AIB GAA Football All Ireland Junior Club Championship Semi-Final Replay – Kenmare Shamrocks (Kerry) 0-21 Castleknock (Dublin) 1-18

Supporters lick lips at thought of third helping

By Jackie Cahill for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Castleknock 1-18 Kenmare 0-21 (AET)

If you were there, lucky you. If you weren’t, make it your business to get along to next weekend’s second replay between Castleknock and Kenmare Shamrocks. The way this All-Ireland junior club football semi-final is headed, it’ll need a movie script. The Inseparables, perhaps. At Leahy Park in Cashel on Saturday, a crowd of around 1,000 witnessed a classic. And after 160 minutes of football, the sides remain deadlocked.

At various stages, it was gone from Castleknock. At other times, Kenmare looked spent. And Ballinasloe, confirmed All-Ireland finalists, must wait. The final had been fixed for Croke Park on Saturday. Castleknock manager Tom McCormack said: “Unbelievable stuff. I thought last week couldn’t be surpassed but that was incredible.” Castleknock’s remarkable talent Ciarán Kilkenny, the man who turned his back on the AFL, scored 10 points, a tally matched by Kenmare’s former Kerry panellist Paul O’Connor. Rory Corcoran was the other Castleknock forward to shine as all six Kenmare attackers got on the scoresheet.

When Des Carlos netted for Castleknock in the 38th minute and Kilkenny tagged on a point almost immediately, the Dubliners were 1-10 to 0-8 clear. Kenmare responded with seven unanswered points and it was Castleknock who needed a couple of late scores to take the game into extra-time. Corcoran could have snatched it with a late free that drifted wide and on we went. In extra-time, Castleknock moved three clear again. Back came Kenmare and, at the death, it was Tom Shields who lifted the siege for Castleknock, firing over an equaliser. More of the same next weekend, please.

Scorers for Castleknock: C Kilkenny 0-10 (6f), R Corcoran 1-6 (0-2f), T Shields & M Brady 0-1 each.

Scorers for Kenmare: P O’Connor 0-10 (6f), M Crowley 0-3, DJ Brennan (2f) & K O’Sullivan 0-2 each, S O’Leary, J Wharton, S Duncan & A O’Leary 0-1 each.

CASTLEKNOCK: A Griffith; J King, G Hannigan, T Quinn; C Neville, C Prunty, V Turner; S Lynch, S Boland; D Curran, C Kilkenny, J Tunney; T Corcoran, R Corcoran, D Carlos.

Subs: T Shields for King (24), K Kindlon for Curran (h-t.), E O’Brien for Quinn (45), E Quinn for Carlos (49), M Brady for Lynch (69), T Quinn for Turner (79).

KENMARE: H Murphy; D Crowley, T O’Sullivan, C O’Sullivan; A O’Callaghan, S O’Leary, A Crowley; S Dalton, J Wharton; R O’Sullivan, M Crowley, A O’Leary; DJ Brennan, P O’Connor, K O’Sullivan.

Subs: S Duncan for Brennan (41), P O’Dwyer for Dalton (70).

Referee: P Neilan (Roscommon)