Dominant Dr Crokes progress to Munster SFC semis

Dr Crokes 1-14 Kilmurry Ibrickane 0-8

Dr Crokes cruised into a home Munster club semi-final tie with the Tipperary champions on November 13th after easing beyond Kilmurry Ibrickane in Quilty.

In their previous Munster club meetings in 2011 and 2012 the Kerry club were narrow winners but this time they were completely dominant, following a competitive opening 15 minutes.

The fact that Shane Hickey was the only Kilmurry player to score from play, underlined their primary issue.

Dr Crokes, who led 0-7 to 0-4 at half-time, withstood a decent start from the West Clare club in a match which was played in perfect conditions on the Atlantic coast.

Kilmurry adopted a defensive approach with inside forward Keelan Sexton often marooned alone inside the Dr Crokes half. The Aidan Moloney managed team showed early energy and potency, with points from Shane Hickey and Ian McInerney helping them into a 0-2 to 0-1 lead. However the Pat O’Shea managed Killarney club settled with points from Daithí Casey and Brian Looney taking the sting out of Kilmurry, who were backed by a majority of the 2,557 attendance.

Four successive points from Kieran O’Leary (0-2), Eoin Brosnan, who started at midfield and Gavin O’Shea, established a 0-7 to 0-4 lead for the winners.

Kilmurry had a reasonable goal chance just before the interval when Enda Coughlan burst through but his lay off to Keelan Sexton was a fraction mistimed. Sexton won a free and put over Kilmurry’s final first half score. Dr Crokes lost Johnny Buckley to injury and full back Michael Moloney to a black card in the opening half but their absence did not disrupt their rhythm.

Kilmurry were critical of some of referee Kevin Murphy’s decisions with forwards Peter O’Dwyer and Keelan Sexton not awarded a number of frees, which looked clear cut, in the opening half.

“I thought there was a lot of tackles let go in the first half. He started making it up to us towards the end but when the game was in the melting pot for us, we didn’t get what we deserved,” Kilmurry manager Moloney said.

The games decisive score was put away from the penalty spot by Daithí Casey, four minutes into the second half. Kilmurry defender Martin McMahon was penalised for a foot block on Kieran O’Leary and Casey’s goal established a 1-7 to 0-5 advantage for the winners. The goal chance was created by a perceptive Colm Cooper pass across the Kilmurry square and in fact Cooper excelled in the second half.

The result was not in doubt from that point on, with the winners controlling the game, although Kilmurry substitute John McNamara had a goal chance well saved by impressive Dr Crokes goalkeeper Shane Murphy whose range of kick outs were superb.

Kilmurry afforded their opponents too much space in which to play for most of the second half and Colm Cooper, who was quiet during the opening 30 minutes, displayed his play making class as the game wore on.

“If you’re a young fella and you’re playing football, who do you want to play with? You want to play with Colm Cooper,” Dr Crokes selector Harry O’Neill commented afterwards. “People will ask who was the greatest footballer of our time and they will pick a load of fellas. But the most intelligent footballer of our time is Colm Cooper. That guy just knows how to play and he brings people into the game. You have to get him on the ball. It’s great to have Colm and long may he stick at it.”

Another impressive aspect of Dr Crokes display was the input of their substitutes, including Tony Brosnan who kicked two points following his introduction while fellow substitutes, Jordan Kiely and Micheál Burns, also put over a second half point apiece.

Dr Crokes: S Murphy; J Payne, M Moloney, F Fitzgerald; G White, A O'Sullivan, D O'Leary; A O'Donovan, E Brosnan (0-1); J Buckley (C); G O'Shea (0-1), B Looney (0-1); C Cooper (0-3, 1f), D Casey (1-2, 1-0 pen), K O'Leary (0-2). Subs: M Burns (0-1), for J Buckley (22-inj), Luke Quinn for M Moloney (28-BC), T Brosnan (0-2) for G O'Shea, J Kiely (0-1) for B Looney (both 50), M Milner for K O'Leary (55), PJ Lawlor for C Cooper (59).

Yellow cards: C Cooper, J Payne, B Looney.

Black card: M Moloney

Kilmurry Ibrickane: I McInerney (0-3f); M Killeen, D Hickey, C Morrissey; D Callinan, M McMahon, D Sexton; M McCarthy, K King; M O'Dwyer, S Hickey (0-1, C), M Hogan; E Coughlan, P O'Dwyer, K Sexton (0-4f) Subs: S Moloney for M O'Dwyer (24), J McNamara for D Callinan (31), N Hickey for M Hogan (40), K Sexton for M McCarthy (52), K Killeen for S Hickey (56-BC), T O'Connor for E Coughlan (60).

Yellow cards: M McMahon

Black card: S Hickey

Referee: K Murphy (Cork).

Carbery Rangers 2-11 Monaleen 0-07

It is going to take a very good side to put an end to the glory year being enjoyed by Carbery Rangers who had a comfortable win over Limerick champions, Monalee, at the Gaelic Grounds.

It is the eighth year in a row for a Limerick side to go out in the first round and matters might have been a lot different for them had they not squandered four goal scoring opportunities inside the opening ten minutes when Brian O’Donovan, Graham O’Connell and Shane Cusack all fluffed great opportunities while two other chances were also missed.

Carbery were by far the better side and they had two points on the board from John O’Rourke, one free, before Barry Fitzpatrick had Monaleen’s first point.

That was after eleven minutes and Carbery then went on a spree, pushing the score to 0-6 to 0-2 after 26 minutes.

Two minutes later came Carbery’s first goal with Alan Jennings finally putting the ball in the net after Monaleen’s goalkeeper Donal O’Sullivan blocked the first effort, the breakdown was crashed off the crossbar but at the third attempt Jennings goaled. By halftime Carbery led 1-8 to 0-3.

Clearly Monaleen needed a good start to the second half but inside two minutes they conceded a penalty and a black card. Once John Hayes chipped in a goal from the penalty it was game over as Carbery retained possession and tacked on three more points.

Carbery Rangers: P Shanahan; M Kelly, B Shanahan 0-1, R Hegarty; R Kelly, T O'Rourke 0-1, J O'Riordan 0-2; K McMahon, J Fitzpatrick; A Jennings 1-0, C O'Donovan 0-2, M Minnis; J O'Rourke 0-2, S Hayes 0-1, J Hayes.1-3 (1pngl 0-2f), Subs: A Roche for J Fitzpatruck (40), K Fitzpatrick for Hayes (45), S Murray for Hegarty (52), P Hodnett for Minnis (55), S O'Neill for O'Donovan and M Ronan for J hayes, both 58.

Monaleen: D O'Sullivan; C Moran, J O'Dwyer, D Enright; P Quinn, J Hoare, S Cusack; B Fitzpatrick 0-1, R McGrath; E Quinlan, L Kavanagh, E Doyle; B O'Donovan, G Collins 0-3 (2f), G O'Connell. Subs: F nash for Cusack (27), P Kinnerk for Kavanagh (28), R Murray for Nash BC (31), T Barry0-1 for Quinlan (39), J Kelly for P Quinn (43), N Loughran for Doyle (53).

Referee: R Hickey, Clare.