Kilmoyley and Lixnaw advance to the Kerry SHC semi-finals while St Brendan's exit

St Brendan's left a good lead slip away. 

Kilmoyley were rewarded with a bye to the semis in three weeks' time.  Picture:  Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

St Brendan's just came up short against 2021 champions Kilmoyley but it hardly mattered because they needed to win by 10 to stay in the championship. 

Instead they left a huge lead slip and Daniel Collins did what he has done so many times, rescued Kilmoyley with a last-gasp winner deep in added time on a 0-17 to 1-13 scoreline. 

This meant that St Brendan's made their exit from this year's championship and Kilmoyley were rewarded with a bye to the semis in three weeks' time. 

St Brendan's, despite playing with a strong gale, found they only level at 0-7 apiece, the Ardfert side’s prospects of resurrecting their season appeared to be zero. Their opponents, fresh from a convincing win over Causeway, were easily staying in contention against the elements.

Then, all of a sudden, things changed. Six unanswered points gave St Brendan’s a decent lead at the interval, 0-13 to 0-7, thanks to 0-3 from the outstanding Dáithí Griffin and two points from Fionan Egan as Kilmoyley realised they were in a battle.

Less than 30 seconds into the second half, St Brendan’s got the biggest boost of all. Earnán Ferris and Fionán Mackessy did the spadework before the sliothar was transferred to Graham Horan, and the Mullinahone native made no mistake with a blistering rocket to John B O’Halloran’s net. It was now a 10-point game but incredibly St Brendan's failed to score for the rest of the game.

When, in the 66th minute, the ball broke kindly for Robert Collins to slip the sliothar to his oncoming sibling Daniel who fired over the winning point from close range.

Lixnaw breezed by Ballyduff to claim top spot in Kerry SHC Group A winning on a 1-22 to 1-13 scoreline. In the draw for the knock-out stages, Lixnaw got the bye straight to the semi–finals in three weeks' time.

Lixnaw led by 10 at half time with the advantage of the strong wind but they only lost the second half by a point to a very disappointing Ballyduff side who never looked in this game without their scorer in chief Podge Boyle.

Not for the first time Shane Conway was the star of the show from placed balls and general play but he got great assistance from the likes of Aodhan and Darragh Shanahan, Jeremy McKenna, John Buckley, Eoghan Stack and young Mikey Kelliher.

Lixnaw raced 0-9 to 0-1 ahead by the end of the opening quarter. Ballyduff had to switch their talisman Mikey Boyle from attack into defence and he steadied a sinking ship. 

Ballyduff’s opening score was a Dylan Moriarty 65 while Kevin Goulding was their only scoring threat and when he was fouled Moriarty doubled Ballyduff’s total. Goulding was denied a goal as Moriarty converted a free but Lixnaw added six unanswered points, the pick being a 50m sideline cut from the mercurial Shane Conway. Eoin Ross (free) and Jack Enright with Ballyduff’s only first half score from play, saw Lixnaw retire 0-15 to 0-5 in front.

Ballyduff made an encouraging start to the second half with the strong wind firing over three points in row and were denied a goal by superb goalkeeping by Martin Stackpoole.

But disaster for Ballyduff in the 47th minute when a long ball from Aodhan Shanahan was flicked to the net by Mikey Kelliher as keeper Darragh Quinlan advanced and at 1-17 to 0-11, there was no way back for the Duffers. Kevin Goulding did respond with a goal but Shane Conway kept Lixnaw in front and the contributed 0-12 of his side’s total.

The SHC draw is as follows:

Quarterfinals:

Causeway v Crotta O’Neills Abbeydorney v Ballyduff Byes to semis Kilmoyley and Lixnaw