively. After 20 minutes of very poor football from both sides and wides in abundance, it wasn t until then, when Paul O Sullivan finally broke the deadlock and put his side ahead by 3. Vinny Moriarty launched yet another attack for the home side but this one finally paid diffidence when he played the ball off to Sean Cournane and he struck for goal from close range and level the game for the 5th time. With 2 minute remaining St Marys need to finish off the tie to avoid the possibility of a playoff with Waterville for the final and when Aidan Walsh found Sean Cournane with a smart ball he did just that and he duly pointed to leave the final score St Marys 3-06 Valentia 1-11.

Best for the home side on the evening were Ian Casey and Sean Cournane while best for Valentia were Joe O Sullivan, Brendan O Sullivan, Mark Lynch and Alan Curran in the middle and Muiris O Sullivan up front. The sides will pair off again in a few weeks time to contest the final of the competition with St Marys topping the group and Valentia a point behind in second. St Marys will have to improve greatly to contest the game while with Brian Connor and Ryan Walsh still to come back into the reckoning Valentia will have to go into the game strong favourites.

Teams & Scorers:

St Marys – Shane Horgan, Conor O Shea, Ian Casey, Jason Moran, Colm Cournane, Kieran O Sullivan, Michael O Shea (0-1), Vinny Moriarty, Mark MacGillicuddy, Conor Moran (1-0), Aidan Walsh, Sean Cournane (2-5,1f), Colin Walsh (Jason Stapleton). Subs Not Used: Colm O Shea, Diarmuid Nolan and Rory O Shea.

Valentia – Conor Curtain, Joe O Sullivan, Shane O Sullivan, Aaron Sugrue, Martin Reidy, Brendan O Sullivan, Mark Lynch (1-4,3f), Alan Curran, John O Sullivan, Callum Smith (0-1), Jordan Sheehan, Paul O Sullivan (0-3), Muiris O Sullivan (0-3).

Referee: Ger MacGillicuddy (Derrynane).