McGoldrick’s late point a St Kieran’s winner

ENOUGH Kerry SFC Round 1 grit on show here to cover the road from Scartaglin across the county bounds into Ballydesmond, but precious little guile and grace.

It finished in a weirdly exciting frenzy of action as an injury time ‘45 from Tom McGoldrick gave the hosts victory, but even the St Kieran’s celebrations were tellingly muted. Castleisland bookie Kieran Bourke won’t be losing any sleep on a local payout come the climax to the Championship in the autumn. St Kieran’s – an amalgamation of seven clubs around Castleisland – should be angry with themselves for the collapse that saw them blow a seemingly impregnable 1-7 to 0-4 lead with only 10 minutes remaining.

Perhaps that does a disservice to Kenmare who lost their best player, Mark Crowley, to a dislocated shoulder and then had full-back Patrick Dwyer sent off before a Flor O’Sullivan goal in the 51st minute gave them an unlikely lifeline at 1-7 to 1-4.