Crokes stay on track for O’Donoghue Cup

MUNSTER senior club champions Dr Crokes are on course for a sixth East Kerry (O’Donoghue Cup) championship in a row after a terrific second-half performance ended Glenflesk’s hopes of a shock semi-final upset at Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney yesterday.

Despite trailing 1-1 to 0-0 early on after a Jeff O’Donoghue goal, and being a point adrift at the break (1-4 to 0-6), Dr Crokes blitzed Glenflesk in the second half. Kerry senior Kieran O’Leary scored the crucial goal 10 minutes after the restart, as Crokes, minus Colm Cooper, moved 1-10 to 1-4 clear. Crokes reeled off scores through Brian Looney, Jamie Doolan, Shane Myers, Keith O’Leary and man-of-the-match Kieran O’Leary in this 10-point victory (1-14 to 1-4).

But Dr Crokes will have to wait until early January to discover their East Kerry final opponents, after the first semi-final between Rathmore and Currow ended 1-15 apiece after extra-time in Killarney yesterday.

While Donal O’Sullivan’s goal had given Rathmore a 1-5 to 0-2 lead in the first half, Currow — missing star man Seamus Scanlon — battled back to force extra-time when Pa McCarthy equalised with an injury-time second-half penalty, 1-12 each. There was little to separate the teams in extra-time, level at half-time and again at full-time, meaning they will meet again in a semi-final replay on January 8.

Elsewhere, in the South Kerry senior championship, Munster junior champions Dromid Pearses booked their place in the divisional final for the first time in six years — against St Mary’s on Christmas Eve — following their 0-10 to 0-6 semi-final replay win against Waterville in Valentia on Saturday.

Waterville led 0-5 to 0-4 at half-time but Dromid bossed the second period, with Kerry senior Declan O’Sullivan (0-3) and Aidan O’Sullivan among the scorers, as they moved 0-10 to 0-5 clear. Stephen O’Dwyer kicked Waterville’s only score of the half with just five minutes left.

Meanwhile, there will be new winners of the Mid Kerry senior championship after holders and newly crowned Munster intermediate holders Milltown/Castlemaine were dumped out in the first round by Glenbeigh/Glencar, losing 2-6 to 0-9 yesterday. Just a week after winning the provincial intermediate crown, Milltown/Castlemaine were brought back down to earth by Darran O’Sullivan’s Glenbeigh/Glencar, who led 1-3 to 0-2 at the break.

Also booking their place in the Mid Kerry semi-finals, which will be played on St Stephen’s Day, were Laune Rangers, who have not won this divisional title since 2006. They defeated last year’s beaten finalists Keel in Killorglin on Saturday, winning 1-8 to 0-8, with Kieran Doona’s early second-half goal proving the difference.

Trailing 0-3 to 0-2 at half-time, Doona’s goal, followed by points from Mike Frank Russell and Shane McSweeney, saw Rangers lead 1-6 to 0-6 late on, despite Liam Sheehan and Gary Sayers pointing for Keel. But Rangers held out in a tight finish.