Dr Crokes 2-13 Dingle 0-8:WHEN DR CROKES, seeking a third title in a row, met Dingle, who had not appeared in a county final since 1951, there was a danger that Crokes might just blow the debutants away with their incredible attacking sextet, led by the brilliant Colm Cooper.
Unfortunately for Dingle and the spectators, that is exactly what happened in this Kerry SFC final, played in the wind and rain at Austin Stack Park, Tralee.
Dingle had been starting games well and scored 12-37 points in four games on the way to the final so Crokes were hell-bent on not allowing them to get a flyer straight from traps.
Man of the match Colm Cooper summed it up after the game: “The game fizzled out; it was like the All-Ireland final with the favourites getting two goals early on. That was a killer for Dingle who was trying to play catch up all day.
“Our experience told in the second half and to win three-in-a -row is a fantastic achievement for the club.
“We looked at Dingle and the overwhelming thing about them was the quick starts they were getting and the amount of goals they were getting.
“We hadn’t started well in our last two games so we put a big emphasis on the first 15 minutes and we ended up with 2-6 in the first half which was a good score in these conditions.”
Cooper described Dingle as a “pure team” but others might suggest naive as they went man to man on Crokes at the back and this proved fatal.
The stats of the game tell the tale – Crokes had 22 shots at the posts, scored 2-13, kicked six wides and one dropped short. Dingle on the other hand only managed 14 shots, scored 0-8, kicked six wides and overall, looked in trouble after only ten minutes.
Crokes’ colourful manager Noel O’Leary was delighted with the win. “Maybe the occasion got to Dingle and the two early goals killed them off. The conditions, wouldn’t have suited them either but thankfully we got through it,” he said.
O’Leary was delighted too that the players completed the three-in -a-row “I’m delighted for the players and the supporters and the fellas who trained them when they were under-six and that were tying their laces for them. No one wanted this job; people said they were gone after the two in a row. These fellas aren’t finished, they love football and we’ll keep enjoying it.”
Two early Dingle points from Paul Geaney and a Joe Sheehy free saw them lead Crokes 0-2 to 0-1 by the fourth minute.
But then Crokes with Johnny Buckley and Ambrose O’Donovan lording matters at midfield, shredded the Dingle defence in a five-minute blitz.
Brian Looney kicked a point and then two goals in a minute, both set up by Cooper and scored by Chris Brady and Looney, were followed by points from Cooper and Looney and by the 10th minute it was 2-4 to 0-2 and effectively game over.
Two Paul Geaney points and one from brother David closed the gap to seven at the interval (2-6 to 0-5) but Dingle needed a miracle to get back into the game.
Instead, three rapid-fire points for Crokes on the resumption, from Kieran O’Leary, Looney and a Cooper free, stretched Crokes’ lead to nine.
The remaining 20 minutes were purely academic as Dingle could not breach Eoin Brosnan and Co at the back, despite the never-say -die attitude of Mikey and Paul Geaney, along with skipper Brendan Kelliher.
However the losers only managed to tack on three points , one from Mikey and two from Paul Geaney while Cooper ran the show and Crokes completed a historic three-in-a-row, with points from Jamie Doolan, Daithí Casey, Cooper and Gavin O’Shea.
DR CROKES: D Moloney; J Payne, M Moloney, S Doolan; S Myers, E Brosnan, L Quinn (0-1); J Buckley, A O’Donovan (0-1); K O’Leary (0-2), D Casey (0-1), B Looney (1-3); C Brady (1-0), C Cooper (0-3, one free), J Doolan (0-1). Subs: G O’Shea (0-1) for C Brady (54 mins), D O’Leary for S Doolan (59 mins), A Kenneally for B Looney (58 mins)
DINGLE: J Flaherty; TB Brosnan, J Murphy, G Curran; P Devane, B Kelliher, JB Brosnan; CB Moriarty, D O’Sullivan; R Begley, M Geaney (0-2), J Sheehy (0-1, free); P Geaney (0-4, two frees), B O’Connor, D Geaney (0-1). Subs: A Devane for J Murphy (16 mins), P Devane for R Begley (h-t), B O’Connell for A Devane (38 mins), J Kelliher for M Geaney (55 mins), P Fitzmaurice for C Moriarty (59m mins).
Referee: Paul Hayes (Kerins O’Rahillys).
