Kerry 0-26
Limerick 0-6
Paul Brennan reports from Cusack Park, Ennis
BRENDAN O’SULLIVAN, THE man at the eye of the recent anti-doping case, kicked two points and came off to a rousing ovation from the travelling faithful in Ennis as Kerry remain on course for a fourth successive Munster junior football title after a comfortable win over Limerick.
Eamonn Fitzmaurice and junior manager Jimmy Keane obviously felt the best thing for O’Sullivan, after two weeks of adverse publicity owing to a positive finding in a drugs test last year, was to get the Valentia man back playing football as soon as possible.
When sufficient time wasn’t available to him with the senior team playing Clare, a midfield start in the curtain-raiser was next best, and O’Sullivan returned the opportunity with a confident performance.
Indeed, confident is the term applicable to the entire Kerry performance as they dispatched a very poor Limerick team with minimum fuss. With Kerry seniors past and future in their team, Kerry not only look a safe bet for that fourth provincial title in a row, but a third All-Ireland title on the trot looks a good bet at this stage also.
A couple of Kieran Daly scores gave Limerick the early lead, but Kerry quickly settled and reeled off the next nine points, including four Conor Cox frees. Limerick’s next score, a John Bourke point, came in the 20th minute, but Kerry were smooth and efficient in all areas, and scores from Philip O’Connor, Jeff O’Donoghue and Brendan O’Sullivan’s second point saw Kerry lead 0-13 to 0-4 at the break.
The pattern continued after the break with Daly getting the first score for Limerick before Kerry took over and dominated. Killian Spillane finished with four from play, former senior panelist Pa Kilkenny kicked two from the defence, and Ivan Parker came off the bench to kick a brace also.
O’Sullivan came off to generous applause in the 46th minute with a thigh injury, at which stage Kerry led 0-17 to 0-6, and the final quarter was mere shooting practice for the Kingdom who will play Cork for the Munster title in a fortnight.
Scorers for Kerry: Conor Cox 0-6 (5 frees), Killian Spillane 0-4, Jeff O’Donoghue 0-3 (1 ’45′), Philip O’Connor 0-3, Brendan O’Sullivan 0-2, Pa Kilkenny 0-2, Ivan Parker 0-2
Roibéard Ó Sé 0-1, Eanna O’Connor 0-1, Tomas Ó Sé 0-1, Evan Cronin 0-1
Scorers for Limerick: Kieran Daly 0-3 (2f), John Bourke 0-2, Tommie Griffin 0-1
Kerry
1. Tomas Mac an tSaoir (An Ghaeltacht)
2. Eamonn Kiely (Brosna)
3. Jack McGuire (Listowel Emmets)
4. Pa Kilkenny (Glenbeigh-Glencar)
5. James Walsh (Knocknagoshel)
6. Michael Foley (Ballydonoghue)
7. Daniel O’Brien (Glenflesk)
8. Roibeárd Ó Sé (An Ghaeltacht)
9. Brendan O’Sullivan (Valentia)
10. Philip O’Connor (Cordal)
11. Jeff O’Donoghue (Glenflesk)
12. Eánna Ó Conchúir (An Ghaeltacht)
13. Killian Spillane (Templenoe)
14. Conor Cox (Listowel Emmets)
15. Tomás Ó Sé (An Ghaeltacht)
Subs
17. Liam Carey (Beaufort) for B O’Sullivan (inj, 46 mins)
18. Ivan Parker (Churchill) for T Ó Sé (48 mins)
21. DJ Murphy (Gneeveguilla) for J McGuire (51 mins)
19. Evan Cronin (Spa) for J O’Donoghue (54 mins)
22. Brandon Barrett (Ardfert) for D O’Brien (56 mins)
20. Dara Ó Sé (An Ghaeltacht) for P O’Connor (56 mins)
Limerick
1. James Brouder (Mountcollins)
2. Mike O’Keeffe (Newcastle West)
3. Mike O’Leary (Newcastle West)
4. James Bridgeman (St Senans)
5. Colm McSweeney (Gerald Griffins)
6. Pakie Moran (Ballysteen)
7. Sean Sheahan (Rathkeale)
8. Tommie Griffin (Gerald Griffins)
9. Maurice Fitzgerald (St Senans)
10. John Bourke (Oola)
11. Sean Murphy (Newcastle West)
12. Jamie McGarry (Claughaun)
13. Eoin O Donnell (Rathkeale)
14. Padraig De Brún (Firies)
15. Kieran Daly (Na Piarsaigh)
Subs
22. Jack English (Adare) for 9. M Fitzgerald (26 mins)
19. Con Berkery (Cappamore) for 11. S Murphy (ht)
18. Ray Flattery (St Senans) for M O’Leary (41 mins)
20. Anthony Harnett (Mountcollins) for J McGarry (41 mins)
21. Shane Doherty (Adare) for C McSweeney (48 mins)
Referee: John Hannan (Clare)
Full confidence in the team to perform very well for the rest of the tournament!
@Jasper Conroy: Really???
2007 comparisons are lazy. We hammered Scotland in our first match. People seem to have completely forgotten that.
11 points from a possible 15 after 3 games. Not a bad return at all. Time to get behind the team and stop the moaning. #COYBIG
Some load of negative tosspots in the media. Same goons who downplayed the grand slams, dismissed wins over NZ/SA and cheered for Racing over Leinster are now delighted. It’s like they are in competition to be the new Tom Humphries.
The social media campaigns from the sponsors are grating, but they always are no matter the sport or team.
It never ceases to amaze me how the commentators/pundits swing, we beat a poor Scotland and we are set for a quater final against SA no account taken of Japan who should be tier one nation and who accounted for SA in 2015, who are also hosting. We then put 35 points on Russia get the bonus point and Eddie is not satisfied, the same Eddie who presided over the debacle of 2007 in FRANCE. Give this squad a break and get behind then nothing is to be gained from negativity. Bestie and the Boys Abú
Just 22 points and one try conceded in 3 games is a very healthy stat .
@Limón Madrugada:
“Just 22 points and one try conceded in 3 games”
And we scored 11 tries to 1 conceded :: if we stated that before the WC we would have been happy :: but in that, there was 1 loss !!!!!!
Yeah the negativity is getting to me also. Can we do a bit of analysis on the positives? Also aside from Samoa game we probably won’t go into another game as favourites no matter how far we go in the tournament and that is just fine by me. That’s where the Irish pysche is more comfortable and more dangerous. I hope we play well against Samoa and get the result needed to put pressure on Japan and then we put the fear of God into our opponents in the quarters!
@Brian O’Driscoll: have to agree, finally watched the Russia game. There was a lot of good variation in attack which ended with a poor handling error or a Russian infringement (often not penalised – for Henderson’s knock on over the line, it was actually good Russian D but the 7 knocked on in the preceding ruck). The evidence is there that Ireland are about to kick on. Everyone would take a loss in the group if it meant peaking at QF stage and you can see Ireland are starting to ramp it up.
Hugh Cahill’s and Donal Lenihan’s rugby commentary is also very poor and schizophrenic. The keyboard warriors and Ed O Sullivan’s of this world will be the biggest fans when we put Samoa to the sword by at least 30 points. COYBIG
@Brian O’Driscoll:
@Brian O’Driscoll: have to agree. I finally watched the Russia game and the evidence is there that they are beginning to vary their attacking play which often ended with an error or Russian infringement. They played good ball. Russia was not the game to correct the Japan loss. What good would it be to go out and put 70 on Russia. It’s better they tried to evolve the game. No one wants 4 pool wins if it means a QF loss. I can see Ireland ramping up their game plan ahead of a QF showdown and surprised others who are professionals in the game don’t see it.
People like Ed O Sullivan and the keyboard warriors who think the Russian game was the game to correct the woes of the Japan loss are fools. The time to do it is at the QF.
We’ll put 30 on Samoa.
I’m sick to the back teeth of all the negativity. The final straw for me was Sean Farrell on the42′s rugby podcast yesterday moaning that Ireland’s first try against Russia was an old Joe Schmidt strike move. Some people will always find something negative to say.
Completely down to the players themselves, their mind set, body language, which to date hasn’t been great.
They’ve done it before so they can up it again.
Ah Martin you should know more than anyone that negativity does nothing for any teak.
Team that is