
Stacks will meet St Kierans in repeat of last year's Kerry County U21 final
Austin Stacks thanks to an explosive opening half proved far too strong for a gutsy East Kerry side in the semi-final of the County U21 Football Championship with a 2-21 to 0-19 victory in Paddy Burke Memorial Park Milltown.
Stacks who are going for back to back County U21 titles laid down a marker from the throw in when Ben Murphy fetched the ball and raced right through the heart of the East Kerry defence where he had to be fouled and Paddy Lane who only passed a fitness test just before throw in converted the free.
Two minutes later Jack Murphy raced forward and played Ryan O'Driscoll through and he jinked his way past two defenders to score a superb goal. Cian Gammell replied for East Kerry but it was all Stacks pressure with the wind to their backs for the rest of the half. O'Driscoll was denied by a post for a second goal, before he added another point and with Donnacha Sayers, Sean Óg Brosnan and a Paddy Lane two pointer, Stacks led 1-6 to 0-3 at the end of the opening quarter with Mark O'Shea and Stephen Palmer (two of East Kerry's top performers) replying for East Kerry.
By half time Stacks with the Murphy brothers, Luke Casey and Daniel Kirby driving them forward and two pointers from Ronan Carroll and Paddy Lane saw Stacks retire 1-13 to 0-7 in front at the interval.
East Kerry needed a quick start to the second half but instead two Paddy Lane points and one from Daniel Kirby and Ronan Carroll saw Stacks stretch 13 points clear and that was game over.
Credit East Kerry with Paul O'Shea with a two pointer and five second half Stephen Palmer points along with accurate James Horgan free taking saw they gap at down to just eight. But Ben Murphy killed off East Kerry's unlikely comeback when Gavin Casey set up Ben Murphy so drilled the ball to the net and Stacks cruised to an eight point win.
They will meet St Kieran's in a repeat of last year's County final after they held off a late Glenflesk rally to book their place in the Kerry U21 final after a 2-22 to 4-13 win in Fossa. Killian Dennehy was the star of the show scoring 1-10 while as Maurice Lane scores their other goal. Glenflesk can thank Callum Cronin who scored 2-1 with John Kelliher and Dylan Roche (penalty) other Glenflesk goal scorers.
St Kierans recovered from going 0-5 to 0-0 down to Glenflesk after 10 minutes to lead by 0-7 to 0-6 at half-time. Killian Dennehy with three points as Glenflesk have braces from Dylan Roche, Jamie Moynihan and John Kelliher. Kierans were 1-14 to 0-6 up after 43 mins before Callum Cronin got Glenflesk first goal. Cronin got his second in 49th min which made it 1-16 to 2-9.
When Dennehy got Kierans 2nd goal in 52nd minute to make it 2-16 to 2-10, it felt like game over but John Kelliher got Glenflesk's third goal in 55th min to make it 2-18 to 3-10, but dissent proved costly for the East Kerry club. Luke Crowley and Cian Lynch kicked two pointers as Dylan Roche scored 4th goal from a penalty in 60+2 as Glenflesk but a Kieran Dennehy free ensured Kierans got through but only just.

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Irish Examiner
2 days ago
- Irish Examiner
In a year of tragedy and suffering, Ballymacelligott minors put a smile back on everyone's face
Kerry MFL Division 1 final: Ballymacelligott 4-15 Austin Stacks 1-16. KERRY GAA vice-chair Liam Lynch paid tribute to a 'fantastic' Ballymacelligott minor football group who honoured their late friend and colleague Luke Silles with an historic first Kerry MFL Division 1 title in Tralee. Ballymac's eight-point win Friday night over favourites Austin Stacks helped lift the clouds that have hung over the area since minor footballer Luke Silles died in a tragic water accident in Fenit last May. And Kerry's vice chair Lynch spoke movingly after the final about the exemplary manner in which Luke's colleagues have conducted themselves on and off the pitch this season. The Ballymac minors blitzed their way to a stunning Division 1 success, beating Rathmore, Kenmare, Dr Crokes and Laune Rangers before accounting for Stacks in Friday's decider. They scored 8-29 between the semi-final and final, against two favoured opponents. Only a stone would not have been moved by the scenes of wild celebration at the final whistle at the John Mitchels club. Luke was beaming somewhere else. 'Leaving aside football for a moment, I want to say what a credit as individuals and as a club – everyone knows what I am talking about – ye all are to represent us as GAA people around the passing of Luke Silles. He was on everybody's mind here, and the way ye as young men have conducted yourselves over the last few months all the way up to the match tonight is remarkable. Ye are a credit to yourselves, to your parents, and your club. The future is bright for Ballymac.' It certainly appears that way as the minors delivered a statement performance full of fire and intelligence to overturn an early six-point deficit against Austin Stacks. IN MEMORY: Luke Silles' No 11 jersey was retired for the year by the Ballymac minor squad in memory of their friend and colleague The Tralee men, who were without star turn Ben Murphy, raced into a 1-3 to 0-1 lead with a Cormac Bastible goal, and led 1-6 to 0-3 before Ballymac got going. Dead-eye free-taking from Jack Joy into a tricky breeze kept them in touch before midfielder Mairtin McKivergan raced through to goal and level things up at 1-7 apiece. Stacks, with Kerry minors Ronan Carroll and Alex Tuohy leading, surged back in front, taking a 1-11 to 1-9 lead into the half time break though Ballymac points from Padraig Reidy and Gearoid Healy were key in minimising Ballymac's challenge going into the second half. However it was a different story after the break as Ballymac grabbed control of the game. A rapid passing move teed up Ciarán O'Connell for their second goal and when Jack Joy's free fell short two minutes later, Luke Griffin reacted quickest to flick their third. Ronan Carroll kicked a big two pointer for Stacks, but Ballymac had all the momentum now. Mike Quirke was a steady hand at centre forward, chipping in with four points in total to receive the man of the match award and significantly, they got a big bounce from all four substitutions. The Joy brothers – Kerry minors this year and last - controlled possession, while defensively Jackson Brosnan made a couple of key blocks to keep Stacks at bay. The victory rounded off a remarkable season for the Ballymac minors across the Club championship, Central Region and County League – they remained unbeaten over 60 minutes, losing only twice in extra time in the earlier competitions to Rathmore and Laune Rangers. They beat both convincingly en route to this maiden Division One title. Somewhere, quietly, Luke Silles, was fist pumping. BALLYMACELLIGOTT: C Harris; D McMahon, E Joy (0-1), S Turner; J Brosnan, E Moriarty, P Reidy (0-1); M McGivergen (1-1), C Savage; S Slattery, M Quirke (0-4), G Healy (0-2); J Joy (1-6, 1tpf, 1f), M Rodgers, C O'Connell (1-0). Subs: J Collins for Savage (40), M O'Connor for Healy (42), L Griffin (1-0) for Rodgers (49), L O'Rahilly for Slattery (55). AUSTIN STACKS: O Lata; E Mangan, F Ryan, A Horgan; D Lyons, G Casey, L Sweeney; A Tuohy (0-2), J Diggin; H Murphy, R Carroll (0-10, 2tp, 1tpf, 2f), B Litchfield; R Lynch, R O'Driscoll (0-3), C Bastible (1-1). Subs: J Carmody for Sweeney (47), J Moriarty for Litchfield (49). Referee: D Kennelly (Moyvane)


Irish Examiner
27-07-2025
- Irish Examiner
Joe O'Connor: The new star of Rock Street
Well, Kieran Donaghy, what did you think of that? Maybe it's a Stacks thing, a townie thing. Or maybe it was because there was a whiff of Donegal again in the air. But when Joe O'Connor was presented with yet another man of the match award after the All-Ireland semi-final win over Tyrone, there were echoes of a certain 2014 post-match interview in how the latest Rolls Royce to come off the production line in Kerry spoke. This is exclusive subscriber content. Already a subscriber? Sign in Take us with you this summer. Annual €130€65 Best value Monthly €12€6 / month


Irish Daily Mirror
12-07-2025
- Irish Daily Mirror
'It wouldn't go down well' Tyrone closing in on unique 50-year Kerry GAA record
Next Thursday evening, Mickey Ned O'Sullivan will share a platform with two men with whom he shares a unique link going back 50 years. In 1975, Kerry completed the treble of All-Ireland senior, under-21 and minor football titles, the first, and only, time that it has been done. It is worth noting that the under-21 grade was only introduced in 1964, so it's not a feat that counties had been striving for since the formative years of the GAA, but the fact that it hasn't been done in the intervening five decades affords Kerry's achievement increasing prestige. O'Sullivan captained the senior team, albeit he didn't get to lift the cup in the Hogan Stand (more on that later), Kevin O'Donoghue skippered the under-21s, while Robert Bunyan lifted the Tom Markham Cup for the minors, who beat Tyrone just before O'Sullivan and Co led the seniors out on the same afternoon in Croke Park. O'Donoghue's club, Glenflesk, are getting the three of them together in Barraduff to mark the achievement 50 years on. 'They obviously decided to bring the three captains together with Radio Kerry just to have an interview and to reflect on the year and that's on next Thursday. Robert Bunyan will be there, Kevin O'Donoghue and myself. We wouldn't have met in the intervening years, you know. Everybody goes their own way.' The treble was completed a fortnight after the senior and minor finals, as the under-21s beat Dublin in the All-Ireland final in Tipperary town, with Mick O'Dwyer managing both sides, who trained together given the considerable overlap of players. Páidí Ó Sé, Tim Kennelly, Denis 'Ogie' Moran, Mikey Sheehy and Pat Spillane were starters for the seniors and under-21s. Another under-21, Ger O'Driscoll, scored a goal in the senior final after replacing O'Sullivan. Others would graduate to the senior team in time. From the minor team, Jack O'Shea, Sean Walsh, Mick Spillane, Charlie Nelligan would each win seven All-Ireland senior medals. Essentially, what unfolded over that period set Kerry football in good stead for more than a decade afterwards. 'It was a reflection, I suppose, of the work that was being done at underage level, probably in the previous maybe five or six years, and it just all came together and as it turned out, that the minors won, the under-21s and the seniors,' says O'Sullivan. 'It's a significant thing if it can be done because I was just looking, in the under-21 team, 10 of those went on to play with Kerry, and five of the minors did. 'There was a big celebration at Christmas for the three teams and it was a reflection of what had been done for Kerry football during the course of the year.' There is, however, a possibility that O'Sullivan, O'Donoghue and Bunyan could be emulated by Mattie Donnelly, Joey Clarke and Pádraig Donaghy this year. Under-21 became under-20 and the minor grade shifted from under-18 to under-17 in 2018, and Clarke and Donaghy have already captained Tyrone to those respective titles, beating Kerry en route in both. If they were to beat them in the senior semi-final today, they would become just the second county, after Cork, to lower the Kingdom's colours in the three grades in the one year, while leaving Donnelly on track to lift the Sam Maguire Cup and emulate Kerry's feat of 50 years ago. 'It wouldn't go down well,' O'Sullivan acknowledges. 'Because the track record in the past 25 years against Tyrone isn't great. So I think that's the incentive for Saturday.' With '75 in mind, it's been a poignant week with the passing of Seán Doherty, the former Dublin captain with whom O'Sullivan shared a close friendship. Famously, Doherty poleaxed O'Sullivan in the 1975 final while he was on a weaving run towards goal, leaving the Kerry captain concussed and in hospital for the evening. But there was never any lasting rancour between the pair, who were in contact only last week. 'We had a great friendship and we would meet a number of times every year, and we'd either go for lunch or a drink, so we kind of kept up the friendship and, as a result, the teams kind of kept up the friendship as well. 'And it was all about friendship and respect rather than what they'd achieved or didn't achieve. We had similar journeys and we enjoyed each other's company and only two months ago we had a reunion to celebrate the 50th here in Kenmare for two days. 'We all stayed in Sheen Falls and played golf, went on boat trips and everyone had their partners. So it was exceptional. It was great to have done it and Seán and Alan Larkin organised the Dublin side of it, I organised the Kerry side. 'I was speaking to him last week. So we had a chat and we had arranged to probably meet next week and, obviously, things didn't work out and it was very sudden and everyone was shocked, really, because he was in great form.' In 2005, Doherty came to Kenmare to present O'Sullivan with the Sam Maguire Cup, an acknowledgement of how his intervention had robbed him of the opportunity to accept it from Donal Keenan, the then GAA president, 30 years earlier. 'We had a fundraiser in the club in Kenmare and the fundraiser was titled 'Play It Again, Sam'. We had 1,300 people sitting down. We made 80 grand for the club on the night. 'It was developing a whole new sports hall and everything at the time. And it was a continuation of the friendship and the bond that existed between the two groups.'