Brosnan does the damage as Crokes dethrone Castlehaven

Dr Crokes (Kerry) 1-15 Castlehaven (Cork) 1-8

It was Killarney. It was a balmy 14°C. Tony Brosnan starred with 1-07. It was a Kerry win.

One could have thought it was Cork vs Kerry in the Munster SFC in springtime.

It was, however, Kerry kingpins Dr Crokes who got the better of reigning Munster club champions Castlehaven by seven points in a fiercely-contested provincial quarter-final.

The sides were level on four separate occasions in the opening half, but a late Charlie Keating point gave Crokes the narrowest of leads at the break – 0-06 to 0-05, before the Kerry champions outscored their Cork counterparts by 1-09 to 1-03 in the second period, boosted by 1-02 in the opening minutes of the final half hour.

Castlehaven had travelled to Dr Crokes' home patch looking to continue their search for back-to-back Munster Senior Club football titles for the first time in their history. Eight-time Munster champions Dr Crokes had other ideas, however.

Boosted by a vocal home support, Dr Crokes started the game the brighter and were two points to the good inside the opening five minutes thanks to close-range frees from Kerry stars Micheál Burns and

Superb long-range efforts from Cathal Maguire and Andrew Whelton had the Cork champions level by the seventh minute, before Brian Hurley slotted over a free from out wide a minute later to put Castlehaven ahead for the first time.

Kerry star Brosnan was influential, scoring three important points as both were level three more times in the opening 30 minutes.

Three minutes after the restart, Crokes extended their winning margin to four when Brosnan coolly slotted home a penalty.

Referee Seán Lonergan was left with no choice but to award the penalty after Cian McMahon, who had picked up a lovely ball in from Gavin White, was brought to the ground by Mark Collins.

Brian Hurley of Castlehaven is shown a red card

The momentum was all with the hosts at this stage, and when Brosnan slotted over two minutes later, Pat O’Shea’s charges opened up a comfortable-looking five-point lead.

When Thomas O’Mahony tapped over in the 42th it was Castlehaven’s first score of the second half. But minutes later, Shane Murphy denied Mark Collins a certain goal as the momentum slowly began to swing back in the favour of Castlehaven.

However, with 10 minutes left on the clock, Castlehaven’s comeback hopes suffered a major blow as talisman Brian Hurley saw red for a high tackle on McMahon as he tried to carry the ball out of defence.

A late Castlehaven penalty – slotted home by substitute Damien Cahalane – proved too little too late for the visitors as Crokes eventually ran out comfortable seven-point winners.

With the last two All-Ireland winners knocked out in their respective county championships, Crokes can now certainly dream of winning a third title.

A trip to Waterford champions Rathgormack awaits in the semi-final in two weeks’ time.

Dr Crokes: Shane Murphy; Evan Looney, Fionn Fitzgerald, Maidhcí Lynch (0-01); Charlie Keating (0-01), Gavin White, Brian Looney; Mark O'Shea, Michael Potts (0-01); Micheál Burns (0-02, 0-01f), Gavin O’Shea, Tom Doyle; Tony Brosnan (1-07, 0-03f, 1-00 penalty), David Shaw, Cian McMahon (0-01)

Subs: Kieran O’Leary (0-02) for Keating (44 minutes), John Payne for Doyle (50), Dáithí Casey for McMahon (both 50), David Naughton for Potts (57)

Castlehaven: Darragh Cahalane; Johnny O’Regan, Thomas O’Mahony (0-01), Jamie O’Driscoll; Jack O’Neill (0-01), Robbie Minihane, Jamie Walsh; Mark Collins, Andrew Whelton (0-01); Cathal Maguire (0-01), Brian Hurley (0-03, 0-02f), Jack Cahalane; Seán Browne, Michael Hurley, Conor Cahalane (0-01)

Subs: Damien Cahalane (1-00, 1-00 penalty) for Walsh (41), Conor O’Driscoll for Browne (48), Michael Maguire for Minihane, Ronan Walsh for O’Driscoll (both 53), Ciarán O’Sullivan for Whelton (57)

Referee: Seán Lonergan (Tipperary)

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