Kilshannig give their all after difficult week as Austin Stacks secure Munster final spot
Is Linehan Darragh By Dylan O'sullivan, Dan Austin Stacks Their Tackled Semi During Kilshannig Casey, Final Ifc Munster Club Picture
The blue and gold flags along the road from Glantane sent a signal. This was a significant occasion for Kilshannig, a nine-point Munster intermediate semi-final loss was only a small part of that.
The north Cork club welcomed Kerry bluebloods Austin Stacks to their sold-out venue after a taxing week. Before throw-in, the tannoy announcer asked the 2,000 attendees to keep clubman James O’Hanlon in their thoughts. He was listed in the programme but unable to tog after a serious car accident near Mallow nine days previous. One man was killed in the two-car collision.
“We trained in Mallow on the Friday night,” explained manager Denis Reen.
“When a captain comes up to you bawling, you know there is something wrong. We trained away, we didn’t tell the players until afterwards. James O’Hanlon was fighting for life last Friday night in a crash. What a week the boys put down, to put in a performance like that… No club in Ireland could do that.
“He came on every game this year. He is a very important player. One we miss from the changing room, great craic. He makes everything lively around the place. Lovely smile on his face. Today we presented his jersey to him in hospital, number 22. He is (listening) on the radio now, hopefully he hears this. James, we wish you a speedy recovery and we will see you back soon.”
They dug deep on the field to try eek out a famous win. This was the 9th-ranked in Kerry taking the 25th-ranked in Cork. Any prospect of a dramatic upset took an enormous hit after just two minutes when Bill Curtin was sent off after striking out at Greg Horan.
Kilshannig eventually finished with 12 men. Killian O’Hanlon was shown a second yellow card in the final quarter while joint-captain Colm O’Shea suffered an injury after all substitutions had been used.
To their credit, they responded manfully to the first red card and trailed by a point when Austin Stacks defender Paul O’Sullivan was sent off for a high hit. The margin at half-time was only three points. Kilshannig were down to 13 at that point after Shane Murphy received a black card for a deliberate pulldown.
“It was never going to be comfortable. This is a Cork club and a Kerry club,” said Austin Stacks manager Billy Lee post-match.
“We had a fair idea where their strengths were. We took it on in the first half and nullified them then in the second half.”
Austin Stacks march on to face Tipperary’s Aherlow in the decider after they saw off Wolfe Tones in the other semi-final. Cian Purcell and Paddy Lane led the line for the Tralee outfit while Joe O’Connor was superb in the middle. He fed Purcell for his opening score.
The sharpshooting forward instigated a quickfire run of three consecutive points at the start of the second half with a well-taken point that stemmed from good work up the wing by Joey Nagle. Lane blasted a superb solo goal after 42 minutes to make the margin nine. By then, Kilshannig’s challenge was spent.
The outstanding Éanna O'Hanlon struck his club’s only score after the turnaround with a free. His display of accurate shooting was sorely lacking elsewhere. They dropped their first three shots of the first half short and were unable to capitalise on Stacks errors. Just before half-time, Daniel Kirby sent a goal shot crashing off the crossbar and a quick counter saw Daragh O’Sullivan one-on-one against Michael Tansley. He rifled the chance well wide.
For Reen, they did all they could in the circumstances.
“There was no pressure on us, we had a free hit and we took that hit. We made them work. We made them work hard. They didn’t expect that. They thought they would come up here and cruise through.
“If you looked at Billy Lee’s interview yesterday, he named the three teams outside Connacht, Ulster and Leinster. I think he got a fright today for 48 minutes. That was the whole point of the game, put it up to them. If the better team beats us, we will shake their hand and take it on the chin.”
É O'Hanlon 0-4 (0-1 free, 1 mark); D. O’Sullivan 0-2 frees.
P. Lane 1-2 (1 free); C. Purcell 0-2; J. Nagle, J. O’Shea, D. Kirby, D. Casey, M. O’Donnell, J. O’Connor, D. McKivergan (free), J. Kissane (free).
G. Creedon; C. Murphy, E. Burke, B. Curtin; S. O’Connell, C. O’Shea, E. Healy; E. O’Hanlon, K. O’Hanlon; S. Murphy, C. O’Sullivan, A. O’Connell; D. O’Sullivan, T. Cunningham, D. O’Sullivan.
K. Twomey for O’Sullivan (half-time); M. Twomey for Healy, C. McMahon for O’Connell (both 43); C. O’Connell for C. Sullivan (52), D. Twomey for O’Sullivan (55), C. O’Shea (57 – Inj).
M. Tansley; C. Griffin, D. Casey, J. Nagle; A. Heinrich, J. O’Shea, P. O’Sullivan; M. O’Donnell, J. O’Connor; F. Mangan, G. Horan, D. Kirby; D. McKivergan, C. Purcell, P. Lane.
D. O’Brien for McKivergan (40), R. Shanahan for Casey (47), J. Kissane for Lane (both 47); C. Horan for Mangan, E. Carroll for Kirby (both 55).
D. O’Mahoney (Tipperary).