East Kerry Overcomes St Kieran’s Inspired Challenge

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East Kerry 2-13 St Kieran’s 1-14

Champions East Kerry had to dig into their reserves of guts and fighting spirit before overcoming a St Kieran’s inspired challenge in a throbbing Kerry SFC quarterfinal at Austin Stack Park tonight, though star man David Clifford was sent off in the last moments.

Trailing by three points (1-13 to 1-10) in the second half of the water break after James Walsh’s magnificent goal for the underdog, Jerry O’Sullivan’s star-studded squad appeared to be in big trouble, as he also survived a missed St Kieran’s penalty early in the half when Paul Walsh’s effort was well saved by Kerry goalkeeper Shane Ryan.

Yet the time comes, the man comes, when a hitherto subdued Clifford scored for East Kerry’s second killer goal in the 55th minute after his brother Paudie and Darragh Roche opened the door for Kerry’s captain to punch a low shot to the back of Kieran’s St. Red.

Although standout Eddie Horan immediately leveled the scores again (2-11 to 1-14), East Kerry now had the bite between its teeth, with the Clifford brothers scoring the final two points of exceptional competition.

East Kerry's Brendan O'Keeffe and David Clifford after the game.
East Kerry’s Brendan O’Keeffe and David Clifford after the game.

However, there was a lot of controversy at the end when, after a no-ball incident, referee Jonathan Griffin showed David Clifford a direct red card, which would appear to rule out the talisman of the semi-final winners.

East Kerry led at halftime by just one point (1-7 to 0-9) after a first half filled with brilliant soccer passages from both teams.

Indeed, St Kieran’s was left lamenting three missed scoring opportunities that would have set a different tone on the scoreboard, with Eddie Horan, Paul Walsh and Thomas Hickey all missed opportunities to raise the green flag.

At the other end, Paudie Clifford showed them how he pulled off a superb left-footed shot to score East Kerry’s first goal, but it was brother David who was the topic of conversation, for different reasons, at the final whistle.

Scorers for East Kerry: D Clifford 1-5 (0-4 free), P Clifford 1-1, D Roche 0-4 (0-2 free), E Cronin 0-2, J Sherwood 0-1.

KERRY EAST: S Ryan (Rathmore); C O’Donoghue (Glenflesk), J Sherwood (Firies), P Warren (Gneeveguilla); S Cronin (Spa), D O’Donoghue (Spa), P Murphy (Rathmore); D. O’Brien (Glenflesk), R. Buckley (Listry); D Moynihan (Spa), P Clifford (Fossa), B O’Keeffe (Rathmore); D Clifford (Fossa), D Roche (Glenflesk), E Cronin (Spa).

Subs: M Foley (Spa) for E Cronin (47 minutes), M Ryan (Rathmore) for O’Keeffe (47 minutes), P Doyle (Gneeveguilla) for O’Brien (56 minutes).

St Kieran’s top scorers: E Horan 0-8 (0-5 free), J Walsh 1-1, P Walsh 0-2 (0-1 free), S Og O Ciardubhain (’45), P O’Connor and M Hickey 0-1 every.

SAN KIERAN: S Og O Ciardubhain; B Leonard, E Kiely, M Reidy; L Brosnan, A Donoghue, S Horan; J Walsh, M Hickey; P. O’Connor, E Horan, P. Walsh; T Hickey, A Breen, T Lynch.

Subs: A Barry for S Horan (58 minutes), V Horan for Walsh (60 minutes).

REFEREE: J Griffin (Glenbeigh-Glencar).

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