David Clifford tallied 1-6 as Fossa advanced to the quarter final stage of the Kerry Petroleum Intermediate Club Championship with a 1-18 to 3-7 win over Ballydonoghue. They did not have it all their own way, a strong second half bookended by Clifford’s finding the net in the 54th minute and brother Paudie with two late points, got them over the line. After a cagey start it was the hosts who started the brighter, Brian O'Seanacháin, a former Kerry player rolled the ball into the bottom left corner after eight minutes.
The lead was four points by the tenth minute; Fossa meanwhile, with the Clifford’s and Emmet O’Shea playing well, leveled the tie in the 20th minute, 1-3 to 0-6. Mikey Nolan found the bottom left corner once again of that Fossa goal in the 21st minute, but again Fossa came right back into the contest with the Clifford’s seeing them level at the break 2-4 to 0-10. Fossa got into their groove at the start of the second half, David Clifford, Kieran O’Sullivan, Emmet O’Shea and Paudie Clifford again quickly pointed the visitors into a four point lead.
Ballydonoghue were far from backing down and Paul and Jack Kennelly soon cut the gap back to two points with just ten minutes to go. With time running out Fossa needed the insurance scores, Matt Rennie curled over a beauty on his left boot before a sweeping move down the right channel saw Kieran O’Sullivan square the ball across the face of goal for David Clifford to tap home. A crucial score that extended the Fossa lead to six points 1-16 to 2-7.
Cian O’Shea soon saw a black card and minutes later Jack Kennelly fired a free right into the Fossa net. The visitors did not panic and Paudie Clifford curled two beautiful points over with either foot in the closing stages to ensure the win. It meant a place in the quarters as runners up though as Beaufort just edged out Desmonds in Castleisland on a 2-17 to 1-18 scoreline in a gripping contest.
While Beaufort held the upper hand, Desmonds hung on to their coattails right to final whistle. Beaufort shaded the opening half as they led 1-8 to 0-10, thanks to a brilliant goal from Darragh O’Connor after Ciaran Kennedy burst through the heart of the Desmonds defence and young O’Connor took a pass on off his shoulder, before finishing clinically to the net. Sean O’Brien had a massive game, kicking a long range point while Liam Carey added 0-4.
Tomas Hickey and Adam Donoghue contributed five points for Desmonds while Luka Brosnan and Brian Leonard also kicked minors. The third quarter was end-to-end stuff with Kerry senior Sean O’Brien kicking two majestic points (one a mark) but after points from substitutes Adam O’Donoghue and Kian Downey it was a one point game, 1-12 to 0-14 after 50 minutes. Isaac Brosnan and Nathan Breen then swapped points, Jack O’Connor was sent through by Fergal Hallissey in the 53rd minute for Beaufort and it looked game over.
But Shane O’Connell ran on to pitch as a substitute in the 56th minute and leveled the tie with a goal. However Beaufort were not going to settle for a draw and points from Darragh O’Connor, Ciaran Kennedy and Liam Carey saw them led by three in added time. But Desmonds refused to give up and two Kian Downey points closed the gap to a point before Kerry defender Mike Breen ensured that Beaufort topped the table and will have home advantage in next weekend’s quarter-final.
Group A No Drama as Stacks and Glenbeigh/Glencar get through The top two met in Glenbeigh and Stacks had a comfortable 4-13 to 1-10 win over the home side. It was over at half time as Stack led 4-8 to 1-5 with Cian Purcell scoring a hat-trick of goal while Armin Heinrich scored a fourth. The second saw Glenbeigh/Glencar improve but having rested some key players as they were the only team through before the third round it was purely academic.
Stacks top the group and Glenbeigh/Glencar finish second. An Ghaeltacht beat John Mitchels 2-21 to 0-10 but once Stacks won, this result did not matter..
