Hot favourites East Kerry make light work of O’Rahilly's
Ruairi Murphy East Kerry in action against David Moran Kerins O'Rahillys (Blue) during the Kerry County Senior Football Championship Round 1 match played at Austin Stack Park
NO David Clifford, no problem for hot Kerry SFC favourites East Kerry who brushed aside last year’s beaten finalists Kerins O’Rahilly’s with ease in Saturday’s first-round tie in Tralee.
With Dingle and Spa also in Group 2, it would be facile to label it the group of death, but already it looks like everyone is happy to fall in behind East Kerry’s super-powered slipstream.
Their best player on the night isn’t even amongst the division’s inter-county luminaries yet, but it won’t be long before Ruairi Murphy is figuring in Jack O’Connor’s senior squad.
The All-Ireland winning manager was ensconced in the back of the Austin Stack Park stand as East Kerry made light work of breaching the Tralee side’s defence. Murphy, playing at 12, helped himself to 1-3 in the first half and 1-5 in total. The Kerry U20 midfielder from this season had inside him the GAA’s 2014 player of the year James O’Donoghue and Rathmore’s Shane Ryan, who celebrated his release from netminding with some clever movement and three points.
David Clifford was togged out but an unused luxury, his brother Paudie dipping in and out of the game impressively before limping off in the final minutes.
Strand Road, shorn the talent and experience of Jack Savage and Tommy Walsh, won’t get themselves in a lather over this one. Their progress or not will be determined by results against the other two clubs in the group.
There has been copious comment already on the power bloc that is East Kerry, their embarrassment of riches and options. Most of it is true even if suggesting their manager Jerry O’Sullivan has the easiest job in football is a tad facile. It doesn’t work like that. Different sides will ask different questions. Nevertheless, they had nine Kerry seniors of various vintages, and the likes of corner-back Chris O’Donoghue who would be an inter-county senior most anywhere else.
The Glenflesk man took a haymaker of a hit from Gavin O’Brien, who vaguely resembles a tall office block, in the 28th minute and was upfield a minute later kicking Est Kerry’s 11th point of the first half.
The gap at the interval was nine points (1-11 to 0-5) and that wasn’t a bad half’s performance from the Tralee men. But once James O’Donoghue dinked the ball over the last defender to nutmeg the Strand Road keeper for goal No 2 six minutes after the break, the portents for all were grim.
Kerins O’Rahilly’s rallied sufficiently to claim the night’s best goal, David Moran teeing up Conor Hayes for a top corner finish in the 50th minute that made it 2-18 to 1-8 but it was all rather pedestrian at that point.
The Championship favourites did little to dispute the prohibitive odds on them regaining the Bishop Moynihan Cup this year. But if their management was looking for an early test of their pulse, it wasn’t forthcoming this weekend.
They might even have David Clifford back for Round 2…
R Murphy (1-5), J O’Donoghue (1-4, 2 frees), P Clifford (0-4), S Ryan (0-3, two marks), C O’Donghue, C Gammell, P Darcy, R O’Grady (0-1 each).
C Hayes (1-3), B J Keane (0-4, 2 frees), D Moran (0-2), G O’Brien, G Savage (free) (0-1 each).
B Kelly; P Warren (Gneeveguilla), J Sherwood (Firies), C O’Donoghue (Glenflesk); C Gammell (Legion), P Murphy (Rathmore), D. O’Brien (Glenflesk); D Lyne (Legion), R Buckley (Listry); R Murphy (Listry), P Clifford (Fossa), J Lyne (Legion); P. Darcy (Glenflesk), S Ryan (Rathmore) J O’Donoghue (Legion).
R O’Grady (Legion) for J O’Donoghue (43); P. O’Shea (Kilcummin) for Buckley (47); E Fitzgerald (Gneeveguilla) for Murphy (48); P Doyle (Gnee veguilla) for R Murphy (56); C Ryan (Rathmore) for Clifford (56).
S Foley; R O’Callaghan, S Brosnan; D McElligott; P Neenan, C Coffey, B Hanafin; D Moran, D O’Connor; T Hoare, BJ Keane, G O’Brien; G Savage, D. O’Sullivan, C Hayes.
S Walsh for D O’Connor (22); K Mullins for D. O’Sullivan (30); R Carroll for P Neenan (half time); D Bowler for Savage (47); C Sayers for Hanafin (52);
B Griffin (Clounmacon)
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