Munster football: Dr Crokes retain Kerry title in Tralee

Dr Crokes 0-17 South Kerry 1-12

Dr Crokes posted back-to-back Kerry SFC titles after an epic battle with South Kerry in a high-quality decider played before a large crowd at Austin Stack Park in Tralee on Sunday.

The Tralee crowd had barely recovered from the shock of Colm Cooper starting the game on the bench because of a hamstring strain for the All-Ireland holdders when South Kerry served notice of their intentions from the throw-in. Paul O'Donoghue played a quick ball inside the defence to midfielder Brendan O'Sullivan who was one-on-one with Crokes goalkeeper Shane Murphy, who made a superb save, turning the ball behind for a 45 which Bryan Sheehan duly converted.

Crokes soon settled with their swift passing and quick movement hurting the South Kerry defence and Kieran O'Leary had them in front by the ninth minute with two beautiful scores while Michael Burns had another after great work by Daithí Casey.

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Crokes were winning the battle around the middle but South Kerry was counter-attacking well with Sheehan kicking a fine point. Then Crokes reeled off two quick points from Casey and Tony Brosnan to lead 0-5 to 0-3 at the end of the opening quarter with Brendan O'Sullivan getting South Kerry's point.

Crokes were kicking points for fun with Casey and Gavin White extending their lead to four points before an 18th-minute disaster for Crokes gave the game the goal it needed.

Brendan O'Sullivan made the run and when his long delivery was collected by Crokes full back Mike Moloney, he slipped and in an effort to find a team-mate, he hand-passed the ball to South Kerry sub Ian Galvin, who buried the ball in the Crokes net.

Crokes don’t do panic and continued to attack in waves with points from Michael Burns (two) and one each from Brosnan and the influential Casey while Kieran O’Leary spurned a great goal chance in the 26th minute.

However, South Kerry remained in the game with Bryan Sugrue, Paul O'Sullivan and midfielders Sheehan and Brian O'Sullivan countering well and they finished the half with points from Conor O'Shea, O'Donoghue and a free from Sheehan as Crokes retired 0-11 to 1-6 in front,.

South Kerry started the second half well with points from O'Donoghue and a Sheehan free but Crokes sprang Cooper and Jordan Kiely off the bench and despite losing Johnny Buckley to a red card they defended well and South Kerry helped them with some wayward shooting.

DR CROKES: S Murphy; J Payne, M Moloney, L Quinn; D O'Leary, F Fitzgerald, G White (0-1); J Buckley, A O'Sullivan; M Burns (0-4) , G O'Shea, B Looney; T Brosnan (0-2), D Casey (capt) (0-5, two frees), K O'Leary (0-4).

Subs: C Cooper for G O'Shea (42 mins), J Kiely (0-1) for T Brosnan (42 mins), S Doolan for D O'Leary (52 mins), P Clarke for M Burns (57 mins), A O'Donovan for M Moloney (B/C, 60 mins), E Brosnan for B Looney (62 mins)

SOUTH KERRY: P O'Sullivan (Skellig Rangers); B Sugrue (Renard), M Griffin (St Michael's, Foilmore), F Clifford (Waterville); Paul O'Sullivan (Valentia), J Curran (Valentia), R Wharton (Renard); B Sheehan (St Mary's) (0-7, three frees, one 45), B O'Sullivan (Valentia) (0-1); C O'Shea (St Mary's) (0-1), P O'Donoghue (St Mary's) (0-2), G O'Sullivan (Dromid Pearses); N O'Shea (Dromid Pearses), M O'Sullivan (St Michael's/Foilmore), Daniel Daly (St Mary's).

Subs: I Galvin (1-0) (Sneem/Derrynane) for D Daly (12 mins), Denis Daly ( St Mary's) for O'Shea (34 mins), O Clifford ( Waterville) for J Curran ( 36 mins), R Hussey (Sneem/Derrynane) (0-1) for M O'Sullivan (45 mins), C Farley ( Dromid Pearses ) for I Galvin (61 mins).

Referee: Brendan Griffin (Clounmacon).

Nemo Rangers 4-12 St Finbarr’s 3-13

A 12-point lead was reduced down to two in the final quarter but Nemo Rangers were not to be denied a 20th Cork SFC title at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Trailing 1-1 to 0-0 inside three minutes of this replay, Nemo came back well to lead by 2-6 to 1-5 at half-time and goals from Paul Kerrigan and sub Adrian Greaney extended their advantage to 4-11 to 1-8 with 14 minutes of normal time remaining.

From there though, Nemo were restricted to a single Paddy Gumley point as the Barrs threatened to mount a comeback to eclipse that which brought them from eight down in the drawn game a week earlier.

Sub Eoghan Finn netted to get things started and frees from Stephen Sherlock reduced the gap further before the same player fired a close-range free past a cluster of Nemo players on the line. That left four points in it, 4-12 to 3-11, and Enda Dennehy and then Dylan Quinn had further points, the latter unlucky not to get a levelling goal. It was to be the closest they came though as Nemo alleviated the pressure and held possession to see out the game.

The Barrs, whose last title came in 1985, had a rip-roaring start with Robert O’Mahony’s point followed by a Sherlock goal. However, a bad injury to Nemo defender Cian McWhinney necessitated a 10-minute delay and Nemo were able to refocus.

Midfielder Jack Horgan, excellent throughout, got a great goal to kickstart their revival and was also involved in the build-up to points as the most of the remainder of the half was even.

In injury time, Kevin Fulignati levelled at 1-5 each, then Luke Connolly scored a wonderful goal and Paul Kerrigan gave them an interval lead of four. That advantage would extended further and, though the Barrs eroded it, they couldn’t make it disappear.

NEMO RANGERS: M Martin; Aidan O'Reilly (captain), C McWhinney, A Cronin; T Ó Sé (0-1), S Cronin, K Fulignati (0-1); A O'Donovan (0-1), J Horgan (1-1); B O'Driscoll (0-1), P Kerrigan (1-2), C O'Brien; P Gumley (0-2), L Connolly (1-1), C Dalton (0-2).

Subs: K O'Donovan for McWhinney (9 mins, injured), J O'Donovan for Fulignati (30 mins, injured), A Greaney (1-0) for O'Brien (37 mins), M Dorgan for A O'Donovan, Fulignati for A Cronin (both 54 mins). ST FINBARR'S: D Murphy; D Quinn (0-1), J Burns, A McCarthy; A O'Connor, S Ryan, G O'Connor; I Maguire (capt), C Lyons (0-1); D O'Brien (0-1), M Shields, E Dennehy (0-1); R Leahy, R O'Mahony (1-0), S Sherlock (2-7, 1-3 in frees).

Subs: E Finn (1-0) for O'Brien (42 mins), C Myers Murray for Leahy, C Keane for Lyons (both 46 mins), I O'Callaghan for O'Mahony (51 mins), R O'Dwyer for Ryan (57 mins), P Kennedy for O'Connor (59 mins). Referee: J Bermingham (Bride Rovers).

Adare 2-10 Newcastle West 1-10

Adare made history when winning their first Limerick senior title in a superb contest against red hot favourites, Newcastle West, at the Gaelic Grounds.

Newcastle West made a bright start, leading 0-6 to 0-3 after fourteen minutes.

But all changed for Adare four minutes later when Hugh Bourke scored following a defensive error. At the break Adare led 1-6 to 0-6 with all but two of their other points being scored by Robbie Bourke.

Iain Corbett scored a stunning goal for Newcastle West after 44 minutes and the sides were level at 1-9 with four minutes to go.

Then came the drama, with Paul Hannon nudging Newcastle West in front. But then superb play by Hugh Bourke found Jack English, who hit a thunderous shot past Andrew Ruddle to win it for Adare.

Adare: J Hickey; O Collins, A O'Connor, E Costeloe; E Ryan, D Connolly, P Maher; S Doherty, S Keeley; N Mulvihill (0-1), J English (1-0), H Bourke (1-4, 0-2f); M Connolly, R Bourke (0-2), M Lyons (0-2). Subs: S O'Connor for Costelloe (38 mins), A O'Connell for Maher (55 mins ), C McCarthy (0-1) for Lyons (62 mins).

Newcastle West: A Ruddle; M O'Keeffe, B O'Sullivan, S Browne; M O'Leary, S Nix, P Hannon (0-1); M McMahon, I Corbett (1-2); T Quilligan (0-1f), S Kelly (0-1), S Murphy; J Lee (0-5, 2f), J Kelly, C Sheahan. Subs: AJ O'Connor for Quilligan (36mins), D Woods for Murphy (36 mins), E Murphy for O'Sullivan (45 mins), M Quilligan (0-1) for S Kelly (49 mins).

Referee: J Murphy (Ballylanders).