Kerry beat Down in a Senior championship game - Finally !!

[Kerry Mike]

fair fucks to our hurlers for ending a 50 year hex against Down in Senior championship 

Great performance by all accounts given that they finished with only 13 players, finally looking forward to seeing the Kingdom play a Senior hurling final in Croke Park.


HEROIC KERRY RECORD FAMOUS WIN WITH JUST THIRTEEN MEN UP IN DOWN

Christy Ring Cup semi Final Kerry 1-18 Down 1-17

By Murt Murphy for kerrrygaa.ie

The legendry Babe Ruth summed it up "The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime." Kerry travelled to Newry today Saturday, probably feeling that they were playing against a stacked deck when the rules had been changed for these years Christy Ring Cup semi-finals and with six minutes to go, when they were reduced to thirteen men, they must have felt that they had upset the Hurling Gods. However Kerry proved that there is no substitute for guts as they fought like tigers. In those final nerve wracking minutes and they had their four points lead wiped out as the game headed into three minutes of injury time. However, while adversity causes some men to break and others to break records, Shane Nolan was entrusted with the task of taking a free, which if converted might well see Kerry reach the Christy Ring Cup final.

Nolan stepped into the breach because Darragh O'Connell was on the bench at this stage, so was James Flaherty and so was Mike Conway. Everything was left to Phil Taylor of the team (Shane can hit the bull in the kitchen from his garden shed. As an All-Ireland Darts Champion) to hold his nerve. He struck the ball high towards the posts - it seemed to swirl and drop like a scud missile. But had it gone over? One umpire retrieving his head from the skies pointed to the other umpire as the Kerry players, management and supporters held their collective breaths, the white flag was raised and Kerry were a point in front.

However Down had one last attack from puck out but when the ball dropped in the Kerry danger zone, another Crotta man Andrew Keane cleared the danger and that was it. Kerry had fashioned a famous win from a game that was full of incident. Kerry started poorly and was 1-3 to 0-3 behind after ten minutes but soon levelled the contest before pulling 1-12 to 1-6 clear by half time. Kerry dominated the third quarter and were in cruise control, leading 1-17 to 1-9 but then Gary O'Brien received a second yellow and Kerry began to falter. They still had a six point lead when they lost the outstanding Tom Murnane to a second yellow ( or possibly worse) and then Down took over and five points in a row from Paul from Paul Braniff had the sides level as Kerry faced to the prospect of an injury time loss.

But then came that Shane Nolan free and Kerry had crossed the Rubicon and now the Promised Land awaits- Croke Park on June 4th and a meeting with Wicklow. It was a superb team display with John Griffin and Andrew Keane vying for Man of the Match.

Kerry: Bernard Rochford, James Godley, Tom Murnane, Eamon Fitzgerald, Colin Harris, Jason Casey, Andrew Keane, Darran Dineen (0-1), John Griffin, Darragh O'Connell (0-7,7f), Mikey Boyle (0-4), Gary O'Brien, James Flaherty, Shane Nolan (0-4,1f), John Egan (0-1) Subs: Michael Conway (1-1) for Flaherty, Padraig Boyle for Conway, Liam Boyle for O'Connell

Down: Graham Clarke, Michael Morris, Fintan Conway, Sean Ennis, Kevin McGarry, Connor Woods, Michael Ennis, Andy Savage (0-2,1f), Eoin Clarke, Stephen Clarke (0-1), Gareth Johnson (0-3,3f), Conor O'Prey, James Coyle, Paul Braniff (0-7,4f), Brendan Ennis (1-2) Subs: Ciarán Coulter for McGarry, Scott Nicholson (0-2) for C O'Prey, Aidan Clarke for Coyle

[magpie seanie]

Is this not technically intermediate?

[Kerry Mike]

Nope , its our Senior team, dont be pissing on our parade now!

[Joe Umbrella (hey)]

You were lucky.
You got us when we were in transition. 
You got us at a time when all are great hurlers were coming to and end of thier great careers.
Theres a GAA conspiracy against us.
Its beacuse of RTE
It was Anthony Tohills fault
Kerry play puke hurling

[Banana Man]

Nope , its our Senior team, dont be pissing on our parade now!

Fair play KM!!!

[Craigyhill Terror]

fair f**ks to our hurlers for ending a 50 year hex against Down in Senior championship 

Great performance by all accounts given that they finished with only 13 players, finally looking forward to seeing the Kingdom play a Senior hurling final in Croke Park.

Eh, they ended it last year when they beat Down in the Christy Ring Cup. And they played in a senior hurling final in Croke Park last year as well

[magpie seanie]

Are the Lory Meagher and Nicky Rackard "senior" as well? Jaysus lads!

[CorkMan]

Does he still play? He'd be dangerous with a hurley

[Mike Sheehy]

You were lucky.
You got us when we were in transition. 
You got us at a time when all are great hurlers were coming to and end of thier great careers.
Theres a GAA conspiracy against us.
Its beacuse of RTE
It was Anthony Tohills fault
Kerry play puke hurling

shit, does this mean our hurlers won't be competing in the later stages of the the Christy ring cup for the next 20 years ?

[Joe Umbrella (hey)]

You were lucky.
You got us when we were in transition. 
You got us at a time when all are great hurlers were coming to and end of thier great careers.
Theres a GAA conspiracy against us.
Its beacuse of RTE
It was Anthony Tohills fault
Kerry play puke hurling

shit, does this mean our hurlers won't be competing in the later stages of the the Christy ring cup for the next 20 years ?

It probably does, but nice one our hurlers will only have to win one game to make it to the latter stages for the next 20 years. I mean beating the likes of Armagh in the hurling, its a bit like beating Tipp,Limerick,Waterford, or Clare in the football isn't it? Nothing like a nice easy path.

[NP 76]

Like your humour Joe

[Milltown Row2]

Does he still play? He'd be dangerous with a hurley

He's a quality hurler by all accounts, his club won the Kerry senior title a couple of times lately and he apparently was one of the better players, Played county for a few years before getting the nod from Jack

[Mike Sheehy]

You were lucky.
You got us when we were in transition. 
You got us at a time when all are great hurlers were coming to and end of thier great careers.
Theres a GAA conspiracy against us.
Its beacuse of RTE
It was Anthony Tohills fault
Kerry play puke hurling

shit, does this mean our hurlers won't be competing in the later stages of the the Christy ring cup for the next 20 years ?

It probably does, but nice one our hurlers will only have to win one game to make it to the latter stages for the next 20 years. I mean beating the likes of Armagh in the hurling, its a bit like beating Tipp,Limerick,Waterford, or Clare in the football isn't it? Nothing like a nice easy path.

jaysus, next you'll be telling us that the likes of fermanagh, Wicklow and Longford are a soft touch.

[Joe Umbrella (hey)]

You were lucky.
You got us when we were in transition. 
You got us at a time when all are great hurlers were coming to and end of thier great careers.
Theres a GAA conspiracy against us.
Its beacuse of RTE
It was Anthony Tohills fault
Kerry play puke hurling

shit, does this mean our hurlers won't be competing in the later stages of the the Christy ring cup for the next 20 years ?

It probably does, but nice one our hurlers will only have to win one game to make it to the latter stages for the next 20 years. I mean beating the likes of Armagh in the hurling, its a bit like beating Tipp,Limerick,Waterford, or Clare in the football isn't it? Nothing like a nice easy path.

jaysus, next you'll be telling us that the likes of fermanagh, Wicklow and Longford are a soft touch.

You may add Kerry to that list, remember last summer? You were a soft touch that day yourselves in what was a cakewalk.

[Mike Sheehy]

You were lucky.
You got us when we were in transition. 
You got us at a time when all are great hurlers were coming to and end of thier great careers.
Theres a GAA conspiracy against us.
Its beacuse of RTE
It was Anthony Tohills fault
Kerry play puke hurling

shit, does this mean our hurlers won't be competing in the later stages of the the Christy ring cup for the next 20 years ?

It probably does, but nice one our hurlers will only have to win one game to make it to the latter stages for the next 20 years. I mean beating the likes of Armagh in the hurling, its a bit like beating Tipp,Limerick,Waterford, or Clare in the football isn't it? Nothing like a nice easy path.

jaysus, next you'll be telling us that the likes of fermanagh, Wicklow and Longford are a soft touch.

You may add Kerry to that list, remember last summer? You were a soft touch that day yourselves in what was a cakewalk.

well 10 years on the go would take it out of any team. Lets see if you can string two qtr-final wins in a row and maybe then you might have some right to boast.