BEALE   1-08        ST. SENANS   1-07

The last side to complete the 3-in-a-row in North Kerry way back in 1979 was Beale,an honour that no doubt was on the minds of the present day players and mentors of Beale as they hosted the champions of 2018 and 2019 in Bob Stack Park, Ballybunion on Saturday Sept. 14^th. In fact, the last time St Senans tasted defeat in the McMunn’s North Kerry C’ship  back in 2017 was at the hands of Beale in Bob Stack Park. The pitch was in perfect shape and conditions were fine apart from a strong breeze blowing into the dressing room goals.Beale won the toss and elected to play with it but David Behan opened the scoring for the champions in the 3^rd min from a free.Cormac Linnane equalised from a free in the 6^th min before David Behan was fouled in the square bearing down on goals.Cathal Kennelly blasted the penalty over the bar to restore St. Senans lead but they would not score again in the half.Tom Joy, playing well, pointed off his right from play and Darragh Buckley converted a free to leave the score at the water break Beale 3pts  st Senans 2pts.After the water break Beale began to take over with Jeremy King driving his side forward,ably abetted by Philly Blake and the Toomey brothers.Pointed frees from Darragh Buckley and Cormac Linnane and the score of the half from play by captain Ian Mannix left the half time score reading Beale 0-06  St. Senans  0-02.

Champions don’t go down easy though and on the resumption St. Senans stormed into the game. A more direct style of play with the wind behind them reaped rewards. Paudie Quille pointed a free and Conor Kennelly pointed a beauty from play inside 5mins of restart. A brilliant blockdown by Mike Keane,preventing an almost certain Beale goal, saw St. Senans counter with a length of the field move resulting in the impressive Cillian Trant firing to the net to put his side back into the lead on the 40^th min. Further points from David Behan (free) and young Trant again left the score at the second water break Beale 0-06  St. Senans 1-06. At this point one felt that there was only going to be one outcome as Beale were struggling to find scores and St. Senans were to the fore in most areas of the pitch. There is considerable debate on the influence of the water break and how it can affect the momentum of a game and this was highlighted again in this match.Beale’s leaders stood up on the resumption.Philly Blake was getting through a mountain of work all over the pitch and when Jeremy King pointed a beauty from long range, it seemed to infuse his side with belief.Paul Collins, John Griffin, Killian Walsh-o’Boyle and Fionnan Toomey repelled any St. Senans foray into their territory and their forwards set about finding scores.A free from Darragh Buckley which had tailed to the left was gathered by Eric Daly who after some great work placed Ian Mannix bearing down on goals and he made no mistake to put his team a point to the good. Darragh Buckley scored a beauty from play to extend the lead to 2pts and St. Senans were on the ropes and fighting for their Championship lives.Sean T.,Darragh Behan,the outstanding Cillian Trant,Paudie Quille and the Kennelly brothers probed and probed but their efforts only resulted in a converted free from David Behan in injury time and when Eamon Moran blew for full-time Beale had secured their spot in the Quarter-Final draw and at the same time defended the achievement of their predecessors with a gutsy resilient display.We have naturally become accustomed to all the St. Senans players over the last few years as they occupied the role of kingpins of North Kerry and despite being down the considerable services of such as Barry O’ Mahony,Sean O’ Connell,Mark Behan, David Foran and Damien Somers, they have developed a squad which is a formidable unit,a credit to their management,Club and supporters. Their glorious reign is over for now but it would be foolish to think they will not be competing strongly in the years ahead. 

BEALE; 1) Sean Dee 2) Paul Collins 3) Jeremy King(0-01) 4) Killian Walsh-O’Boyle 5) Fionnan Toomey 6) Seamie O’ Sullivan 7) Diarmuid O’ Mahony 8) Philly Blake 9) Neilus Mulvihill 10) Conor Toomey 11) Ian Mannix (C) (1-01) 12) Johnny O’ Sullivan 13) Cormac Linnane(0-02) 14) Tom Joy(0-01) 15) Darragh Buckley(0-03) SUBS: Eric Daly for Tom Joy inj., John Griffin for Conor Toomey inj. Barry O’ Neill for Johnny O’ Sullivan. Tommy O’ Neill,Cillian Courtney,Daniel Hayes,Bernard O’ Callaghan,Fintan Linnane,Rory Mulvihill,Jake O’ Connell,Jack O’ Sullivan,Sean Maloney,Cathal Farrell,Callum McSweeney,Conor Breen,Philip Hornyak,Paddy O’ Rourke,Dan Ellis,John Brennan.

ST. SENANS: 1) James Barry 2) Mike Keane 3) Bill Keane 4) Eamon Shanahan 5) Darragh Behan 6) Sean T Dillon 7) Donnacha Brosnan 8) Eoin O’ Connell 9) Cillian Trant (1-01) 10) Donal Hunt 11) Paudie Quille (0-01) 12) Jason Browne (C) 13) David Behan (0-03) 14) Cathal Kennelly (0-01) 15) Conor Kennelly (0-01) SUBS: Paudie Dillon for Jason Browne,Kieran Lyons for Donnacha Brosnan,Thomas Dillon for Donal Hunt,Danny Quilter,Jason O’ Leary,Paudie Whelan,Daniel Hunt,Luke Lynch,Denis Quille,Darragh Kennelly,Padraig Logue,Mark Behan,Liam Roos,Sean O’ Connell,Barry O’ Mahony.

Bernard O Callaghan Senior Championship 2020
Sponsored by McMunns Ballybunion
Quarter Finals
Natural Venue's

Sunday 20^th September @ 2pm Venue: Ballyduff

Asdee v Ballydonoghue