Kerry 2-21 Down 2-11
An injury-hit Down team crashed out of the Christy Ring Cup
in Tralee on Saturday when they lost to Kerry by 10 points. They were missing
Brendan McGourty, Gareth Johnston, Liam Clarke and Michael Ennis through injury
and Paddy Hughes through suspension.
Matters weren’t helped by Kerry’s physical approach to
defending. Within a minute of the start, John Murphy won the ball and was
flattened from behind resulting in a serious shoulder injury. Ciaran Coulter
got similar treatment 5 minutes later when goal bound and Emmett Trainor also
received some unwarranted off the ball attention from the Kerry defence. Any
one of these deserved at least a free and probably a yellow card however all
went unpunished.
A point from a free would have settled Down at that early
stage, but instead Kerry scored a goal. By the time Down had settled they were
trailing by 2-4 to no score. That ten point gap was the difference in the two
teams at the end.
First half goals from Eoin Clarke and Ciaran Coulter kept
Down in contention and at half-time they trailed by 2-10 to 2-4. The points
came from two Simon Wilson frees, one from Kieran Courtney and a Ciaran Coulter
score from play.
In the second half Wilson added another six points to bring
his total for the match to eight. But Kerry’s Shane Brick was in
devastating form, scoring a total of 15 points, 10 from frees and five from
play.
Down hurled well for periods in the game and showed great
heart despite the odds being stacked against them. Marshalled by Gary Savage
and Simon Wilson they were unlucky to be denied two goals - one from Ciaran
Coulter was superbly saved and a penalty was scant compensation for a cynical
tackle on Collie McManus as he was goal-bound.
Manager Gerard Coulter, who was on holiday, would have been
pleased by their grit and determination throughout. The most they can achieve
from this coming Saturday’s match against Meath is pride. With selector, Hugh
Gilmore, also on holiday this week, selector Paul McMullan will no doubt motive
them in that direction.
Team: Graham Clarke, Jerome Trainor, Stephen Murray, Seamus
Roddy, Gabriel Clarke, Fintan Conway, Ruairi McGrattan (Gerard Adair), Andy
Savage, Kieran Courtney (0-1, free), Emmett Trainor, Ciaran Coulter (1-1), Simon
Wilson (0-8, 0-5 frees, 0-2 65s), Eoin Clarke (1-0), John Murphy (Gary Savage),
Sean Ennis (0-1) (Paddy Coulter).
