A STUNNING exhibition of deadly finishing by young Dr Crokes star Jordan Kiely powered Kerry to an impressive victory against Clare in the opening round of the Munster Minor Football Championship in Cusack Park, Ennis on Wednesday evening.
Kiely, who lined out at corner forward, notched a hugely impressive personal tally of 2-3 to break Banner hearts and it inspired Jack O’Connor’s side to an emphatic 15-point victory on a 2-16 to 0-7 scoreline.
To be fair, the scoreline flatters Kerry somewhat as were it not for a solid performance between the posts by Rathmore netminder Shane Ryan, who pulled off some terrific saves, the scoreline would have been much closer.
Points from Kiely and his black and amber clubmate Micheál Burns helped ease O’Connor’s side into 0-6 to 0-3 lead after 20 minutes and they built on that to go in at half time 0-8 to 0-3 in front.
Kerry had the advantage of a stiff breeze in the second half and a goal and a point from the opportunist Kiely more or less ended the game as a contest.
He netted his second goal approaching the final quarter by which time it was only a matter of that the winning margin would actually be.
Kerry will now meet the winners of the Waterford v Tipperary clash in the provincial semi-final in the coming weeks.
Kerry scorers: Jordan Kiely 2-3; Killian Spillane 0-6 (0-2 frees); Matthew Flaherty 0-3; Micheál Burns 0-2; Brian Rayle 0-1; Stephen O’Sullivan 0-1.
Kerry team: Shane Ryan (Rathmore); Jack Morgan (Austin Stacks); Brian Begley (An Ghaeltacht); Tom O’Sullivan (Dingle); Jason Foley (Ballydonoghue); Andrew Barry (Na Gaeil); Brian Sugrue (Renard); Barry O’Sullivan (Dingle); Mark O’Connor (Dingle); Matthew Flaherty (Dingle); Brian Rayle (Lispole); Micheál Burns (Dr Crokes); Jordan Kiely (Dr Crokes); Killian Spillane (Templenoe); Cathal Bambury (Dingle). Subs: Stephen O Sullivan (Templenoe) for Bambury; Cormac Coffey (Kerins O’Rahillys) for Foley; Tomas Ó Sé (An Ghaeltacht) for B O’Sullivan; Liam Kearney (Spa) for Rayle; David Roche (Milltown/Castlemaine) for Flaherty; Ivan Parker (Churchill) for Morgan.
