Dr Crokes 0-14

St Brendan’s 0-9

Paul Brennan reports from Austin Stack Park

DR CROKES DID enough to grind out a five-point win over a dogged St Brendans to qualify for the Kerry SFC final in a fortnight, the first time in five years the famed Killarney club will play in the blue ribbon championship in the Kingdom.

This was far from vintage Crokes, but they were always ahead from when veteran Brian Looney pointed them in front after 40 seconds, and despite a gritty effort from St Brendans, the club side never really looked in danger of losing this semi-final.

For the first 20 minutes, Crokes looked at their imperious best, running those lovely angles and moving the ball through the phases with all the confidence of any team coached by Pat O’Shea. After 18 minutes they led 0-6 to 0-1, with points from Micheal Burns and David Shaw the pick of their scores.

It looked ominous for St Brendans at that stage, but with Dylan Casey keeping his Kerry team-mate Tony Brosnan on a tight leash, the divisional side finished the half strong, with scores from Daniel Kirby, Jack Savage and two from Tomas Kennedy leaving it 0-8 to 0-5 at half and very much a going concern.

Brosnan converted a pair of frees inside the first five minutes of the second half to restore a five-point lead for Crokes, but the Killarney side wouldn’t score from play in the second half until Kieran O’Leary’s point in the 63rd minute.

Meanwhile, St Brendans put in an honest shift but they could never discover any meaningful fluency in the play, and too many handling errors denied them the chance to punish Crokes at the top of the pitch.

Joe O’Connor, Savage and Daithi Griffin engineered scores to make it 0-11 to 0-8 after 48 minutes, but immediately Savage was sidelined for a black card offence, which seriously curtailed the divisional team’s ability to chase the game in the final quarter. Paddy Lane’s point did cut the deficit to two points but that was as close as St Brendans came to an upset. Brosnan tapped over another free, before veterans O’Leary and Looney, hit the insurance scores in the 63rd and 64th minutes, even though Dr Crokes were well over the winning line by then.

Scores for Dr Crokes: T Brosnan 0-5 (5f), M Burns, B Looney, D Shaw 0-2 each, G O’Shea, T Doyle, K O’Leary 0-1 each

Scorers for St Brendans: J Savage 0-3 (2f, 1m), T Kennedy 0-2, D Griffin, J O’Connor, D Kirby, P Lane 0-1 each

Dr Crokes

Shane Murphy

Evan Looney, Fionn Fitzgerald, John Payne

Charlie Keating, Gavin White, Brian Looney

Mark O’Shea, Maidhcí Lynch

Micheál Burns, Gavin O’Shea, Tom Doyle

Tony Brosnan, David Shaw, Cian McMahon

Subs

• Kieran O’Leary for C Keating (38)
• Michael Potts for M Lynch (47)
• David Naughton for C McMahon (54)

St Brendan’s

Michael Tansley (Austin Stacks)

Colin Griffin (Austin Stacks), Dylan Casey (Austin Stacks), Joey Nagle (Austin Stacks)

Daithí Griffin (Ardfert), Armin Heinrich (Austin Stacks), Pádraig White (John Mitchels)

Joe O’Connor (Austin Stacks), David Moran (Kerins O’Rahillys)

Tomás Kennedy (Kerins O’Rahillys), Jack Savage (Kerins O’Rahillys), Tom Hoare (Kerins O’Rahillys)

Daniel Kirby (Austin Stacks), Odhran Ferris (Ardfert), Paddy Lane (Austin Stacks)

Subs:

• Donagh Buckley (Kerins O’Rahillys) for P White (25)
• Cian Holden (John Mitchels) for O Ferris (37)
• Ben Hanafin (Kerins O’Rahillys) for D Kirby (43)
• Alan O’Donoghue (John Mitchels) for D Griffin (49)
• Earnan Ferris (Ardfert) for J Savage (59)

Referee: Seamus Mulvihill (St Senans)