Hogues hit for six
Castletown coast to convincing win
A DOMINANT Castletown eventually emerged with a 15-point victory over a depleted Ballyhogue outfit in this one-sided Greenstar Under-20 football Premier ‘B’ championship quarter-final in Bree on Saturday.
Powered by their Senior midfield pairing of Liam Coleman and Rory Heffernan, the visitors’ ability to finish free-flowing moves with goals proved the real difference.
Overall they were the better balanced outfit, and from an early stage victory was never in doubt.
Ballyhogue, to their credit, kept battling until the bitter end. Having fallen adrift to an early goal and a point, they managed to haul themselves back into the game.
However, once they conceded a second goal in first-half additional time, they were left with a real uphill battle. And with the minimum 15 players available they hadn’t the substitutes to freshen up for a possible second-half challenge.
Before one had time to settle, Castletown had their opening goal when Liam Coleman drove through the centre to finish with a rising shot to the net.
The same player pointed a free one minute later after Seán Og Stafford was fouled, leaving Castletown leading by 1-1 to nil after just two minutes.
Ballyhogue had their opening score, an eighth-minute Dean Doyle pointed free, and with a further Doyle point along with efforts from Colm Parnell and Tommy Kennedy, they trailed by 1-3 to 0-4 at the end of the opening quarter.
In the second quarter Castletown continued to dominate, but they had to wait until additional time for their second goal - a Frankie Kavanagh finish from a Vincent Quinlan pass - to leave them with a 2-5 to 0-6 interval lead.
Ballyhogue had an early second-half burst that yielded two Dean Doyle pointed frees to reduce the deficit to three points (2-5 to 0-8) after 34 minutes, but the Castletown response was almost immediate through a Brian O’Leary goal.
The home side needed a goal to help them along the way, but Castletown in their next attack really killed off the game when Alex Murphy added his side’s fourth.
Producing all the quality football in heavy conditions, Castletown put in a storming finish and added further goals through Vincent
Quinlan and Rory Heffernan to round off a fine overall performance which sets them up nicely for the semi-final.
Castletown: Seán Harte; Seán O’Hagan, Ross Cody (0-1), Mikey Fenlon; Cian Bealin, Killian Pierce, Eoin Cullen; Rory Heffernan (1-0), Liam Coleman (1-2, 0-1 free, 0-1 ‘45); Seán O’Loughlin, Vincent Quinlan (1-2, 0-1 free), Alex Molloy (1-0); Brian O’Leary (1-2), Frankie Kavanagh (1-0), Seán Og Stafford. Subs. - Darragh Heffernan for O’Loughlin, Dylan Goland for Fenlon, Eoin Coleman for Stafford.
Ballyhogue: David Kelly; Jack Kinsella, Cian Rochford, Ronan Byrne; Peter Rodgers, Colm Parnell (0-1), Eamonn Doyle; John Kehoe, Enda Minogue (0-1); Darragh Cloke-Rochford (0-1), Dean Doyle (0-6 frees), Tadhg Mahone; Ian Donohoe, Peter Kelly, Tommy Kennedy (0-1).
Referee: Matty Kinnaird (Starlights).