Crokes enhance contender status as they dismiss Mid Kerry

Despite Dr Crokes playing the final quarter with 14 men after Brian Looney was sent off, Mid Kerry failed to register a score. 

Darragh O'Connor Mid Kerry and Tony Brosnan Dr Crokes in action during the Kerry SFC game. Picture: Domnick Walsh © Eye Focus LTD.

Kerry SFC: Dr Crokes 1-16 Mid Kerry 1-8 

Not even a final quarter spent with 14 men could remotely trouble Dr Crokes. Their passage to the quarter-final was extremely comfortable. Their status as contenders is enhanced.

It was Brian Looney that was shown the line on 48 minutes, the Crokes half-back picking up two yellow cards in the space of eight minutes.

Trailing by 1-14 to 1-8, the presumption was that the beaten county finalists of the last two years would rouse themselves for an all-out final quarter to close the gap on their numerically disadvantaged opponents.

What actually happened was that Mid Kerry never raised a flag of any colour while a man up. They didn't score from the 46th minute onward.

14-man Crokes were so impressive in their control and game-management. David Shaw, fed by Mark O’Shea, shoved them seven clear on 52 minutes. Shaw finished with 0-4 - a mark and three from play - and would have stood out even more than he did were it not for Tony Brosnan’s first-half excellence beside him.

Sub Daithí Casey completed the scoring to send Crokes stress-free into the last eight of the championship. It’s a juncture of the championship they’ve not gone further than since 2021. The evidence here suggests three years won’t become four.

At the end of the Tony Brosnan opening half, Crokes led 1-10 to 1-4. Brosnan was responsible for 1-6 of that 1-10 Crokes total.

Where East Kerry's Paudie Clifford had gone for six points from six shots in the opening 25 minutes of the curtain-raiser against Milltown-Castlemaine, his Kerry teammate had chalked up 1-5 from six shots in the first 20 minutes of the main event.

The breakdown of that 1-5 was two frees, a mark, two from play, and a goal from a short restart gone wrong.

One or two of Seán Coffey’s earlier short restarts had caused a degree of panic in the Mid Kerry defence. Brosnan’s opener from play after six minutes was a product of one such kick-out gone awry.

On 20 minutes, Cian McMahon collected the short restart, offloaded to Brosnan, and he beat Coffey with a low shot into the right corner. Following it as he did with a mark, which was followed by a Tom Doyle point, Brosnan and Crokes had taken a two-point contest and sped 1-8 to 0-4 clear.

The necessary Mid Kerry response was one Brosnan would have applauded. Ciaran Kennedy, with a jabbed pick-up on the endline, took on and beat two defenders before getting the better of Shane Murphy. Kennedy became only Mid Kerry’s second scorer, with Eoghan Hassett having supplied their four earlier points.

A subsequent Keith Evans black card disrupted the momentum Mid Kerry might have hoped to mine from the green flag.

The half finished with Brosnan and Micheál Burns on target to stretch the gap to six at the turnaround. That gap remained right through the third quarter. It looked ripe for closing when Looney walked. Instead, Crokes tightened their grip.

Scorers for Dr Crokes: T Brosnan (1-7, 0-3 frees, 0-1 mark); D Shaw (0-4, 0-1 mark); M Burns (0-3, 0-1 free); T Doyle, D Casey (0-1 each).

Scorers for Mid Kerry: E Hassett (0-6, 0-3 frees); C Kennedy (1-0); S O’Brien (0-1 mark), K Evans (0-1 each).

DR CROKES: S Murphy; N O’Shea, G White, F Fitzgerald; M Potts, E Looney, B Looney; C Keating, M O’Shea; M Burns, G O’Shea, C McMahon; T Brosnan, T Doyle, D Shaw.

Subs: M Lynch for N O’Shea (25); M Cooper for Potts (45, inj); K O’Leary for Doyle (49); D Casey for K O’Leary (54 inj); D Naughten for McMahon (59).

MID KERRY: S Coffey (Beaufort); N Breen (Beaufort), E Clifford (Laune Rangers), P Kilkenny (Glenbeigh/Glencar); G Evans (Keel), S Cleary (Laune Rangers), J Brosnan (Glenbeigh/Glencar); S O’Brien (Beaufort), L Smith (Glenbeigh/Glencar); D O’Connor (Beaufort), K Evans (Keel), D Cleary (Laune Rangers); E Hassett ( Laune Rangers), D Houlihan (Cromane), C Kennedy (Beaufort).

Subs: D Mangan (Laune Rangers) for G Evans (35); J O’Connor (Beaufort) for D O’Connor (36); S Evans (Keel) for D Cleary, R Murphy (Beaufort) for D Houlihan (both 48); L Evans (Keel) for E Hassett (52).

Referee: B Griffin