A thoroughly disappointing display saw us fail to take anything from our penultimate game in Beaufort and with it a great opportunity spurned to qualify for our first league final since 2013 – all is not lost however and a win or draw in our final game at home to Dingle will see us through.
We were quickest to settle with opening scores from Ryan Carroll and Cormac Coffey before Beaufort registered their first score in the 5th minute, a pointed free from wing forward Fergal Hallissey. They added two further points in the next 10 minutes before we lost Con Barrett to an ankle injury – his replacement Jack Savage was to go on to have a fine game notching five points from frees and a further two from play but Con’s loss was a major blow given his recent good form.
Beaufort were strong around the middle with Nathan Breen and Ronan Murphy giving them a foothold at midfield with strong support from centre back Mike Breen – indeed it was Breen, up supporting his forwards who notched his sides 6th point approaching the 30th minute which was quickly followed by another minor from Ronan Murphy – in between we had scores from Tommy and Jack (2) as we trailed 0-07 to 0-05 as the half time whistle drew near – it was then that a good run from Ross O’Callaghan from defence saw him link up with Tommy and when his inside pass found John Ferguson his shot was blocked with the foot resulting in a penalty – however, despite hitting the shot low to the goalie’s right, Ryan Carroll’s effort was saved bringing an end to the first half.
The 2nd half was but two minutes old when we were reduced to 14 players as referee Seán Joy dismissed Cormac Coffey for retaliation when fouled – this seemed to spur us on however and we scored the next 3 points to lead by one after 10 minutes; we were now in a real battle for the points being a man down and Beaufort made us pay dearly in the 15th minute when full forward Ronan Ferris goaled after being put through; we again regrouped and added points from Chucky from a “45” and a free from Jack – a long ball into the opposition goalmouth was brilliantly fielded by Tommy but despite being pulled and dragged the referee allowed play to develop and a golden opportunity to draw level was denied. Beaufort added two further scores as they now exploited the spaces due to their numerical advantage but again Jack and Darragh McElligott reduced the advantage – there were just four minutes of normal time remaining but having stretched the lead to two points the home side made sure of the points when goaling in the 31st minute – a further 5 minutes of added time saw Jack point from a free but it was too little, too late and we left empty handed.
As stated, this was a disappointing performance on the night with too many players failing to deliver but we still have our destiny in our own hands and any result other than a loss to Dingle will see us qualify to play Dr Crokes in this years final – should we lose to Dingle, we could still end up in a play off as 3 teams lie just two points behind us.
Final Score: Beaufort 2-11, Kerins O’Rahillys 0-13.
Team: Cillian Moran, Danny O’Sullivan, Ross O’Callaghan, Darragh McElligott ( 0-01), Cian Sayers, Ryan Carroll ( 0-02, 1 “45”), Karl Mullins, Con Barrett, John C O’Connor, Gavin O’Brien, Padraig Griffin, Cormac Coffey ( 0-01), Tommy Walsh ( 0-02), John Ferguson.
Subs: Jack Savage ( 0-07, 5fs), Seán Collins, Donagh O’Brien.
