Sheehan clinches title as Fitzgerald rolls back years
St Mary's 2-8 Drom' Pearses 1-10
KERRY legend Maurice Fitzgerald played a starring role as St Mary's captured the South Kerry SFC on Christmas Eve, with several current and former Kingdom stars on show.
The 42-year-old Fitzgerald starred at midfield alongside Bryan Sheehan. Declan O'Sullivan did everything he could to lift Dromid Pearses, scoring 0-7 for the Munster champions.
Daniel Daly struck to give Mary's a fine start -- they led 1-2 to 0-1 after five minutes, however they trailed by two at the interval. But St Mary's exploded out of the blocks again on the restart with Sean Cournane scoring 1-1.
Then came the score of the game as Sheehan took full advantage of the breeze to power over from 60 metres in the 38th minute and St Mary's were looking good as they led 2-7 to 0-8 at the end of the third quarter.
Dromid refused to wilt and after a Tomas Curran free and O'Sullivan's seventh point, the equaliser came in the 53rd minute when Curran converted a penalty to level 2-7 to 1-10.
However, O'Sullivan gave away a 60th-minute free and Sheehan clinched the three-in-a row for Mary's.
SCORERS -- St Mary's: S Cournane 1-1 (0-1f); D Daly 1-0; B Sheehan 0-3 (2f); P O'Donoghue 0-2; R Keane, D Daly 0-1 each. Dromid Pearses: D O'Sullivan 0-7 (4f); T Curran 1-1 (0-1f); M Sheehan, A O'Sullivan 0-1 each.
St Mary's -- D Horgan, I Casey, B Curran, K Curran, N O'Driscoll, Daniel O'Sullivan, Daragh O'Sullivan, B Sheehan, A Walsh, R Keane, P O'Donoghue, Denis Daly, S Cournane, Maurice Fitzgerald, Daniel Daly. Subs: C Quirke for Keane, A Constable for Walsh.
Dromid Pearses -- A Hogan, P O'Sullivan, Dominic O'Sullivan, Donal O'Sullivan, Denis O'Sullivan, K O'Shea, M Sheehan, T Curran, C O'Connor, A O'Sullivan, Declan O'Sullivan, A O'Connor, E O'Leary, N O'Shea, J Curran. Subs: Gearoid O'Sullivan for O'Leary, C Farley for J Curran.
Ref -- E Walsh (Rathmore).
Irish Independent
