Ballydesmond win facile victory over Clonakilty

Ballydesmond 2-19 Clonakility 0-7

BALLYDESMOND remain in the race for the County Intermediate Football Championship after easily overcoming Clonakilty in Round 2 before the presence of a paltry attendance in Macroom last Saturday evening.

On doing so, Balydesmond bounced back from a first round defeat to Aghabullogue and with the minimum of fuss, this contest was long over before the full time whistle. At the end of the hour, there was no disputing Ballydesmond’s dominance and they made it count where it mattered, on the scoreboard.

Clonakilty could have little complaints, performing well below par, their starting side showed seven personnel changes from a team defeated by Millstreet in round 1 last April.

Without having to operate at full throttle, Ballydesmond impressed and they did so with a powerfully structured display to set up a meeting against familiar opponents in St Finbarrs, an outfit that registered a comprehensive win last season much to the disappointment of coach Denys O’Brien.

“Its going to be a much tougher challenge the next day, we received a heavy defeat from the ‘Barrs in the opening round to the 2017 campaign. The hurt of that loss hasn’t gone away and there is only one remedy to resolve it,” he said.

“After the defeat by Aghabullogue injuries had upset us in terms of preparations over recent weeks and it was great to get players out on the pitch and earn game time,” added the Newmarket native.

Clon’ flattered to deceive early on, their best player Dave O’Regan secured their only lead from a placed ball. It’s fair to say that both sides struggled during the opening quarter with a litany of missed chances at either end as Donncha O’Connor and Niall Fleming helped Ballydesmond lead 0-3 to 0-1.

Soon Ballydesmond came up with the answers and got to grips with their game. Much of their growing confidence was down to a competent defence with a half-back line of Donal Kelly, Denis Ring and Niall O’Connor controlling matters as did Shane Kelly and John O’Keeffe in the centre.

And in attack, no surprise that O’Connor and Fleming along with Darragh Moynihan and Richard Flynn held a cutting edge that had Clon back pedalling time and again. Fleming and Seán Cronin found the range before the Duhallow outfit prised open a gap for former Kerry junior Fleming to finish in style to the net.

The one way traffic continued, O’Connor and Flynn added points before Clon’s fortunes improved somewhat, team captain Pa O’Sullivan and O’Regan rose flags to trim the arrears 1-9 to 0-3 at the break.

And on the restart, Ballydesmond were quickly into their stride, midfielder O’Keeffe took a return pass from Donncha O’Connor to blast home a second goal to drive a wider wedge between the pair. Indeed the pressure on the Clon defence was incessant, former County minor Moynihan and Flynn adding points.

The West Cork side did provide a response thanks to flags for O’Regan and Liam Halligan yet they never threatened to manufacture a much needed goal to trail 2-15 to 0-5 at the three quarter mark.

As the rain descended on the proceedings, many of an attendance of less than 80 patrons had headed for the exit gates. The game fizzled out, Ballydesmond using their bench with O’Connor, Flynn and company taking a breather from the mundane proceedings.

Still Ballydesmond’s play held sway, new faces Brendan Fleming and John O’Leary got in on the scoring act as did the accurate Moynihan.

A job well done though Ballydesmond need no reminding that stiffer challenges lay ahead if they are to reach the quarter final hurdle.

BALLYDESMOND: F O’Sullivan; C Linehan, D Kelly, S O’Connor; D Kelly, D Ring, N O’Connor; S Kelly, J O’Keeffe 1-0; Donal O’Connor. N Fleming 1-5, R Flynn 0-4; Donncha O’Connor 0-2 (0-1f), S Cronin 0-1, D Moynihan 0-5 Subs: K O’Connell for Donal O’Connor (25 inj), W O’Connor for Donncha O’Connor (39), S Murphy for S Kelly (39), B Fleming 0-1 for D Kelly (42), J O’Leary 0-1 for R Flynn (49)

CLONAKILTY: R Doonan; M Sheehy, F Coughlan,C Scally; J Wycherley, M Scally, C Crowley; P O’Sullivan, L Cahill 0-1; R Hearne, D O’Regan 0-5 (0-3f, 0-1’45), C Hennessy; L Halligan 0-1, G Murray, O O’Donovan Sub: C Cunningham for R Hearne (44)

REFEREE: D Murnane (Macroom)