Stacks are County Senior football champions after beating Tralee rivals

Austin Stacks are Garvey’s Supervalu County Senior Football champions following a three point victory over Tralee rivals Kerins O Rahillys.

The game began at frantic pace, with both sides registering early scores. Stacks led 3 point to 1 after 10 minutes. Michael O Gara, Darragh O Brien and Fiachra Mangan getting on the score sheet. Rahillys were dealt a blow inside the opening 10 minutes as veteran David Moran limped off with an injury in the opening stages. A Jack Savage free brought Rahillys back within 1 point at the water break. Kerins O Rahillys were level just moments after the restart; a fisted effort from Barry John Keane made it 0-3 to 0-3. A free from Darragh O Brien and a Kieran Donaghy mark put the Rockies two in front before a well worked effort was slotted over by Barry John Keane cut the gap back to 1 with 23 on the clock. A Stack’s free from Darragh O Brien restored the 2 point lead on 28 minutes. An off the ball incident between Tommy Walsh and Dylan Casey resulted in the Strand Road man receiving yellow. A 4th free from Darragh O Brien meant Stacks stretched their lead to 3 deep into stoppage time at the end of the first half. Kieran Donaghy was booked for a high challenge on Tommy Walsh. Brendan O Sullivan slotted over a well worked Stacks point just before the half time whistle, meaning the Rockies led by double scores 0-8 to 0-4 at the interval.

Both sides shared points in the opening stages of the second half, with Rahillys just outscoring Stacks by a single point. Rahillys scorers were Conor Hayes along with a point from a free from the boot of Jack Savage. Yet another free from Darragh O Brien was Stacks only score in the opening 10 minutes of the half, with Stacks leading by 3, 9 points to 6.
Sean Quilter and Joe O Connor added another 2 scores to stretch Stacks lead to 5 points. Stacks went 6 points clear before Darragh O Brien and Jack Savage clawed back Rahillys deficit to 4 with 2 minutes of normal time remaining. On 60 minutes, Rahillys scored a great point through Cormac Coffey brought it to a 3 point game. Another Darragh O Brien free was cancelled out by a Jack Savage point. And that’s how it was to end, Austin Stacks win the battle of Tralee and win the Bishop Moynihan Cup on a final score line of 0-13 to 0-10.