Kerry Senior Football Championship Final
Courtesy of GAA.ie
Dr Crokes 3-8
Dingle 0-11
By Paul Brennan at Austin Stack Park
Dr Crokes are Kerry county senior football champions for the 14th time thanks to a devastating three-goal burst in a six-minute spell that turned this final on its head and left Dingle wondering how another one got away.
Beaten by Crokes in the 2012 and 2018 finals, as well as the Senior Club Championship final a few weeks ago to the same side, Dingle must wonder what it will take to bridge the 76-year gap since they were last county champions. Not conceding three goals in six minutes would be a good place to start.
Leading 0-6 to 0-4 at half time, Dingle extended that lead to three points 30 seconds into the second half, but then it all fell apart. After Tom Leo O’Sullivan had a shot on goal well saved by Shane Murphy in the Dr Crokes goal, four minutes later at the other end, David Shaw wasn’t for missing.
A good turnover on the Dingle defence allowed Shaw grab the ball and he drove it past Gavin Curran to level the score for the first time since Paul Geaney had given Dingle the lead just 25 seconds into the game.
Barry O’Sullivan momentarily gave Dingle back the lead with a point, but two minutes after Shaw’s goal, Kieran O’Leary poked the ball over the Dingle goal line to put the Killarney club two points ahead. Even with a quarter of the game still to play, there only looked one winner from here.
If Dingle’s heads were scrambled after that double strike, they were well and truly fried in the 48th minute when Evan Looney scorched through the Dingle defence and fired in goal number three.
Five points up in a county final with 10 minutes to play, a Pat O’Shea managed simply doesn’t lose from that position. And Dr Crokes didn’t. Micheal Burns added three points to ice the win as Dingle will wonder where it all went awry.
It had all started so well for Dingle, who built on that early Paul Geaney score to move 0-5 to 0-1 ahead after 17 minutes, with Dylan Geaney and Tom O’Sullivan among their scorers.
Dr Crokes found a little momentum in the second quarter with Gavin White firing over two long-range points to haul his side back into contention. Playing against a stiff, Dingle would have been satisfied to turn it around at the break two points in front. Keeping Tony Brosnan scoreless would have been jam on top of that.
Few teams bide their time better than Dr Crokes, though, in these circumstances, and when opportunity knocks, there are few better teams to answer the door.
Scorers for Dr Crokes: D Shaw 1-1, K O’Leary 1-1, M Burns 0-4 (1f), E Looney 1-0, G White 0-2.
Scorers for Dingle: D Geaney 0-5, P Geaney 0-2 (1f), T O’Sullivan 0-1, B O’Sullivan 0-1, C Bambury 0-1, C Geaney 0-1
Dr Crokes: Shane Murphy; Evan Looney, Fionn Fitzgerald, John Payne, Maidhcí Lynch, Gavin White, Brian Looney; Mark O’Shea, Charlie Keating, Micheál Burns, Gavin O’Shea, Tom Doyle; Tony Brosnan, David Shaw, Cian McMahon.
Subs: Kieran O’Leary for T Doyle (36), Michael Potts for C Keating (36), David Naughton for M Lynch (53), Daithi Casey for C MaMahon (56)
Dingle: Gavin H Curran, Conor Flannery, Conor O’Sullivan, Tom O’Sullivan, Brian O’Connor, Darragh O’Sullivan, Tom ‘Leo’ O’Sullivan, Barry O’Sullivan, Billy O’Connor, Cathal Bambury, Matthew Flaherty, Niall Geaney, Dylan Geaney, Paul Geaney, Tadhg de Brún.
Subs: Micheál Flannery for C O’Sullivan (inj, 25), Conor Geaney for D O’Sullivan (39), Mikey Geaney for T De Brún (52), Seán Óg Moran for Billy O’Connor (58), Eoghan Hoare for Brian O’Connor (61)
Referee: Brendan Griffin (Clounmacon).
By Sinead Pigott Mon 28th Oct
