22-05-2016
Mid Kerry
3-14
Dingle
2-15
With 16 minutes
remaining in this game Dingle held a thirteen point lead and it looked certain
that they would cruise in to the next round of the competition. Mid Kerry had lost their captain and talisman
Darren O’Sullivan through injury early in the second half and their challenge
seemed to have disappeared with him.
However, with a never
say die attitude and substitutions which changed the momentum of the game, Mid
Kerry chipped away at the Dingle lead and what happened from there to the end
of normal time was one of the greatest comebacks seen in this competition for
many a day.
When Peter Crowley saw
his effort skim the bar and go over in the final minute of normal time, the
lead had been cut to six but it looked like it was too little too late for Mid Kerry. But they kept driving forward and when Gavin
O’Grady goaled the miracle was on and in the last play substitutes Padraig
Doona and Tommy Cahill combined for the latter to smash the ball to the net and
take a stunned Dingle to extra time.
All the momentum was
now with Mid Kerry, and even though the first period of extra time was even,
they pushed on in the second half to cap off a scarcely believable victory and
leave Dingle to curse the magnitude of their collapse.
Dingle dominated the
early exchanges with Mark O’Connor operating as a third midfielder and raced in
to a 1-5 to no score lead with points from Paul Geaney and Conor Geaney and a
superb goal from Mikey Geaney after a crisp passing movement.
Tom O’Sullivan was
doing a good marking job on Darren O’Sullivan who seemed to be nursing his
right hamstring from early in the game.
Conor Geaney was coming to the fore for Dingle and after Donnchadh Walsh
and Liam Carey had opened Mid Kerry’s account, Geaney tapped in for Dingle’s
second goal in first half injury time after great work in the build up by Paul
Geaney. Dingle now led by 2-3 to 0-6 and
looked in total control.
Mid Kerry moved
Donnchadh Walsh to midfield at start of the second half to see if they could
stem the Dingle flow there but it looked to have no impact as Dingle drove
forward and extended their lead to 2-10 to 0-3 by the 44th minute
with further scores from Matthew Flaherty, Paul Devane and a Conor Geaney
brace.
Darren O’Sullivan had
been withdrawn by now but the other Mid Kerry substitutes were slowly beginning
to make an impact and in particular Mike Breen who was starting to win a lot of
breaking ball around the middle and taking on the Dingle defence. A Donnchadh Walsh goal in the 47th
minute looked immaterial as Paul Geaney, Breandan Kelleher and a Mikey Geaney
free had pushed the Dingle lead out to 2-13 to 1-7 by the 56th
minute.
However, Peter
Crowley, showing the drive needed, kept the pressure on and with Gavin O’Grady
converting it set us up for the grandstand finish which took the game to a
scarcely believable extra time.
Kelleher and
substitute Caolim Teahan exchanged scores in the first period of extra time
before Mid Kerry’s momentum drove them home in the second period with Crowley
again to the fore and a booming effort from Teehan finally settling matters to
give Mid Kerry a famous two point victory.
Main Man: Mike Breen, Mid Kerry
Up to the mid point of
the second half this accolade would only be going to a Dingle player, with
Conor Geaney in particular impressing. However,
Mid Kerry’s substitutes changed the momentum of this game and none more so than
Breen. He broke the Dingle stranglehold
in midfield and his driving runs created the openings in the Dingle defence
that led to the dramatic finish
Teams & Scorers:
Mid Kerry: Michael Moriarty (Beaufort), Pa Kilkenny (Glenbeigh/Glencar), Nathan
Breen (Beaufort), Ger Hartnett (Beaufort), John Tyther (Laune Rangers) (0-1),
Peter Crowley (Laune Rangers)(0-2), Aaron Cahillane (Keel), Colin McGillycuddy
(Glenbeigh/Glencar), Ronan Murphy (Beaufort) (0-1), Padraig Doona
(Beaufort)(0-01), Liam Carey (Beaufort)(0-1), Tommy Cahill
(Glenbeigh/Glencar)(1-0), Gavan O’Grady(Glenbeigh/Glencar)(1-4, 2f), Donnchadh
Walsh (1-1), Darren O’Sullivan (Glenbeigh/Glencar)(c)
Substitutes: Mike Breen (Beaufort) for C. McGillycuddy, 29 Daniel McBeth (Laune
Rangers) for A. Cahillane, 29 Caolim Teehan (Glenbeigh/Glencar) (0-2) for D.
O’Sullivan, 37 Jack Brosnan (Glenbeigh/Glencar) for J. Tyther, 50 Bernard
Murphy (Glenbeigh/Glencar) (0-1) for L. Carey, 58 Fergal Griffin
(Glenbeigh/Glencar) for D. McBeth 62 Kieran Courtney (Glenbeigh/Glencar) for P.
Doona, 72 C. McGillycuddy for T. Cahill, 72
Dingle: Gavin H. Curran, Tom Leo O’Sullivan, Patrick O’Connor, Conor O’Sullivan,
Matthew Flaherty (Joint Capt) (0-1), Tom O’Sullivan, Breandan Kelleher (0-2),
Barry O’Sullivan, Darragh O’Sullivan, Paul Devane (0-1), Mikey Geaney (Joint
Capt) (1-1, 1f), Conor Geaney (1-4, 1f), Aiden O’Connor (0-1), Paul Geaney
(0-4, 1f) , Mark O’Connor (0-1)
Substitutes: Patrick Devane for T. O’Sullivan, 50 Michael Flannery for C. Geaney, 52
Gavin Curran for M. Flaherty 55 Brian Devane for P. Devane, 58 Michael Slattery
for D. O’Sullivan, 60
Referee: Tom Moriarty, Legion
Talking Point: Plain and simply, Mid Kerry’s miraculous
comeback. Whether it was good fortune or
a Dingle collapse, it had all those lucky to witness it chatting about it on
way home after the game
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