Mitchelstown bounce back in some style

Mitchelstown 2-21 Adrigole 0-10

WORKING through the hour with impressive efficiency, Mitchelstown bounced right back into the County Intermediate Football Championship after making light work of Adrigiole in round 2B at Macroom last Saturday evening.

Mitchelstown landed an awesome seventeen points win, making it count where it mattered most on the scoreboard from a performance that could well be the platform for an extended run by the business end of the campaign.

After succumbing to Kanturk at the initial hurdle to a marvellous encounter, the North Cork side applied themselves in splendid fashion in this tussle between two side drawn from two opposite ends to the county.

From start to finish, Mitchelstown controlled the game, combining clever work-rate and keen marksmanship confirmed on second half goals for Shane Cahill and the outstanding Shane Beston.

There is no substitute for class and Michelstown paraded it in abundance much to the delight of selector Karl Sweeney.

“We licked the wounds following that first round loss to Kanturk, regrouped and focused on the next stage. There are a good bunch of players, a number of exceptional talents on board, its all about getting the mindset right and driving it on out on the field,” he said.

“Adrigole stayed with us until half time after we missed out on goals but we put them away subsequently with great scores. It took us a few minutes to adjust to Adrigole pushing more men forward early in the second half but we adapted excellently and kicked on,” he said.

Adrigole threatened at times yet they found it difficult to make sufficient inroads into a disciplined ‘Town defence, lacking potency and penetration in attack. Having ran Rockchapel so close in the opening round only to be defeated by two points, on this occasion, Adrigole never got closer than five points to their opponents early in the second half only for Mitchelstown to parade an aggressive offensive rewarded on excellent scores.

Mitchelstown might had enjoyed a lucrative start, Adrigole ‘keeper William O’Sullivan saved brilliantly from Seán Walsh and Liam Keane blasted the rebound off the crossbar.

Their early dominance was founded on the dominance of Kevin Wren, Seán O’Sullivan and Stephen Fox in defence, Beston became an influence at midfield and the point scoring ability of Walsh, Shane Cahill and Keane had a packed Adrigole rearguard on the back foot.

At times, a breeze assisted Adrigole operated with just two in attack yet the peninsula men roused a challenge that earned reward from points by David Harrington. Mitchelstown responded with Pa Magee and Cahill splitting the posts for the ‘Town enjoy a 0-11 to 0-5 grip at the break.

And for a spell on the restart, Adrigole threw caution to the wind and more forwards in attacking roles yielded points to Kevin Jer O’Sullivan, Harrington and substitute Brendan Jer O’Sullivan.

With the margin down to five, Mitchelstown’s well oiled machine upped a gear with the accurate Keane and Beton tagging on white flags. Again, Adrigole ‘keeper William O’Sullivan rescued his side with a save from Beston.

However, there was no stopping Beston in the 48th minute, wingback Seán O’Sullivan the provider for the midfielder to net. Indeed Mitchelstown never relented in their search for scores and turned their momentum to good account with quality points from Beston, Cahill, Seán O’Sullivan, Jason Sheehan and Walsh.

An air of inevitability had wafted over the proceedings, the contest petered to its conclusion, Mitchelstown piling on the agony, Beston with a gem of a pass set up Cahill to add a second goal.

In doing so, Mitchelstown display championship credentials to progress to Round 3 whilst Adrigole face into a relegation battle for survival in the grade.

MITCHELSTOWN: L Hanna; B Coffey, K Wren, L Finn; S O’Sullivan 0-2, S Fox, O Burke; M Walsh, S Beston 1-5; J Sheehan 0-1f, S Walsh 0-3, P Magee 0-1; S Cahill 1-3, L O’Flynn, L Keane 0-6(0-4f). Subs. G Carroll for Walsh(27), K Roche for Burke(43), D Reidy Price for O’Flynn(44),P Molloy for Wren(50, L Molan for Keane(51), Burke for Magee(inj 62)

ADRIGOLE: W O’Sullivan; C O’Neill, J Goggin 0-1, K Crowley; F Carey, M J O’Sullivan, K O’Sullivan; P Green, S O’Shea; J Harrington, G Green, K J O’Sullivan 0-2; A J O’Sullivan, K Goggin, David Harrington 0-6 (0-3f). Subs. T O’Shea for P Greene(26), B J O’Sullivan 0-1 for A J O’Sullivan(35), Daniel Harrington for G Green(46), J O’Sullivan for O’Neill(49), C Carey for S O’Shea(52)

REFEREE: D Murnane (Macroom)