By Jack Hennessy
15/04/2013
COUNTY LEAGUE. Kerins O Rahillys “B” 0-6 Asdee 0-5
An inspirational defensive performance from centre back John O Connor helped the Tralee side to a surprise but deserved 1pt victory over an Asdee side who could never come to grips with a much slicker home side who were always working hard for one another and even though Asdee did have their moments they cant complain with the end result.
The difficult weather conditions that prevailed at the Strand Road pitch certainly made life difficult for both sets of players in their efforts to play constructive football with the strong wind that blew diagonally across field and that helped the home side in the opening half. That opening 30mts was dominated by O Rahillys but they were finding scores hard to come-by as a result of some good defensive cover by the visitors and a succession of wides and it took until the 8th mt when a long delivery from Paul Griffin hopped in the square and bounced over.
John O Connor, play; 15th and a pointed free by Eoin Tydings, 16th swapped scores and a Martin Fitzgerald with 5mts left in the opening half saw the home side lead; 3pts to 1pt. The game was just a minute old on resumption when John Ferguson edged his side further ahead. Now even though Asdee had wind advantage they were never able to put any worthwhile moves together that would register scores. On the other hand Strand Road always looked that step ahead but they too were having difficulty with their attempts at scoring.
Eoin Tydings and John McGrath exchanged points and after 14mts it was still the home side who led 5pts to 2pts. However Asdee struck a bit of form during the final quarter and points from Charles Dalton and John Doran had the sides level as we approached the final 4mts. Play moved from end to end with both sides having opportunities but eventually it fell to John Ferguson deep in injury time to loft over the winner. For Asdee John Doran, Darren Russell, Sean Keane, Kieran Kelly, Martin Collins, Eoin Kennedy and Eoin O Carroll tried hard but overall a disappointing display.
Asdee; Conor Coughlan, Sean Keane, Martin Collins, Eoin O Carroll, Con Carmody, Brian Coughlan, Kevin Kelly, John Doran, 1pt, Padraig Ruddle, Michael Tydings, Darren Russell, Micheal Walsh, Eoin Tydings, 2pts, (fs), Charles Dalton, 2pts, Eoin Kennedy.Referee, Gordan Kerins, Austin Stacks.