Red-hot Moriarty powers Tralee to title

INSPIRED by a 1-7 haul from Jamie Moriarty, Tralee CBS were crowned Kerry Colleges O’Sullivan Cup champions at Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney yesterday.

By far the better team in the first-half, the Tralee school led by four points at the break in this heavyweight clash between the county’s top two colleges teams.

This was stretched out to eight points, 1-8 to 0-2, early in the second-half when Moriarty goaled after good work by Seán Walsh, young brother of AFL star Tommy Walsh.

That seemed to kick-start St Brendan’s challenge as they bossed the remainder of the game as Tralee CBS faded somewhat.

But the Sem left themselves with far too much work to do, though Kerry minor Gary O’Leary played his part with five second-half points and sub Kevin McCarthy added the other.

It was not enough, however, as Tralee were kept ticking over by scores from Moriarty (0-2) and Shane O’Callaghan, even though they failed to score in the final quarter.

Full-back Martin Tierney and centre back Robert O’Shea were huge figures for Tralee CBS, who outscored the Sem 0-5 to 0-1 in the first 18 minutes of the half; Moriarty scored 0-4 (0-3 frees) and Niall Sheehy added the other, while a Darragh Stack effort was all a misfiring Sem had to show for their efforts.

Bryan O’Shea did reduce the gap with a free but the St Brendan’s goalkeeper Dan Cronin kept his side in the game with a tremendous save from Moriarty.

It only delayed the inevitable as Moriarty pointed before the break, and then his early second-half goal sent Tralee CBS on the way to their first O’Sullivan Cup in four years.

TRALEE CBS: P Nammock; M Donnelly, M Tierney, A Crean; J Moran, R O’Shea, C Deane; L Bastible, J O’Connor; N Sheehy (0-1 free), S Walsh, I McCarthy; S Moloney, J Moriarty (1-7, 0-4 frees), S O’Callaghan (0-1).

Subs: D Carroll for S O’Callaghan; S Lyons for M Donnelly; W Duggan for N Sheehy; J Savage for S Moloney.

ST BRENDAN’S COLLEGE: D Cronin; M Egan, D O’Leary, J Devane; C Horan, C Tobin, K Fitzgerald; S Keane, K Murphy; N Duggan, G O’Leary (0-5, 0-3 frees), D O’Donoghue; A Slattery, B O’Shea (0-1 free), D Stack (0-1).

Subs: K McCarthy (0-1) for S Keane; P Nagle for D O’Donoghue; C Keane for A Slattery; J Ahern for D Stack.

Referee: Eddie Walsh (Rathmore).