Dr Crokes 2-16
Kenmare District 1-12
Damian Stack reports from Fitzgerald Stadium
DR CROKES ARE kings of the Kingdom again after a powerful display saw them run out seven point victors over Kenmare District in today’s county senior final at Fitzgerald Stadium.
Pat O’Shea’s men had their homework well done on the combination side, especially their kick-out strategy.
Kieran Fitzgibbon was put under severe pressure and, from the turnovers forced from him and his team, Crokes gained an early foothold in the game.
It wasn’t until Kieran O’Leary’s goal on twenty six minutes, however, that the full extent of Crokes control of the game became apparent. O’Leary slipped inside his man, Dara Crowley, and scored a brilliant individual goal.
Kenmare did have their moments in the first half and in the minutes before the goal their star man from the semi-final, Adrian Spillane, was beginning to come into his own following a move to the middle of the park.
O’Leary’s goal saw helped Crokes to a 1-7 to 0-6 lead at the break. It was a lead they extended by a further four in short order after the interval.
Micheál Burns pointed confidently on thirty one minutes. Then two minutes later Gavin White set up Johnny Buckley for a well taken goal to all but end the game as a contest.
Kenmare did strike back through a Teddy Doyle goal (assist from Killian Spillane), but it had no real effect on the Crokes who were by now purring confidently.
Over the space of the next six minutes they scored five points on the bounce (three for a hugely impressive Brian Looney and two from man of the match Colm Cooper).
The victory secured from the Killarney men their fifth county championship in seven seasons and such was the quality of the performance that their ambitions surely do not stop there. The Munster championship awaits.
Scorers for Dr Crokes: C Cooper 0-7 (0-3 frees); B Looney 0-4, K O’Leary 1-1, J Buckley 1-0, S Murphy (0-1 ’45), A O’Donovan, J Kiely, M Burns 0-1 each.
Scorers for Kenmare: P O’Connor 0-8 (0-7 frees), T Doyle (1-0), A Spillane and K Spillane (0-2 each).
Dr Crokes
S Murphy
J Payne
M Moloney
F Fitzgerald
G White
A O’Sullivan
D O’Leary
A O’Donovan
J Buckley
D Casey
G O’Shea
B Looney
C Cooper
K O’Leary
E Brosnan
Subs:
M Burns for A O’Sullivan (half-time)
L Quinn for D O’Leary (48)
J Kiely for G O’Shea (48)
M Milner for E Brosnan (56)
P J Lawlor for A O’Donovan (58)
T Brosnan for K O’Leary (59)
Kenmare District
K Fitzgibbon (Kenmare)
D Crowley (Kenmare)
G Crowley (Templenoe)
K O’Neill (Templenoe)
P Clifford (Templenoe)
D O’Shea (Kenmare)
J Spillane (Templenoe)
T Morley (Templenoe)
P O’Shea (Tuosist)
S O’Shea (Kenmare)
A Spillane (Templenoe)
T Doyle (Templenoe)
S O’Brien (Kenmare)
P O’Connor (Kenmare)
K Spillane (Templenoe)
Subs
K O’Sullivan ( Kenmare) for P Clifford (28)
F O’Sullivan (Tousist) for P O’Shea (h/t)
M Crowley for J Spillane ( h/t)
P Spillane S O’Shea (55 mins)
S O’Leary for T Doyle (60 mins)
Referee: Brendan Griffin (Clounmacon)
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