Broken jaw puts O Se out of Rules series

Kerry SFC quarter-finals: Kerry's Tomás Ó Sé is out of the Ireland International Rules squad after he was badly concussed and suffered a hairline jaw fracture as well as teeth damage in an off-the-ball incident during An Ghaeltacht's 1-11 to 1-9 quarter-final win over Listowel Emmets at Austin Stack Park in Tralee on Saturday night.

The incident occurred in the 50th minute after his brother Marc was punched in the mouth by a Listowel opponent and a dust-up involving players from both sides and at least one non-player on the sideline developed. As players tried to break up the fracas, a Listowel player caught Tomás Ó Sé unawares with a punch to the jaw that sent him sprawling to the turf.

After a five-minute delay, Listowel were reduced to 14 players. Ó Sé was detained in Kerry General Hospital overnight and An Ghaeltacht chairman Liam Ó Rocháin confirmed that Ó Sé was detained in Kerry General Hospital overnight.

In the match itself, champions An Ghaeltacht were forced to come from behind to overcome a fired-up Emmets side, who got off to a flying start with Noel Kennelly firing over the opening five points for Listowel as An Ghaeltacht's right flank of defence was being shredded by the flying Derek Galvin and Brian Scanlon. It took some inspired defensive play from Tomás and Marc Ó Sé to keep the champions afloat.

An Ghaeltacht's semi-final opponents in a fortnight will be Laune Rangers, who upset Colm "Gooch" Cooper's Dr Crokes at Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney, yesterday, winning by 0-15 to 1-10.

Rangers, with John Lynch dominant at midfield, used the long ball to their full-forward line to telling effect where Mike Frank Russell and Pa O'Sullivan gained useful possession against a hard pressed Crokes defence.

Meanwhile at the other end Cooper just wasn't getting the service he required and he was being closely policed by Conor Falvey.

John Sheehan had a fine game for Rangers at centre back and was everywhere while the experience of the likes of Liam Hassett and Billy O'Shea were telling factors as the Crokes were flying on only one wing up front with their forwards, except Cooper, well shackled by a more physical Rangers defence. Cooper scored 0-6 for the losers.

Crokes moved Eoin Brosnan to midfield in an effort to curb Lynch and matters did improve for the Killarney outfit, who trailed 0-6 to 0-4 at the break.

The game was effectively decided in the opening seven minutes of the second half when Rangers added five points without reply, two from Mike Frank Russell, and one each from Barry O'Shea, Hassett and Jerry Coffey.

Cooper inspired a great fightback but points from Coffey, Lynch and Russell pulled the Killorglin side through.

In the second quarter-final at Fitzgerald Stadium yesterday, South Kerry, even without Maurice Fitzgerald, crushed a poor Rathmore side by 2-20 to 1-6.

Rathmore started well with Aidan O'Mahony and John Buckley winning good ball at midfield and Michael O'Riordan and Ian Kelleher had early points but South Kerry soon settled and disaster struck for Rathmore after nine minutes when a long delivery by South Kerry centre back Bryan Hickey deceived everyone but Kerry star Declan O'Sullivan, and he shot low past Declan O'Keeffe.

South Kerry then dominated for most of the half and with O'Sullivan now operating on the 40, they added a string of points.

The second half turned into a lop-sided affair despite an encouraging period for Rathmore when a goal by Gerry Murphy helped to reduce the deficit to four points. South Kerry will be fancied to beat St Kieran's in the semi-final

AN GHAELTACHT 1-11 (D Ó Cinnéide 1-4 (0-4 frees), C Ó Cruadhlaioch 0-2 frees, M MacGearailt 0-2, T Ó Sé, M Ó Sé, C Ó Dubhda 0-1 each), LISTOWEL EMMET'S 1-9 (N Kennelly 0-6 (0-3 frees), B Scanlon 1-0, P Buckley 0-2, S Stack 0-1)

LAUNE RANGERS 0-15 (P O'Sullivan 0-4 (two frees), M F Russell 0-3 (one free), J Coffey 0-2, L Hassett, B O'Sullivan, B Gannon, B O'Shea, S Foley, J Lynch 0-1 each), DR CROKES 1-10 (C Cooper 0-6 (one free), A Kennelly 1-0, B Moriarty, K Brosnan, E Brosnan, J Fleming 0-1 each)

SOUTH KERRY 2-20 (D O'Sullivan 1-2, R O'Connor 1-1, B Sheehan 0-4 (two frees), S Hussey, A O'Sullivan, S Fogarty 0-3 each, D O'Dwyer 0-2, B Hickey, A O'Connell 0-1 each) RATHMORE 1-6 (M O'Riordan 0-4 (frees), J Murphy 1-0, I Kelleher, A O'Mahony 0-1 each)