Disappointing Defeat for Depleted Rock U21 Team in County Quarter Final

Our U21s failed in their bid for three county championships in a row, going down by 4 to a strong Mid Kerry team in Keel. It was a very spirited performance however and we were right in the game throughout, pushing hard in the closing stages despite playing into a strong wind.

Mid Kerry started strongest charging into a 0-4 nil lead, but we came back into it well with 2 fine 2 point frees by Ronan Carroll which put us a point up after 20 minutes. We failed to capitalise on the wind advantage and suffered the hammer blow of a goal conceded just before half time, going in 1-7 to 0-7 down at the long whistle.

At certain points in the second half it looked like Mid Kerry might pull away but credit to our squad we hung in there very well running hard, showing great fight to be only 3 down with 8 to go, led by Jack Murphy, Luke Casey and Padraig O’Halloran. Harry Murphy also showed up very well throughout, providing an outlet for the hour and kicking 2 nice scores.

As hard as we pushed, we didn’t get the bounce of the ball that we maybe needed which would have got us into the semis, but considering the quality players that we were missing we can’t have too many complaints. It is easy to forget how young a lot of these players are considering the amount of senior football experience they have under their belts, and the sky is the limit for this group. Many of the squad who aren’t in the with the As have also played significant minutes with our B and C teams in very competitive games in the lower divisions of the county leagues and the development this has brought on is obvious.

M Tansley, S Óg Brosnan, C Browne, F Ryan, J Fisher (0-1), J Murphy (0-2), S Heaslip, D Lucid, L Casey, G Casey, R Carroll (0-6, 0-5fs), P O’Halloran, J Carmody, D Horgan, H Murphy (0-2) SUBS B Litchfield (0-1), S Moynihan