We came up well short in Lewis Road on Sat night when going down to the locals on a final scoreline of 2-11 to 0-05 thus ending our hopes of an extended run in the club championship - we will now meet Dingle next weekend in Strand Road where nothing but a win will see us in a relegation play off for senior status with the bottom team in Group A.

The half time score of 0-03 to 0-02 in our favour in over 30 mins of football was evidence of an error strewn, turgid affair with defences on top - Crokes defended in numbers, often having 12 behind the ball and in Tommy’s absence we lacked a focal point for our attacks.

Our 3 points came from the boots of Tom Hoare, who opened the scoring from a free, with further points being added by Cormac and Conor both from play with David being unlucky just before halftime with an effort coming back off the post from long distance.

The 2nd half began with David winning the throw in and off loading to Cormac who played a lovely ball inside the cover for Barry John who, though well positioned, blasted wide with only the keeper to beat - it was a big blow to us and a massive let off for the opposition.

The next five minutes saw scores traded with Ben Hanafin, energetic as always, keeping us in touch but Crokes had moved ahead 0-06 to 0-04 by the 7th minute and looked more menacing in possession having thrown off the defensive shackles of the first half.

However, we were nothing if not game and when Tom Hoare burst through putting Ben in the clear his offload to the far post was just cut out with a free being awarded for a foul by Shane McElligott on the breaking ball; from this let off, Crokes worked the ball downfield and sub Cian McMahon netted with a low drive to Rob’s right.

Crokes added another point from a “45” from Billy Courtney but David kicked a massive point in the 20th minutes to leave us 5 in arrears ( 1-07 to 0-05) - alas, that was to be our last score with Crokes piling on the pressure and adding 1-04 without reply from here to the final whistle.

The game ended on a fractious note with the referee showing Diarmuid a black card to add to his yellow in the first half, and in a final melee issuing two red cards, one to each side.

This was no surprise given the inconsistency of the referee regarding foul play - his decision to issue Diarmuid with a yellow card early in the game, for what looked like a fair shoulder, was met with bewilderment and derision and resulted in a member of the management team also receiving a yellow - not the cause of our defeat, but in truth a poor outing by the official.

We seem to be lacking in confidence at the moment but a home game in Strand Road next weekend might be enough to erase any self doubts and produce a performance which we are well capable of.

Team: Rob O’Connor, Jake Foley, Ross O’Callaghan, Darragh McElligott, Shane Brosnan, Con Barrett, Cormac Coffey (0-01),, David Moran (0-01), Ben Hanafin ( 0-01), Conor Hayes (0-01), Tom Hoare ( 0-01), Gearóid Savage, Barry John Keane, Shane McElligott.

Subs used: Daniel Bowler, Seán Wlash, Darragh O’Connor, Conor O’Sullivan & Padraig Griffin.