Gooch floors brendans!
By Larry Cooney
A masterclass from Colm ‘Gooch’ Cooper sees Dr. Crokes
move into the semi-finals — but London champions St. Brendans put
up a gallant fight before finally buckling under the sustained pressure.
If you closed your eyes you could have been at Fitzgerald’s Stadium,
Killarney.
The black and amber fans travelled by air, land and sea as the Munster
champions managed to get past the spirited efforts of St. Brendans on
Sunday.
With Kerry manager Pat O’Shea calling the shots on the sideline
Colm ‘Gooch’ Cooper was the predictable menace finishing with
a tally of 2-5.
Two second-half penalties awarded by Dublin referee Thomas Quigley ensured
the Killarney men would progress to the semi-final where they will face
Leinster champions Moorefield of Kildare.
But for all the expectation surrounding Cooper and his fellow Kerry stars
they failed to shake off St. Brendans until that first penalty was awarded
five minutes into the second-half.
The London champions who came into the game after playing just one competitive
match in almost four months looked anything but overawed against Kerry’s
football aristocrats in the opening exchanges and they took the game to
their opponents from the throw-in.
Dr. Crokes’ gameplan took a while to work as their midfielders adopted
the long-ball tactic into their tall inside line of forwards.
Despite an early scare when Kieran Brosnan hit a post the St. Brendans
defenders coped admirably after a Killian Phair pointed free gave them
an early advantage in the second minute.
Although Kieran O’Leary levelled on seven minutes before another
neat point from Eoin Brosnan gave them the lead two minutes later, St.
Brendans still refused to play second fiddle.
And their enterprise was rewarded midway through the half when Sligo man
Adrian Brett finished a fine four-man move on the right flank to tie the
scores at 0-2 each.
It was looking anything but promising for Crokes and their travelling
band of black and amber-clad supporters until Cooper got in on the act
with his trademark lethal accuracy.
The corner-forward finally got in behind the resolute Brendans defence
in the 15th minute to display some of his trickery before finally sending
the ball over the bar.
It was just the tonic the visitors required and following two further
points from Fleming and another left-footed effort from ‘Gooch’
the Killarney men looked to be strolling.
But again some stubborn resistance from Brendans forced the visitors back
on the defensive.
Some of that brave resistance came from goalkeeper Billy Molloy who was
in inspired form and apart from denying Crokes three goal-bound efforts
he also prevented two dropping balls going over the crossbar.
Another Phair pointed free then cut the deficit to two points in the 26th
minute before a rare Brendans defensive error gifted Brosnan a point just
before half-time.
Peter McNally’s men trailed by 0-6 to 0-3 at the break but the Longford
man will have been delighted with how his men battled.
Dr. Crokes first-half wake-up call appeared to have the desired effect
soon after the resumption.
The Crokes midfield domination spearheaded by a man-of-the-match display
from Brian McMahon finally began to turn the tide in favour of the Killarney
men.
An early pointed free from Cooper followed by the first of his two successful
penalties all but ended the game as a contest within six minutes of the
re-start.
A foul on midfielder Ambrose O’Donovan correctly resulted in the
first spot-kick and the baby-face assassin pulled the trigger to score.
Phair was successful with two further frees for St. Brendans soon after
but the objective had already become one of damage limitation for the
Londoners.
Four unanswered points from substitute David Moloney, O’Leary and
a free each from Fleming and Cooper had now opened up a 10-point lead.
Cooper was upended in the square after accepting a pass from O’Leary
five minutes from time and ‘Gooch’ completed a fine afternoon’s
work by closing the scoring with a well-placed spot-kick to seal a comprehensive
victory.
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