Boherbue deliver on promise to win

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September Tuesday night will be forever remembered when 29 years of famine and frustration came to an end after Boherbue produced one of the great performances of recent seasons to claim a long overdue E Tarrant & Sons Skoda Duhallow JAFC title.

Scenes of unbridled joy and delight greeted the full time whistle as Boherbue celebrated the club’s greatest success since the 1988 divisional crown. By doing so, Boherbue flagged their rising stock to better the big guns when the championship pressure was exerted within Duhallow.

Having promised much over recent years, Boherbue had failed to reach a final since a defeat to Cullen after a replay in 2008. Still matters bode well on making light work of Lyre first time out, parading an energy to their game that makes them very difficult to counteract, the highlight surfaced from a David O’Connor goal.

That form continued into a semi final, Boherbue rose their game to a level that Dromtariffe failed to reach with goals in the opening half from Tim Murphy, O’Connor and Richard Moynihan deciding the outcome.

On the opposite side of the draw, Knocknagree began the defence of their title impressively on seeing off a brave Castlemagner effort, the holders getting over the line thanks to telling goals from Eoghan McSweeney and Anthony O’Connor. And a dominant performance saw Knocknagree secure a comfortable victory over Cullen in the semi-final, a pair of O’Connor goals allowed the champions make it count where it mattered on the scoreboard

No surprise about the two finalists, Boherbue amongst the fancies on the back of completing a four in a row of league titles that included two wins over Knocknagree in deciders. However, it was different story come the JAFC, Knocknagree holding the upperhand to progress to their fourth consecutive final.

Meeting in a decider for the first time since 1990, Knocknagree and Boherbue didn’t disappoint the Kanturk masses that took a replay to decide.

Neither team deserved to lose the drawn tussle given the tremendous effort by both sides over the extended hour. Two well prepared sides were content to trade early points before three in a row seeking Knocknagree availed of an opportunist goal in the 21st minute, Anthony O’Connor’s effort came off the upright for the perfect positioned James Dennehy to net.

Boherbue without a title since 1988, rallied strongly, the brilliant Jerry O’Connor underlined his predatory