East Kerry 1-16

Rathmore 1-10

Paul Brennan reports from Fitzgerald Stadium

WITH MINIMAL FUSS, East Kerry are back in the Kerry senior football championship final after a more comfortable than it looks six-point win over Rathmore, with the result setting up a repeat of last year’s final between the reigning champions and Mid Kerry.

Last year Rathmore were part of the East Kerry team that won the championship, but twelve months on they were the opposition, and that familiarity led to a certain amount of contempt, with Paudie Clifford happy to goad Fionn Holohan after at least three of his four points from play.

A bit of saltiness aside, though, this was a fairly benign semi-final in Fitzgerald Stadium, with a certain inevitability about the result, even though Rathmore were just four points down at half-time, 1-4 to 0-4.

The difference was David Clifford’s 26th minute goal, the Fossa wizard set up by Patrick Darcy for a typically cool finish low past William Casey.

It had been a competitive, if fairly pedestrian, first half, with the Cliffords doing the scoring for East Kerry and their Kerry team mate, Shane Ryan, working the scoreboard for Rathmore. Aside from David’s goal, himself and Paudie had two points apiece in the first period, while Ryan converted two frees and a mark, as well as punching a point from play, in a fairly forgettable first half.

The winning of the game came in the first 15 minutes of the second half, with points from Dara Roche (2), Darcy, Donal O’Sullivan and Paudie Clifford opening up a 1-9 to 0-4 lead for the champions.

Alan Dineen did a decent enough job on David Clifford, while Holohan’s running battle with Paudie kept the handy sized crowd entertained, but Rathmore really missed the defensive and attacking prowess of Paul Murphy, with the Kerry defender ruled out through injury.

Rathmore plugged away with scores from Mark Reen, Mark Ryan and Brendan O’Keeffe, but the 2022 intermediate champions never really looked like closing the gap on the champions.

East Kerry were still comfortably ahead, 1-13 to 0-8, by the 55th minute, before late points from David Clifford, Finbarr Murphy and Roche made it a 10-point game.

Brendan O’Keeffe scored a consolation goal for Rathmore in added time, but the outcome was as everyone expected.

With Mid Kerry beating Dingle by 10 points in the first semi-final on Saturday evening, the hope is that the final will be the one game that can partly redeem what has been a hugely underwhelming championship.

Scorers for East Kerry: D Clifford 1-3 (0-1f), P Clifford 0-4, D Roche 0-4 (1f), K Murphy 0-1, R Buckley 0-1, P Darcy 0-1, D O’Sullivan 0-1 (m), F Murphy 0-1

Scorers for Rathmore: S Ryan 0-6 (4f, 1m), B O’Keeffe 1-1, J Darmody 0-1, M Ryan 0-1, M Reen 0-1

EAST KERRY: Brian Kelly (Legion), Cian Lynch (Glenflesk), Chris O’Leary (Kilcummin), Dara Callaghan (Kilcummin), Niall Donohue (Firies), Jack Sherwood (Firies), Dan O’Brien (Glenflesk), Kieran Murphy (Kilcummin), Ronan Buckley (Listry), Darragh Lyne (Legion), Paudie Clifford (Fossa), Patrick D’Arcy (Glenflesk), David Clifford (Fossa), Darragh Roche (Glenflesk), Dónal O’Sullivan.

Subs: Luke Crowley (Glenflesk) for P Darcy (44), Cian Gammell (Legion) for D Callaghan (50), Emmet O’Shea (Fossa) for D O’Sullivan (50), Finbarr Murphy (Legion) for K Murphy (53), Owen Fitzgerald (Gneeveguilla) for C O’Leary (56)

RATHMORE: William Casey, Cian Dineen, Alan Dineen, TJ Friel, Brian Friel, Dan Murphy, Fionn Holohan, Mark Ryan, Cathal Ryan, Jimmy Mahony, Brendan O’Keeffe, James Darmody, John Moynihan, Shane Ryan, Andrew Moynihan.

Subs: Mark Reen for J Mahony (41), Fionn Murphy for J Moynihan (53)

Referee: Paul Hayes (Kerins O’Rahillys)