Mercy Mounthawk reach first ever Corn Uí Mhuirí final after beating Sem in semis

Miunthawk weren’t made to sweat any great amount. What they did was make a semi-final statement, a very large and loud one.

Odhran Ferris of Mercy Mounthawk and Padraig O'Donoghue of St Brendans Killarney pictured in action during the game.

Corn Uí Mhuirí semi-final: Mercy Mounthawk 2-14 St Brendan’s College Killarney 0-7.

The pretenders have arrived. The old order have been usurped and ushered off stage.

Mercy Mounthawk are into their first ever Corn Uí Mhuirí final. They didn’t squeeze through. They weren’t made to sweat any great amount. What they did was make a semi-final statement, a very large and loud one.

In reaching a first final, they ended the Sem’s three-in-a-row bid. They inflicted a first Corn Uí Mhuirí defeat on the Sem in exactly four years. They hammered them out the gates of Austin Stack Park and out onto John Joe Sheehy Road.

The result sets up an all-Tralee decider on Saturday week. And as impressive as Tralee CBS were in their comfortable semi-final victory over Mallow, all the expectation will come on Mounthawk to deliver a maiden crown.

The absolute gale supporting Mounthawk’s opening half efforts were well reflected in the interval scoreline. 1-11 to 0-2. A 12-point gap.

It was St Brendan’s who had actually kicked the opening score of the game through Jimmy Kelleher on three minutes. Problem was they’d not add to it for another 26 minutes.

Their greatest regret will have been the Padraig O’Donoghue almost goal on 18 minutes. Having navigated the necessary black shirts, O’Donoghue, one-on-one with goalkeeper Michael Tansley, pulled his shot to the right and wide.

Trailing by 0-6 to 0-1 at the time, a Brendan's green flag would have put a significant dent in the Mounthawk first-half agenda of running up as sizable a lead as they could.

As it was, the Tralee students took the let off and filled their bellies in the 10 minutes before the short whistle.

Midfielder Daniel Kirby, half-forward Sean Corkery, and a Lane free pushed them 0-9 to 0-1 in front before Odhran Ferris drilled home the game’s opening goal.

The goal arrived from a Sem restart collected by an opposing shirt. That ‘keeper Shay O’Meara endured a difficult half off the kicking tee was hardly of his own doing. Mounthawk pressing up and the gale in O’Meara’s face made his task of finding a Sem teammate incredibly difficult.

On this occasion, Sean Corkery gathered the restart, off-loaded to Ferris and he goaled on 26 minutes.

Their final two scores of the half were Lane white flags. The first of his pair was his fourth free of the half. The second of the pair was his second from play, stemming from the all too familiar Ben Murphy-Lane combination.

To state the absolute obvious, St Brendan’s required a quick flurry of second half scores. Instead, it was Mounthawk who should have added a second half goal a minute after the restart. Finding themselves with three unmarked players to the left of goal, full-back Oisin McGibney’s along-the-floor effort was superbly knocked around for a ‘45 by Tansley.

A pair of Alex Hennigan frees to cut the margin back to 10 points - 1-11 to 0-4 - was as close as the dethroned champions got.

Their reign ended on 47 minutes. Caught with too many players committed forward, a breakaway move ended with Paddy Lane finding the net.

Despite the wind in their faces, the winners still broke even with St Brendan’s across the second half. 1-2 to 0-5.

Mounthawk march on. One more hurdle left to clear.

Scorers for Mercy Mounthawk: P Lane (1-7, 0-5 frees); O Ferris (1-0); N Collins (0-2); D Kirby, C O’Gara, S Corkery, T Kennedy, J Hoare (0-1 each).

Scorers for St Brendan’s College: A Hennigan (0-5, 0-4 frees); J Kelleher, O Fleming (0-1 each).

MERCY MOUNTHAWK: M Tansley (Austin Stacks); G O’Riordan (Ardfert), O McGibney (Churchill), J Fisher (Austin Stacks); P O’Halloran (Austin Stacks), J Murphy (Austin Stacks), B Murphy (Austin Stacks); D Kirby (Austin Stacks), C O’Gara (Churchill); S Corkery (John Mitchels), O Ferris (Ardfert), N Collins (Ballymacelligott); P Lane (Austin Stacks), T Kennedy (Kerins O'Rahillys), N Townsend (Austin Stacks).

Subs: K Sheehan (Na Gaeil) for Corkery, O Murphy (Churchill) for O’Halloran (both 49); B Sharp (St Pat’s Blennerville) for McGibney (51); J Hoare (Kerins O’Rahilly’s) for Townsend (53); B Byrne (Austin Stacks for Ferris (55, inj).

ST BRENDAN’S COLLEGE: S O’Meara (Dr Crokes); L Daly (Kilcummin), D Stack (Kilcummin), M Lynch (Dr Crokes); A Byrne (Dr Crokes), K O’Shea (Kilcummin), L O’Neill (Spa); J Moynihan (Glenflesk), O O’Neill (Spa); J Kelleher (Kilgarvan), C Cronin (Glenflesk), O Fleming (Legion); P O’Donoghue (Listry), A Hennigan (Dr Crokes), R Hartnett (Dr Crokes).

Subs: J McCarthy (Spa) for Daly (HT); J Bowler (Legion for O’Donoghue, A Cronin (Spa) for Hartnett (both 45); B O’Connor (Glenflesk) for O’Neill (both 47); T O’Gorman (Fossa) for Kelleher (53).

Referee: S Mulvihill (Kerry).