THEY said it couldn’t be done – but how wrong they were.
Rampant Rathmore caused the upset of the season when they consigned five-in-a-row chasing Dr Crokes to the losers’ round of the Kerry senior football championship in a pulsating encounter at Rathbeg on Sunday night.
Kerry minor goalkeeper Shane Ryan was the Rathmore hero as he kicked over several points, from a variety of angles, to break Crokes’ hearts and guide his side safely through to the next round.
Rathmore totally dominated the second half and registered an amazing nine points without reply as Crokes struggled to cope with their fluent, attacking game plan.
The Killarney club, who were 0-7 to 0-5 ahead at the break, couldn’t live with Rathmore on the resumption and the eventual victors were inspired by centre half back Aidan O’Mahony who rolled back the years to produce a spellbinding performance.
Early Crokes points from Brian Looney, Daithi Casey, Chris Brady and Kieran O’Leary gave them the early edge but Rathmore stayed well in touch through scores from the impressive Ryan, Mike Riordan and Eoin Lawlor.
Crokes, who started without Eoin Brosnan and lost Johnny Buckley to injury in the second half, only managed two points in the second half, a free from Daithi Casey and a point from the boot of Micheál Burns.
As the game progressed, an exceptional display of point scoring by Shane Ryan – a player that is poised to become a household name in Kerry football – set the scene for what was a very unlikely victory.
The final scoreline was 0-14 to 0-9 in Rathmore’s favour and it was Crokes’ first loss in the championship since 2009.
The four-in-a-row kingpins are still in the tournament, however, and spare a thought for whoever they are drawn against in the losers’ round as Martin Byrnes’ charges will be out to prove a point.
