Second-half goals see St Mary’s to intermediate football title

St Mary’s (Kerry) 2-10 Hollymount-Carramore (Mayo) 0-10

St Mary’s secured a notable double when adding the AIB All-Ireland intermediate club football title to the junior championship secured in 2011.

Two second-half goals from Daniel Daly and Anthony Cournane were vital as Hollymount-Carramore launched a late rally but in truth, it was the performance of the full-back line, and especially Brian Curran and Liam Sheehan that was the foundation for this victory.

Hollymount created plenty of opportunities but were less economic than their opponents, shooting 13 wides, while the St Mary’s defenders made a number of stunning last-ditch interventions

St Mary’s certainly began in more relaxed fashion and some of the finishing was right out of the top drawer, smacking of a composure the club’s most famous son, and this team’s manager, Maurice Fitzgerald was famous for.

Fitzgerald has a history of inflicting pain on Mayo and the Hollymount supporters must have feared the worst as the South Kerry hero’s charges pulled three points clear at the end of the opening quarter.

Paul O’Donoghue got the scoring under way for the Saints before Ian Costello responded with a wonderful effort.

The Munster representatives stretched ahead then as Conor O’Shea and O’Donoghue tacked on points before Bryan Sheehan converted effortlessly off the deck.

Costello stopped the rot with a sensational point and that seemed to have an inspirational effect as Hollymount added four more points without reply to open up a two-point lead.

Significantly though, St Mary’s responded with points from Daniel Daly and Bryan Sheehan to go in level at the break on 0-6 apiece.

The first goal and probably the game’s key score arrived five minutes after the resumption and started with a vital interception by Curran. St Mary’s went the length of the field and at the end of a wonderful move, it was Daly who blasted to the net.

Cournane showed his predatory instincts nine minutes later when he fisted Niall O’Driscoll’s attempt at a point to the net and with the margin now eight, Hollymount had a mountain to climb.

They never looked like reeling in that gap though they did score four points in a row through Robert Molloy, Darren Coen (two) and Kevin Costello to halve the deficit.

The goal they needed never looked like coming though and instead St Mary’s finished with the last two points from substitutes Liam O’Connell and Darren Casey to secure the verdict.

Scorers: St Mary's: D Dalyt 1-1; B Sheehan 0-3(1f); A Cournane 1-0; P O'Donoghue 0-2; C O'Shea, S Cournane(f), L O'Connell, D Casey 0-1 each

Hollymount-Carramore: D Coen 0-3(2fs); I Costello, C Keane 0-2 each; R Molloy, B Sheridan, K Costello 0-1 each

St Mary's: A Constable, I Casey, B Curran, L Sheehan, D O'Sullivan, C O'Shea, C Quirke, B Sheehan, D SDaly A Wash, N O'Driscoll, P O'Donghue, S Cournane, D Daly, A Cournane. Subs: D Casey for O'Driscoll (48), L O'Connell for Quirke (52), D Keating for Walsh (60)

Hollymount-Carramore: N Campbell, R Connolly, D McHugh, D Feerick, P Feerick, R Molloy, B Sheridan, K McNamara, S Coen, K Feerick, I Costello, K Costello, C Keane, D Coen, D Costello. Subs: B Maloney for D Costello (19), C Heneghan for K Feerick (40), D Kelly for Keane (45), L Macken for Connolly (56), C Connolly for I Costello (59), A Fahey for McNamara (60+1)

Referee: J Hickey (Carlow)