Senior Championship debutants James Treacy (19) and Ciaran O’Sullivan (18) in action
Cromane 0-4, Laune Rangers 3-14
Laune Rangers eased past Cromane on Sunday afternoon in Round 1 of the Mid Kerry Senior Championship
Cromane were playing with a substantial wind in the first half. Seán O’Sullivan pointed twice (one free) to give the home side an early lead, but Laune Rangers soon acclimatised to the conditions. Patrick Daly & Cian O’Shea frees levelled matters before O’Shea split the posts to give Laune Rangers the lead. Stephen Sealy & Patrick Daly added points before Tony Duffy replied with one for Cromane.
Pointed frees were exchanged between Darren Houlihan and Cian O’Shea, leaving Laune Rangers ahead by two at the break.
Half Time Score:- Cromane 0-4, Laune Rangers 0-6.
Laune Rangers dominated the second half with the breeze at their backs. Gearóid Hassett wasted no time in opening the scoring with a point, before Cian O’Shea scored arguably the point of the game soon after – Podge Ahern finding Pa Carey with the kickout before the centre back gave a fantastic diagonal pass to O’Shea who caught, turned and shot over the bar seemingly in the same motion. Cian O’Shea added a free a couple of minutes later, before being called ashore.
Gearóid Hassett & Patrick Daly pointed to leave Laune Rangers 0-11 to 0-4 ahead with fifteen minutes remaining.
Dáire Cleary got himself on the scoreboard before the defence was finally breached, and Laune Rangers scored three goals in the space of four minutes. John Burke ended a great run by smashing to the net, Rory O’Connor got the final touch to tap in a Gearóid Hassett pass, and Hassett himself made no mistake for his own finish – the last of the three coming after John Burke had kicked a super point from the sideline also.
Dáire Cleary added his second point to finish the scoring, as Laune Rangers progress to take on Beaufort in the Semi Final of the Mid Kerry Championship.
Among the substitutes introduced for Laune Rangers were Ciarán O’Sullivan and James Treacy who each made their Championship debuts for the club.
Full Time Score:- Cromane 0-4, Laune Rangers 3-14.
Cromane:- Darragh Crosby, Liam O’Neill, Conor Sugrue, Éanna Healy, Tony Óg Duffy (0-1), Donnchadh Walsh, Finbar Casey, Darren Houlihan (0-1f), Darragh McKeefrey, Danny O’Shea, Seán O’Sullivan (0-2, 1f), Joshua O’Sullivan, Aidan O’Sullivan, Mikey Houlihan, Jason O’Connor.
Laune Rangers:- Jason Browne, Rory O’Connor (1-0), Seán Arthurs, Seán Cleary, Eoin Clifford, Patrick Carey, Daragh O’Connor, Shane Daly, Eoin O’Sullivan, Patrick Daly (0-3, 2f), John Tyther, Stephen Sealy (0-1), Dáire Cleary (capt, 0-2), Gearóid Hassett (1-2), Cian O’Shea (0-5, 3f). Subs: Padraig Ahern for Browne, John Burke (1-1) for C O’Shea, Ciarán O’Sullivan for D O’Connor, James Treacy for Carey, Gavin O’Shea for P Daly.
