Abbey Rovers have too much for St John’s in county semi-final
Abbey Rovers 1-7 St. Johns 0-4
A TELLING second half surge allowed Abbey Rovers come up trumps over St. Johns in the County JCFC semi-final at Castlemagner last Sunday.
When the searching questions were asked, the Castletownroche based outfit came up trumps, a solid defence exerted a huge influence with a slick and efficient attack registering key scores. The outcome allows Abbey Rovers advance to a county football final for the first time since 1988 when they overcame Illen Rovers in the County JBFC decider.
For their part, St John’s sought a breakthrough in an effort to get to a first time decider. Nobody could question the workrate, resolve or resilience of the Duhallow side yet they found it difficult to dislodge their opponents and poor shooting limited progress.
From a tense opening, Rovers broke the deadlock, former Cork City AFC and current Cobh Wanderers ‘keeper Michael Devine stepped up field from custodian duties to point a free.
St John’s began to warm to their task and availed of solid work from Seán Barrett, Pa Rohan and the O’Keeffe brothers.
At times, poor shooting hampered progress only for points to Eric and Eoin Barrett nudged Johns ahead. With both defences on top, scores became few and far between, Rovers forcing parity from a Niall Hazelwood point.
St Johns answered with Donal Corkery flag yet they failed to turn the screw on shooting eight wides in the opening half. At the opposite end, Rovers made use of lesser possession, points from Tomás O’Shea and Eoin Noonan helped secure a 0-4 to 0-3 interval advantage.
Turning to play with the breeze, Abbey Rovers broke smartly from traps and their cause was boosted by a brilliantly executed goal in the 34th min. a long clearance from Harry O’Farrell saw Noonan flick on and the skilful Hazelwood blasted to the net. Indeed the Rovers play became more influential, superbly driven on by David Relihan, Adrian O’Donovan, O’Farrell and Muiris Browne.
In attack, an impressive streak ran through the inside line of Hazelwood, Noonan and Mark O’Callaghan, all on the scoresheet in a productive return.
St Johns waited to the 55th minute to open their second half account on a punched point by substitute Liam Dennehy. In fairness, Johns plugged away as Devine dealt capably with a goal attempt from Corkery.
Still Rovers remained well equipped to remain patient to see their task to a successful conclusion and look ahead to a county final appearance against Ballinure or Goleen.