FIRIES retained the Owen O'Sullivan Perpetual Cup, sponsored by Killarney Oils, when they had a five point win over Scartaglin at a rain-swept and windy Fitzgerald Stadium on Saturday evening. Within five minutes of the throw-in, Firies had two points on the scoreboard, courtesy of corner-forward Jeremiah O'Sullivan and centre half-forward , Thomas Corbett.

Indeed, O'Sullivan was to stamp his authority on the game with a personal tally of 1-4, while he was ably assisted by right half-forward, Jerry O'Sullivan, who kicked over three points. Almost 10 minutes of play had elapsed before Scartaglin, at the fifth attempt, finally registered with a good point from midfielder Sean Canty.

It was Canty who kept Scartaglin's hopes alive throughout the game; he dominated for periods at centrefield, distributed the ball well and ran into forward positions and then delivered the ball to forwards, Jer Dunlea and captain Tom Boyle in the corner. Midway through the first half, Morgan McMahon for Firies cleared his lines to full-forward James Burke who found Jeremiah O'Sullivan running through. Jeremiah soloed through the defence before finishing to the net for a well-taken goal.

On the call of half-time, Scartaglin were awarded a penalty for a foul on midfielder Philip Sullivan. Donie Murphy's penalty shot was parried by goalkeeper, Martin Dwyer, but Jer Dunlea was on hand to finish to the net. Firies eased off in the second half, while Scartaglin nearly stole a march on them when they reduced the deficit to four points, with scores by Con Guerin, Jer Dunlea and Tom Boyle. But Firies held on with points by Jerry Sullivan and Donal Donoghue. Full time score FIRIES 1-12 SCARTAGLIN 1-7

Firies: Martin Dwyer; Eamon Kennedy, Padraig Teahan, Morgan McMahon; Donal Donoghue (0-1), Noel McCarthy, Vincent Horgan (0-1); Con Connor, Donal Daly; Jerry O'Sullivan (0-3), Mike O'Sullivan, Thomas Corbett (0-2); Mike Allen (0-1), James Burke, Jeremiah O'Sullivan (1- 4). Subs.: Stephen Flynn, James O'Sullivan.

Scartaglin: Tim O'Connor; Donal Carey, Wm O'Connor, Donal Rahilly , Jer Sullivan, Tim Coakley, Noel Rahilly; Sean Canty (0- 1), Philip Sullivan; Con Guerin (0-1), Jer Dunlea(1-3),Jimmy Donoghue; Donie Murphy, Denis O'Connor, Tom Boyle (capt), (0- 2). Subs.: Mike Fitzgerald, Jim O'Connor.

Referee: Pat O'Donoghue (Fossa).