Co Championship ----  1st Round.

 Dr Crokes  2-7 ---------- Rathmore  1-8.(Played in Fitzgerald Stadium on Wed 27th May).

 Our preliminary round in the Competition got rave notices in the media for the level of sportsmanship displayed and the great football delivered by both sides. One could not say that last nights game ever reached those heights. Even though it was an encounter played at championship intensity, there was too much stop start and fouling in the match to regard it as a great game. We did however show that we had the capacity to dig deep when it was most needed. We were down to fourteen men (and they needed to be men) with fifteen minutes to go and were four points in arrears. To turn this into a two point win took great character on the part of our players and ensured our entry into the last sixteen of the competition. I hope that the injury to Johnny Buckley in the early minutes of the game will not prevent him from sitting the Leaving Certificate. We wish him a speedy recovery.

 Rathmore opened the scoring with a point but we were three points to one in front after ten minutes. Our opponents levelled by the end of the first quarter. A great Jamie Doolan goal followed by a Colm Cooper point put us four points in front after twenty minutes. In the last ten minutes Rathmore had three points without reply to leave us 1-4 to 0-6 in front at the interval.

 Our opponents had a goal immediately after the break and followed up with two points, the only scores by either side in the third quarter. Rathmore were now in the driving seat and we with fourteen men had a mountain to climb. The introduction of Kieran O'Leary helped our cause as he chipped in with a point and laid on a goal for Eoin Brosnan to give us equality. The influential Jamie Doolan put us a point in front in the 52nd minute and after misses on both sides, Colm Cooper from a free put us two points in front in the 60th minute when Jamie Doolan was heavily tackled outside the fourteen yard line when he looked certain to goal. It took great defensive work in injury time from John Payne and goalkeeper Kieran Cremin to keep out the goal our opponents needed for victory.

 Kieran Cremin was very good in goal. Our defence were often in trouble against the speedy Rathmore attackers.Brian McMahon was the best of the sextet. Eoin Brosnan and Ambrose O'Donovan held their own at midfield in the first half but shone out in the last quarter when most needed. We often struggled in attack with Jamie Doolan, Colm Cooper and substitute Kieran O'Leary being best and scoring 1-7 between them.

 Dr Crokes Best Player;  Eoin Brosnan.

Team and Scorers;  Kieran Cremin; Mike Moloney, Luke Quinn, Gavin Tucker; Batt Moriarty, Brian McMahon, Eanna Kavanagh; Johnny Buckley, Eoin Brosnan 1-0; Daithi Casey, Colm Cooper 0-4(0-2frees), Shane Doolan; Brian Looney, James Fleming, Jamie Doolan 1-2(0-1free).  Subs;  Ambrose O'Donovan, Kieran O'Leary 0-1, Keith McMahon, John Payne.

Co.Championship (Preliminary Round)

Dr Crokes 3-12  K/O'Rahillys 1-14 (Played in Austin Stack Park on Saturday the 17th May)

In a game that had everything that's good in Gaelic football, fast open play, excellent scores, goalmouth thrills and above all exemplary sportsmanship, we came out on top by four points against Kerin's O Rahillys. This was only a preliminary round in the competition but it was played as if it was the final and while we were deserving winners , the margin of victory probably flattered us. We had leads of six points and seven points during the course of the game but were only two minors ahead going into the last five minutes. We finished well with two late points to double our margin of victory at the end.

We opened the scoring with a point in the first minute but our opponents were level a minute later. The teams exchanged points in the next few minutes and in the eight minute we scored the first of our three goals, a sublime individual effort from Colm Cooper. The Tralee boys hit the first of their two purple patches in the game, knocking over four unanswered points in three minutes. This put them 0-6 to 1-2 ahead at the end of the first quarter. Colm Cooper levelled the game and then after a foul on himself he netted the penalty. In the last ten minutes of the half we had five points to our opponents two to leave us 2-8 to 0-8 in front at the interval.

Our opponents had another great spell of play in the first five minutes of the second half, scoring three points without reply to narrow the margin to three points. We got back into the game with a goal and a point in as many minutes but the Tralee lads equalised these scores within a few minutes. The teams then exchanged points and another point by O'Rahilly's in the 50th minute left us just two points ahead. Our opponents failed to score in the last ten minutes, during which period we got through for two valuable points from James Fleming and substitute Daithi Casey.

This was a great all round team performance. Our goalkeeper and defence stood up well to an amount of pressure, even though we conceded fifteen scores, albeit just one major. The exchanges at midfield were always tough and even though we might have lost the battle their by a slender margin we did get in enough of ball to register fifteen scores. The attack combined very well all through and nearly all of the sextet got their names on the score sheet more than once. One would have to pick out Colm Cooper and Jamie Doolan in this department for special mention as they both gave five star performances.

Dr Crokes Best Player;   Colm Cooper.

Team and Scorers;  Kieran Cremin; Brian McMahon, Luke Quinn, Mike Moloney; Batt Moriarty, Eanna Kavanagh, Gavin Tucker; Eoin Brosnan, Ambrose O'Donovan; James Fleming 0-2, Shane Doolan 0-2, Johnny Buckley 0-2; Brian Looney 1-1, Colm Cooper 2-3(0-1free, 1-0pen), Jamie Doolan 0-1.   Subs ; Keith McMahon, Daithi Casey 0-1.