Surprise defeats for Legion and Stacks, Fossa beaten by Glenflesk

Kilcummin overcame Legion, 0-13 to 0-9 at home on Saturday afternoon. PIC: @LegionGAA

Kerry Club Intermediate and Junior Championships

Killarney Legion and Austin Stacks went into their final round Intermediate group games odds-on to beat Kilcummin and Austin Stacks but came a cropper and now face away quarter-finals this coming weekend.

Despite the absence of talisman Paul O’Shea, Kilcummin sent out a warning to their rivals in this year’s county intermediate championship that they are after a repeat of their 2018 win when they saw off one of the favourites Legion, 0-13 to 0-9 at home on Saturday afternoon. 

It was a victory chiselled out of the collective and tenacious defending of Chris O’Leary, Dara O’Callaghan, Seanie O’Leary and James Nagle who were outstanding throughout. Legion were disappointing, with William Shine well held and though James O’Donoghue was busy and kicked three frees, only Finbar Murphy and Eoghan O’Sullivan looked threatening.

Cian Foley kicked two superb first-half points as did Mark O’Shea on the other wing, Kilcummin led 0-9 to 0-6 at half-time with a swirling wind to their backs. Brendan Kealy converted a 45 and Chris O’Leary  Kieran Murphy, Eoghan O’Donovan and Philip O’Leary scored from play. 

Kilcummin outscored Legion 0-4 to 0-3 in the second half with Garry and Philip O’Leary grabbing a brace each. They will now have Matt Keane back for the quarter-final after his departure from Kerry FC.

Castleisland Desmonds beat Austin Stacks, despite playing with 14 players after Micheal Walsh was shown a straight red in the 24th minute. Cian O’Connor and Adam O’Donoghue had kept the Desmonds in front 0-8 to 1-3 with Cillian Litchfield getting the Stacks goal. But it was Rory Burke who struck for a Desmonds goal on the stroke of half time to give them a 1-8 to 1-3 lead. 

Two Shane O’Callaghan points and one from Sean Quilter closed the gap to two but Desmonds never let Stacks get any closer and a late Maurice Hickey goal saw Desmonds upset the odds on a 2-11 to 1-8 scoreline.

Beaufort, Milltown/Castlemaine, Gneeveguilla and Glenbeigh/Glencar were still in the hunt for quarter-final spots on Saturday afternoon in Group A. Gneeveguilla needed Beaufort to do them a favour by beating Milltown Castlemaine but it was the home side who led Beaufort late on 0-11 to 2-4. Gneeveguilla were dreaming as they were leading Glenbeigh/Glencar 1-9 to 0-7 thanks to a Pa Warren goal. But Milltown/Castlemaine kicked the next five points, all from the boot of Eanna O’Connor (0-8 in total) to lead by one. At this stage, it was Milltown and Gneeveguilla going through but Fergal Hallissey leveled from a free and that meant Beaufort topped the group and Milltown/Castlemaine finished runners up on three points. Gneeveguilla, despite beating Glenbeigh/Glencar 3-10 to 0-9, lost out on the head-to-head with Milltown/Castlemaine.

Glenflesk and Fossa had both qualified and battled it out for home advantage in a cracker in Glenflesk with the home side just falling over the line on a 4-12 to 0-20 scoreline thanks to a late point from Dan O’Brien and then a gift of a goal scored by Brian O’Donoghue. 

It looked as if it was going to be a draw when Emmett O’Shea equalised in the 59th minute but Glenflesk were goal hungry and had goals from Luke Crowley, Darragh Roche and Patrick Darcy. David and Paudie Cliffford had 0-5 each in the opening half.

In the Premier Junior, Ballymacelligott topped group B and guaranteed themselves a home quarter-final thanks to a 3-11 to 1-13 win over a gutsy Annascaul side. They had goals from Donal Daly and Dan O’Shea in the opening half and Vinny Horan in the second.

Ardfert top group A after a big win over bottom club Skellig Rangers 3-16 to 0-8, with goals from Earnan Ferris, Bobby O’Regan and Trevor Wallace. 

But the real drama was in Farranfore, where Firies, who were on top before the game started, lost out to Listowel Emmets 0-15 to 1-11. This left Ardfert, Listowel Emmets and Firies all level on four points but Firies lost out due to an inferior points difference than Ardfert who top the group, with Emmets second. Dromid and Listry also topped their groups.