AIB Munster Club SFC Final

Kerins O’Rahillys 2-6 Newcastle West 1-8

By Paul Brennan

They were hanging on at the death but Kerins O’Rahillys are the new Munster Club SFC champions after a tense one-point win over a gutsy Newcastle West team that just lacked a little precision in attack to take the title to West Limerick.

O’Rahillys might not be Kerry county champions (they came to this competition as County Senior Club champions) but they will celebrate being just the eighth team from the Kingdom to call themselves Munster champions.

The game swung O’Rahillys way with second half goals from former Kerry footballers Tommy Walsh and Barry John Keane in a hectic third quarter.

It might not be remembered as one of the classic Munster Club finals but it certainly produced a thrilling finish that had O’Rahillys hanging on against a late surge from the Limerick champions that came up just short despite them kicking the last three points.

A dull and, at times, spiky first half produced just two points from play, both for the Limerick champions, as Newcastle West led 0-4 to 0-3 at the interval. Jack Savage converted two frees for O’Rahillys, Eoin Hurley did likewise for Newcastle West, but the partisan crowd were more exercised by a few baffling refereeing calls than any great contributions from the players.

Walsh’s goal arrived in the 34th minute – after early points from sub Ben Hanafin and Cormac Coffey – via a route one ball in from Jack Savage, with Walsh, the former Sydney Swans AFL man, pulling down the ball, swivelling and crashing his shot past Michael Quilligan.

Two minutes later Newcastle West’s best player, Cian Sheehan, saw his effort for a point come back off the post, but full forward Mike McMahon pounced to drive the ball beyond Shane Foley to make it 1-5 to 1-4 in O’Rahillys favour.

Thirty seconds later the ball was up the other end, Walsh assisting Keane for a tap-in goal to put the Kerry club four clear. O’Rahillys managed just one more point in the remaining 25 minutes but it was enough.

Two late Hurley frees and a shot from sub Aaron Neville that rose over the crossbar kept Newcastle West fighting to the end, but David Moran and Gavin O’Brien won vital possessions in additional time to lift the siege on O’Rahillys.

An All-Ireland semi-final against Kilmacud Crokes will focus minds over the Christmas, but they will enjoy this early present first.

Scorers for Kerins O’Rahillys: T Walsh 1-1 (0-1m), B J Keane 1-0, J Savage 0-2 (2f), C Coffey, T Hoare, B Hanafin 0-1 each

Scorers for Newcastle West: Eoin Hurley 0-5 (5f), Mike McMahon 1-0, I Corbett, S Stack, A Neville 0-1 each.

Kerins O’Rahillys: Shane Foley; Darragh McElligott, Ross O’Callaghan, Cormac Coffey, Con Barrett, Karl Mullins, Padraig Neenan; David Moran, Tom Hoare; Gearoid Savage, Jack Savage, Gavin O’Brien; Barry John Keane, Tommy Walsh, Conor Hayes.

Subs: Ben Hanafin for G Savage (ht), Ryan Carroll for Barrett (38), Diarmuid O’Sullivan for C Hayes (58)

Newcastle West: Michael Quilligan, Michael O’Keeffe, Darren O’Doherty, Brian O’Sullivan, Ruadhan O’Connor, James Kelly, Iain Corbett 0-1, Emmet Rigter, Sean Murphy, Cian Sheehan, Shane Stack, Diarmaid Kelly, Seamus Hurley, Mike McMahon, Eoin Hurley.

Subs: Todd O’Donovan for S Hurley (40), Aaron Neville for J Kelly (45), Bryan Nix for S Murphy (51), Thomas Quilligan for D Kelly (56)

Referee: Sean Lonergan (Tipperary)