Munster Club SFC – Kerins O’Rahillys (Kerry) v Clonakilty (Cork)

Kerins O’Rahillys (Kerry) defeated Clonakilty (Cork) by 1-11 to 0-10 in the AIB Munster GAA Football Senior Club Championship Quarter-Final at Austin Stack Park Tralee on Sunday.

Walsh’s fond farewell for O’Rahillys

Kerins O’Rahillys (Kerry) 1-11 Clonakilty (Cork) 0-10

By Brendan Larkin for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Monday, November 09, 2009

TOMMY WALSH left the scene of his latest outstanding performance happy in the knowledge that his beloved Kerins O’Rahillys are on track to win their first ever AIB Munster Club SFC title. Yesterday’s clash with the Cork champions at Austin Stack Park in Tralee may have been only a quarter-final tie, but there was sufficient heart and commitment displayed by the home side to suggest they could win the title even without Walsh and David Moran, who leave next Wednesday for a career in Australian Rules. Walsh will be a massive loss to both club and county. Yesterday he produced a magnificent first-half display and his contribution was the main reason O’Rahillys earned another home tie against Tipperary champions Moyle Rovers.

Kerins O’Rahillys won the toss and played with the wind in the opening half, a tactic that proved decisive. “It goes without saying I’m going to miss days like this with the club,” said Walsh afterwards. “You have to remember this is the first time we won a Munster Club championship game and are now in the semi-final. “I feel sorry for the club that they are losing both of us at this critical time. They have invested close on 20 years of work into both of us, but we won’t ever forget them for that. “Look, the opportunity to play professionally and get paid for doing so is a chance that neither of us could turn down. It may not work out, but in the years to come I don’t want to ever say, what if? “I know that it will really hit me next February when Kerry run out to play in the National League and I’m not there. That’s going to be very difficult for us.”

Walsh said the final whistle in this year’s All-Ireland final was “the best feeling of my life so far”. Operating at full-forward, Walsh was the perfect target man and the ball was delivered near to perfection, and despite the best efforts of Clon full-back Tony Anglin, the physical strength and height of the O’Rahillys full-forward meant he won clean possession every time, and invariably put it to good use. “It was our intention to play with the wind if we won the toss. We did and it worked well for us,” said O’Rahillys selector Mark Fitzgerald. “With arguably the best full forward in the game in Tommy Walsh, the instruction was to use the elements, kick the football high and long into him and you saw the results of that.”

With his first touch, Tommy Walsh had a point and as his outfield colleagues pumped ball after ball into him it was only a matter of time before the goal came. A long-range free by David Moran into the square was superbly knocked down by Walsh to his younger brother Barry John and he showed his class as he coolly slotted the ball home. The Cork champions eventually got on the scoresheet with a Colin Callanan point in the 10th minute which helped to lift the siege for a bit. It was only a blip for O’Rahillys however. With David Moran winning some great ball around the middle through his superb high fielding, and Declan Quill showing he has lost none of the skill which made him an inter-county player a couple of seasons ago, the Kerry side rattled over six points in a row, half of them by Quill, to lead 1-7 to 0-3 at the break.

Significantly Clon failed to register a score from play in that opening half but they were a changed team on the resumption. “I don’t know what went wrong in that opening half,” said their coach Mick O’Neill. “We didn’t perform, but to be fair to O’Rahillys, they didn’t allow us. “Tony Anglin did all he could to contain Tommy Walsh but the quality of ball he was getting made it very difficult for him. We needed to stop the ball from coming in from outfield and we failed to do so and were severely punished as a result.” Clon threw caution to the wind in the second half. Colin O’Donovan pointed two frees to cut the deficit and as O’Rahillys were forced to revert into a more defensive role, the Cork champions created the chances, but needed a goal if they were turn this game around.

Great defending by the O’Sheas, Morgan and Barry, restricted the goal scoring opportunities, but after Conor McManus cut the deficit still further with two more points which included his side’s first from play, in the 46th minute, Clon lost the only real goal chance they got a few minutes later. The busy Colin O’Donovan wriggled his way past a couple of defenders, but with only the goalkeeper to beat, he kicked wide. With this went Clon’s chance of pulling this game out of the fire. It was a massive let off for the home side and they took full advantage. Declan Quill eased the pressure with a delightful point with a couple of minutes to go, and while Clon laid siege to their opponents goal for the rest of the game, a Colin Callanan point from a free, was their only reward as a highly efficient O’Rahillys defence in which corner back Barry O’Shea rolled back the years with a superb display, held firm for a deserved win.

Scorers for Kerins O’Rahillys: BJ Walsh 1-3; D. Quill 0-4 (0-1 free); T. Walsh 0-2; R. O’Callaghan, BJ Keane (free) 0-1 each.

Clonakilty: C. Callanan (frees), C. O’Donovan (frees) 0-4 each; C. McManus 0-2.

KERINS O’RAHILLYS: D. Hennessy; P. Begley, M. O’Shea, B. O’Shea; G. O’Grady, B. Moran, R. O’Callaghan; D. Moran, G. Duffy; T. O’Sullivan, J. O’Connor, BJ Keane; D. Quill, T. Walsh, NJ Walsh.

Sub: R. Molloy for O’Sullivan (55).

CLONAKILTY: E. Harte; T. O’Sullivan, Tony Anglin, D. O’Brien; D. Murphy, N. Griffin, D. O’Regan; S. Nagle, Timmy Anglin; D. Lyons, M. O’Brien, C. O’Donovan; C. Callanan, C. McManus, P. Griffin.

Subs: H. Kenny for O’Regan (half time); S. Quirke for M. O’Brien (50).

Referee: M. Condon (Waterford)

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AIB Munster Club SFC Quarter-Finals: Duo book semi berths

From the GAA.ie web site

Nov 08, 2009

Kerins O’Rahillys of Kerry and Clare’s Kilmurry-Ibrickane Both earned their places in the AIB Munster Club SFC semi-finals on Sunday.

Kerins O’Rahillys (Kerry) 1-11 Clonakilty (Cork) 0-10

Kerins O’Rahillys set up a semi-final with Tipperary champions Moyle Rovers with four points to spare over Cork champions Clonakilty in Tralee. Tommy Walsh claimed the man-of-the-match award as he and David Moran played their last games for the club, the towering Kerry forward knocking over two points and setting up younger brother Barry John for the game’s only goal. That goal came after six minutes as, for the second game in a row, only the Walsh brothers and Declan Quill scored for the Kerry club. Barry John collected a high ball in from Tommy and fired it to the back of the Clon net. Denis ‘Ogie’ Moran’s side were well clear at the break with a 1-7 to 0-3 lead, with the men from the Rebel County relying, almost exclusively, on frees from Colm Callanan and Colin O’Donovan, both of whom scored 0-4. Unfortunately for them, O’Donovan failed to raise the green flag from a great chance on 51 minutes and from then on the Kerrymen were not tested, Quill ensuring a four-point win with the game’s final score.