AIB Munster Club SFC Semi-Final

Austin Stacks 1-15 Newcastlewest 0-8

By Paul Brennan at Austin Stack Park

The Munster Club senior football championship will be a Kerry v Cork affair next month after Austin Stacks saw off Newcastlwest in their semi-final to set up a meeting with St Finbarrs of Cork in the provincial decider.

The Kerry champions easily broke the resistance of the visiting Limerick champions in Austin Stack Park this afternoon, with Brendan O’Sullivan’s second half goal settling what was already a foregone conclusion at that stage.

Stacks were leading 0-12 to 0-5 when O’Sullivan tapped Sean Quilter’s inviting pass to the Newcastlewest net, and the Tralee club still had 10 points to spare at the finish of a fairly pedestrian contest.

Stacks were without starters Ronan Shanahan and Shane O’Callaghan, but nevertheless, they hit their stride from the start against a Newcastlewest side that was energetic and purposeful but lacked the scoring prowess to in any way trouble a Stacks team built on a brilliant defence.

O’Callaghan’s replacement Quilter pointed Stacks into the lead from a free in the third minute, and the scores came regularly for the Rockies thereafter. Darragh O’Brien converted two frees before Brendn O’Sullivan worked a neat move with Fiachna Mangan for the former to score Stacks first point from play. Another O’Brien free saw Stacks lead 0-5 to no score at the water break.

The Limerick champions had offered plenty of sound defending, for the most part, and were competitive around midfield, but it was up front were Newcastlewest really fell down. Too often their inside forwards were too isolated, and they struggled for time and space when they did secure possession.

Credit to Stacks for much of that, whose defending was excellent, collectively and individually. As they have been all season, they defended in numbers and with great discipline, forcing the visitors into low percentage shots when they could eventually find a sliver of time and space for themselves.

O’Brien hit two early scores after half time to stretch Stacks’ lead, but then the Limerick men enjoyed their best period. Shane Stack had a sniff of a goal but was fouled in the build-up and Hurley converted the free. Mike McMahon then converted a mark, sub Diarmaid Kelly scored from play, and then their county man, Iain Corbett fired over from distance to make it 0-11 to 0-5.

It gave the sizeable travelling support something to cheer about but their excitement and hope was short-lived. Greg Horan whipped over a good point just before Joe O’Connor’s surging run fed Quilter near the end line, and his inviting cross was tapped to the net by O’Sullivan to make it 1-12 to 0-5. O’Sullivan followed up with a point to put Stacks 11 ahead at the water break, and it was elementary thereafter.

Scorers for Austin Stacks: Darragh O’Brien 0-8 (5f), Brendan O’Sullivan 1-2, Kieran Donaghy 0-2 (1m), Greg Horan 0-1, Sean Quilter 0-1 (f), Shane O’Callaghan 0-1

Scorers for Newcastlewest: Eoin Hurley 0-3 (3f), Diarmaid Kelly 0-2, Cian Sheehan 0-1, Iain Corbett 0-1, Mike McMahon 0-1 (f)

Austin Stacks: Wayne Guthrie, Colin Griffin, Dylan Casey, Jack O’Shea, Paul O’Sullivan, Conor Jordan, Barry Shanahan, Joseph O'Connor, Greg Horan, Michael O’Gara, Fiachna Mangan, Brendan O’Sullivan, Sean Quilter, Kieran Donaghy, Darragh O’Brien.

Subs: Armin Heinrich for J O’Shea (42), Shane O’Callaghan for F Mangan (43), Michael O’Donnell for K Donaghy (51), Jack Morgan for P O’Sullivan (53), David Fitzmaurice for M O’Gara (54).

Newcastlewest: Andrew Ruddle, Michael O’Keeffe, Darren Carmody, Brian O’Sullivan, Eoin Murphy, James Kelly, Steven Brosnan, Cian Sheehan, Iain Corbett, AJ O’Connor, Shane Stack, Brian Hurley, Bryan Nix, Mike McMahon, Eoin Hurley.

Subs: Diarmaid Kelly for B Hurley (29), Sean Murphy for S Brosnan (ht), Thomas Quilligan for S Stack (39), Lee Woulfe for J Kelly (46), Donnchadh Woods for M McMahon (52).

Referee: Sean Lonergan (Tipperary).