Kerry and the Shannon Blues played a tough, extremely
exciting game that had the patrons on edge for the duration. It was a game reminiscent of the old rivalry
that some may remember from the Dilboy era.
The Blues had the advantage of an extra man for most of the game after a
second yellow card was shown to wing back, David Clifford. The Blues had several chances to win it, but
kicked wide when it mattered most, while Kerry lifted the siege with some great
running and timely scores from Darragh O'Brien, Niall Sheehy and Joe
Fitzpatrick to earn a point for their efforts.
 |
| Kieran Hurley on the ball for the Blues. |
The Blues opened the game with a handful of missed chances,
but finally hit the mark with a point from Barry John Keane who just joined the
team. Kerry answered with a free kick
that was pointed by Darragh O'Brien. The
Blues were then gifted with a goal of the most unusual circumstances when a
handpass intended for the goalkeeper missed its mark and ended up in the back
of the Kerry net. Anthony Duffy added to
the Blues lead, but then Kerry settled and strung together 5 unanswered points. There were two yellow cards issued as the
temperature of the game matched the heat of the day. Niall Sheehy and Sean Moriarty were each
cautioned as things threatened to boil over.
A second yellow shown to wing back David Clifford resulted in Kerry
facing most of the game a man down, and given recent results a Blues victory looked
on the cards. Kerry did not let the
setback dampen their spirits and even lifted their game. Corner forward Darragh O'Brien and Joe
Fitzpatrick pointed twice each, while Sheehy added another for Kerry. At the break it was a one point Kerry lead,
0-6 to 1-2.
 |
| Kerry's Aaron Hickey runs into a hard stop. |
Kerry got the second half off to the best possible start
with a two goal salvo. The first came
from O'Brien who fisted in a Joe Fitzpatrick cross. Immediately afterwards Sheehy blocked a
handpass out of the Blues defence and with just the keeper to beat netted. Kerry were on their way to a shock victory-
or were they? With Kerry legs tiring in the
heat, and urgency mounting in the Blues camp the champions began to get their
act together. After getting fouled
Kieran Hurley got on the end of a short pass and cancelled out one of the Kerry
goals. The Blues then leveled affairs
with a five points to one run. Keane
moved to a position closer to goal and looked more comfortable, and was
certainly more productive on the scoring end.
Four of the Blues points came from the boot of the Kerins O'Rahilly's
man, the fifth point coming from Duffy.
Kerry mustered up some energy for a final push however, and restored
their lead to two points. The Blues
regained the advantage after a well worked move ended in a penalty after Cathal
McHugh was tripped in the box while shooting.
Keane put the kick away and it was the Blues up by one. Both sides continued to work hard in the heat
and traded points, O’Brien getting the critical scores for Kerry and Barry
Hartnett popping up from wing back for the Blues, before substitute Colin
Campion leveled matters. The Blues
missed several chances to get the go ahead scores in the final minutes and will
look back at the game wondering how they did not come out of it with both
points. A great result from a Kerry
point of view. The men from the Kingdom
may have been quietly confident of pulling off a result before the game, but
given the way it all played out will be very pleased with the draw.
Blues: D. O'Brien, K.
Hartnett, G. Ryan, B. Hartnett (0-1), S. Brosnan, S. Moriarty ,
D. Treacy, S. Kiely, A. Duffy (0-2), D. Dolan, BJ Keane (1-5), K. Hurley (1-0),
C. McHugh. Kerry: P. Bailey, S. Driscoll (1-0), D. Larkin, E.
Mullan, S. Cunningham, D. Clifford, I. Whelan,
A. Hickey, J. Fitzpatrick (0-2), R. Kennedy, S. O'Callaghan, N. Sheehy (1-1),
D. O'Brien (1-7). Sub: C. Campion (0-1).
By Rory O'Donnell
No comments:
Post a Comment