GAELIC GAMES:IT WOULD not a be a South Kerry Championship final without Maurice Fitzgerald grabbing the headlines and the veteran of 40 summers rolled back the years with a vintage display to help St Mary's Cahirciveen to dramatic one-point win over All-Ireland Junior champions Skellig Rangers, 1-17 to 0-9, in Cahirciveen on Saturday.

It was a also a win that more or less rubber stamps the fact Bryan Sheehan will be Kerry’s captain for 2010. South Kerry won the county SFC and that entitles the champions of that district the honour of choosing the player to lead Kerry. While St Mary’s have not indicated their choice, it will be Sheehan, although he was staying tight-lipped afterwards.

This was a gripping final that neither side deserved to lose but it was Fitzgerald who proved the difference. St Mary’s led 1-4 to 0-4 and the defining moment came in the 25th minute when James Fitzgerald made a run into the corner out on the left before parting to Maurice Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald decided to have a go for a point (one presumes) but the ball dipped under Micheal Brennan’s cross and ended up in the top corner of the Skellig net for a rather fortuitous goal.

Then after three points from Seán Courtney Skellig Rangers levelled the contest only for Austin Constable to kick the winning St Mary’s point in injury time.

Meanwhile, at the Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney, Dr Crokes made some amends for losing the county championship and league finals by a single point when they won their 25th O’Donoghue Cup (East Kerry Championship) beating Gneeveguilla 0-14 to 0-9 with Colm Cooper having a huge game scoring six points and setting up most of his team-mates’ scores with Brian Looney and Jamie Doolan scoring two points each.

In Ballybunnion there was no sign of Tadgh Kennelly who is not returning home until Monday night but Listowel Emmett’s finished the stronger side to post back-to-back North Kerry Championships when they beat a Paul Galvin-inspired Finuge 0-12 to 0-11.

Finuge had to start with former player and current selector Eamon Fitzmaurice and Listowel Emmett’s looked in trouble at half-time when the sides retired on 0-6 each as they had played with the wind. Bryan Scanlon, Noel Kennelly, Derek Galvin and Shane Quinn all had first-half points for Listowel but Mike Conway, James Flaherty, Jack Corridan and Paul Galvin were on the mark for Finuge.

By the 52nd minute Emmett’s led 0-11 to 0-8 but Finuge rallied in typical fashion only to fall a point short.

While Tadgh Kennelly missed out, his brother, Noel, gave a man-of-the-match display for Listowel while his uncle Mikey saved the day late on when he denied Finger’s Enda Galvin a goal that would have revered the result.