St.Joseph’s Doora-Barefield will have an Intermediate Munster Hurling Semi-Final to look forward to as the Parish produced a strong second half showing to overcome Kerry Champion’s Causeway at Cusack Park.
The North West Kerry outfit got off to a lightning start on away soil, leading by 0-7 to 0-4 after eighteen minutes of action in the County grounds.
However when Darragh O’Shea’s searching ball was collected by Doora-Barefield Full-Forward Cathal Ruane on the edge of the square, the attacker rattled the back of the Causeway net to level the sides and settle the Parish into the contest.
To their credit, the Kerry men were not phased by the concession of the goal and hit three points without reply from the sticks of Gavin Dooley and Brandon Barrett to lead by 0-12 to 1-07 at half time.
Just two minutes into the restart, Causeway wing-back Evan Murphy arguably produced the score of the day with a side line cut from distance, however the Parish response would be ruthless as they went on to outscore their opponents by 0-9 to 0-02 over the next fifteen minutes to stretch the Parish lead out to 1-18 to 0-15 with an Adam Mungovan brace and Alan O’Neill free from distance, the pick of the scores.
St.Joseph’s replicated their performance in the final quarter which saw sharpshooter David Conroy take his personal tally for the afternoon to 0-10 and despite an injury time free from Causeway’s Brandon Barrett raising a green flag, the Parish men weathered the storm to run out winners on a score line of 1-23 to 1-16 in Cusack Park.
Michael Guilfoyle’s men will now have an opportunity to avenge their Munster Championship exit in 2016 at the Quarter-Final stage as they will face Limerick champions Monaleen in the Provincial Semi-Final in a fortnights time.