Kerins O'Rahilly's (Kerry) 2-06 Newcastle West (Limerick) 1-08
Kerins O’Rahilly's have won their first Munster Club football title as the high fielding of Tommy Walsh helped secure a second-half turnaround against Newcastle West.
The Strand Road Club become the eighth Kerry team to take provincial honours thanks to two goals in the space of five minutes from Walsh and Barry John Keane, either side of a Mike McMahon goal, to give them a lead that was closed to a point but never equalled.
Both sides threw caution to the wind and pumped long balls into their towering target-men in the second half.
A game which featured seven scores and one goal chance in the first half suddenly had three goals and another saved inside nine minutes.
Walsh caught three high balls in the first 10 minutes, the first two of which resulted in goals. At the other end, McMahon gathered two balls fed in, leading to a goal and another goal chance.
Gavin O’Brien started the second half as he did the first, catching the throw-in and charging forward to set up a point – this time for substitute Ben Hanafin to score with his first touch.
Jack Savage was notably quicker feeding the ball in to the full-forward line and it paid off in the 34th minute; Walsh dancing in behind the full-back and his shot, half-blocked by Darren O’Doherty, found the net. Cormac Coffey burst forward to make it a four-point lead, 1-05 to 0-04.
McMahon served fair warning of his danger, forcing a save from Shane Foley. However, after winning possession again, he set up a Cian Sheehan shot which McMahon, goal-hanging, finished the rebound after it came off the post. A one-point game, but only for a matter of seconds.
David Moran won the kick out and was fouled. He launched another rocket. Walsh grabbed it and laid off for Keane who almost ripped the rigging from the roof of the net.
Eoin Hurley (free) and Tom Hoare traded scores as defences began to adapt to the new means of examination. The Kerry champions, now with a lead to defend, began to slow their attacks, while Moran began to position himself at the edge of the square when Newcastle West advanced. Hoare’s 47th-minute point was their last score.
Two Hurley frees, the first of which saw Savage sent off for a second booking, closed the gap to two at the start of the four added minutes but he missed with another free to close to the minimum.
A wild clearance fell to Aaron Neville but his driven shot flashed over the bar and there was to be no last chance for the Limerick champions.
Strand Road were reliant on frees for their scoring threat in the first half. Savage kicked their first point (off the left, from the hand) in the first minute, and his next three frees (on the right, off the ground) resulted in a point, a goal chance, and the goalie plucking the ball from above the crossbar.
The goal chance, in the 23rd minute, saw Walsh field the dropping shot but his close-range shot was blocked by the diving James Kelly.
Otherwise, Newcastle West were congesting the half-back line and turning back Strand Road runners. Ruadhán O’Connor, handed the task of marking Savage, laid on a point for Shane Stack, and Iain Corbett rampaged forward for another.
Sheehan against Coffey was another notable pairing, with Coffey bursting forward at every opportunity but those were limited by the Newcastle West defence and Sheehan’s attacking threat – he was fouled twice for Hurley pointed frees.
A stoppage-time mark, from Keane to Walsh, narrowed the gap to one at the break and gave Kerins O’Rahilly's the idea of how to break down this Newcastle West defence.
Kerins O'Rahillys: S Foley; D McElligott, R O’Callaghan (capt), C Barrett; C Coffey (0-01), K Mullins, P Neenan; D Moran, G O’Brien; G Savage, J Savage (0-02f), T Hoare (0-1); BJ Keane (1-00), T Walsh (1-01, 0-01m), C Hayes.
Subs: B Hanafin (0-01) for G Savage (h-t), R Carroll for Barrett (38), D O’Sullivan for Hayes (58).
Newcastle West: M Quilligan; M O’Keeffe, D O’Doherty, B O’Sullivan; I Corbett (capt), R O’Connor, J Kelly; E Rigter, S Murphy; D Kelly, S Hurley, C Sheehan; S Stack (0-01), M McMahon (1-00), Eoin Hurley (0-05f).
Subs: T O’Donovan for S Hurley (40), A Neville for J Kelly (46), B Nix for Murphy (51), T Quilligan for D Kelly (56).
Referee: S Lonergan (Tipperary).
