WITH leaders St Senans not in action until this weekend, it gave the chasing pack a chance to close in on the Division Five pacesetters and after losing to Strand Road in a back game the week before Valentia bounced right back, holding off a spirited challenge from Ballylongford in a 2-14 to 3-7 triumph.

Daniel Falvey's goal gave the Young Islanders the early initiative but veteran Ballylongford forward Liam Weir struck twice in quick succession to level the scores up at 1-7 to 2-4 at the interval.

When Patrick O'Brien struck for Ballylongford's third goal all appeared to be the North Kerry side's way but a Ger O'Shea goal as well as a succession of points from Falvey saw the South Kerry team emerge four point winners and move into second in the table.

Cromane suffered a big blow in going down to Templenoe by 1-8 to 1-5 as the loss of both Sean O'Sullivan and Sean Walsh appears to be affecting the Mid Kerry side badly. They led 1-3 to 0-1 early on, Paul O'Sullivan getting the goal however when Teddy Doyle struck for Templenoe it signalled the start of a Templenoe revival with Doyle finishing with a personal total of 1-4 as Danny Cahalane also stood out for the victors.

Ballydonoghue moved back into the promotion picture following a narrow 1-11 to 1-9 victory away to Kilgarvan as Paul Kennelly ruled the roost for the visitors finishing with a personal total of 1-6 as the North Kerry side had to overcome the loss of their goalkeeper Shane Thornton and defender John O'Mahony as well as a late Kilgarvan rally before emerging as the winners.

Lispole moved into fourth after a 2-13 to 0-15 victory over Asdee that saw them fall five points behind early on. A Brendan Hanafin goal levelled the game up at 1-5 to 0-8 however as Jeremiah Tydings was having a good afternoon in front of the posts for Asdee. Alan Dorgan got the crucial second goal that guaranteed the win for the West Kerry side as Declan and Cathal O'Sullivan finished with eight points between them

Paul Carroll and Eoin Kennedy tried hard for Asdee but that probably is the end of any promotion hopes for the North Kerry side.

Strand Road picked up their third win of the year as they put three goals past luckless Knocknagoshel who remain without even a single point in this year's campaign. David McLoughlin and Con Barrett scored first half goals to give them a 2-5 to 0-5 advantage at the break.

Sean Walsh added a third goal in the second half to wrap up a 3-8 to 1-9 victory with Edmund Walsh scoring an impressive 1-7 for Knock but they find themselves rock bottom of the Kerry football ladder.

The other game of the weekend between Clounmacon and Laune Rangers B was not a classic by any stretch of the imagination as 60 minutes of football only produced 11 scores with the home side failing to score in the entire second half.

Seamus Twomey scored Clounmacon's three points in the first half as they trailed by only one at the break but Colm O'Shea and Ian Costello veered the Killorglin side towards and eventual 0-8 to 0-3 victory in what was a truly forgettable game of football.

This weekend sees a crucial 'back game' as St Senans travel to Dingle with victory for the Mountcoal outfit probably putting them just one win away from promotion while victory for Dingle will make it just a little bit tighter in the race for Division Four football.