Agonising defeat

As it was, it seemed as if they might be able to afford the luxury of such wastage after substitute Aaron Sheehan pointed to nudge them in front for the first time in the 59th minute.

A minute later, however, Bandon made a crucial breakthrough, courtesy of a stunning goal from Mark Sugrue, before Mallow’s misery was compounded when Sean Hayes, having cut the gap to the minimum from a placed ball, failed to convert another chance from a long-range free in the dying seconds.

Coming 12 months after they had succumbed to eventual champions Newcestown by two points, this was a particularly traumatic experience for the losers, although it could be argued that Bandon were worthy winners on the overall run of the play.

The fact is that Mallow were very much forced to play second-fiddle in the first half, at the end of which they were flattered to be just six points, 1-9 to 0-6, in arrears.

Stung by an early goal, with corner forward Cian O’Mahony doing the needful for Bandon after Michael Cahalane had been initially denied by a splendid save from Mallow custodian Aidan Long, they struggled to recover from that body-blow, and the longer the first half wore on, the more difficult it became to ignore the feeling that the burden of expectation was weighing heavily on the shoulders of their youthful side.

Aided by good scores from Pa Herlihy and Cormac Murphy, they did manage to cut the gap to two points before they were fortunate not to concede another goal when Bandon’s Ronan Crowley shot narrowly over the bar from close range to make it 1-3 to 0-3 in the 10th minute.

Later, Michael Cahalane was