Ballydesmond bow out following narrow defeat to hard-charging Barrs

St. Finbarrs 1-13 Ballydesmond 1-11

NO happy ending for Ballydesmond after coming up short to a better finishing St Finbarrs after an entertaining County Intermediate Football Championship Round 3 assignment at a wind swept Macroom on last Saturday evening.

Trailing by five points at the break after playing with a fresh breeze, productive passages of play early and late upon the resumption saw the Barrs snatch a quarter-final prize against Knocknagree. When the most searching questions were asked, the winners came up with the answers to shoot the closing four points without reply.

Entering the contest as outsiders, Ballydesmond can count themselves somewhat unlucky after enjoying a lead for a major portion of the contest. Crucially, they ran out of steam during the latter stages and it allowed the ‘Barrs to finish on the ascendency.

A far closer contest this tussle rather than the corresponding game in 2017 when eighteen points divided the sides yet on this occasion, ‘Barrs coach Jim O’Donoghue expressed delight at the outcome.

“We were up against it, Ballydesmond were well organised, they put us under serious pressure, fortunately our guys were mature enough to work and I’m proud of what they achieved during the closing 15 minutes.

“Last season’s meeting was exceptional, we weren’t as good as the scoreline suggested, likewise Ballydesmond weren’t as bad and we just got a run on them, nobody thought this was going to b a cake walk and so it proved,” he said.

And O’Donoghue reckons the ‘Barrs true worth will be revealed in the quarter-final scheduled for next weekend against formidable opponents.

“A lot of our guys in this side are trying to make it onto a very good senior panel and starting team, our goal is to provide games for them, a few of the players showed the senior selectors that they are able to compete.

“We will do our best against Knocknagree, they are a serious outfit, an All Ireland winning side and its going to be a competitive test,” he said.

With the help of the wind, the ‘Barrs made a clear statement of intent, kicking three points inside the opening two minutes. Ballydesmond recovered from an uncertain start and grew into the game, driven on by Donal Kelly, John O’Keeffe, Donnncha O’Connor and Richard Flynn, their cause helped after Dara Moynihan fed Flynn to goal for the Duhallow side to lead 1-8 to 0-6 at the break.

Again, the ‘Barrs hit the ground running on the restart, the sides deadlocked after Ian O’Callaghan collected a long delivery to goal from close range. As the rain fell, greasy conditions contributed to a lull in the scoring though former Cork star O’Connor delivered two sweet points for Ballydesmond.

It left the’Barrs with a huge challenge which they embraced enthusiastically through the key involvement of attacking defenders Sam Ryan and Adam Lyne in addition to O’Callaghan, Kevin Hodgins and Eoghan McGreevey.

At times, poor shooting let the City side down before points from Robbie O’Mahony and McGreevey squared matters. A replay looked possible, but a tired Ballydesmond were on the ropes, the ‘Barrs capitalised, McGreevey and Hodgins angled the ball between the uprights to decide the outcome.

ST FINBARRS: J Kerins; S Ryan, C Dennehy, C McCarthy; A McCarthy, C Holland, A Lyne; A Murphy, I O’Callaghan 1-1; K Hodgins 0-3, C Walsh, C Keane; B O’Connell 0-1, R O’Mahony 0-1, E McGreevey 0-7 (4f) Subs: C Davey for Holland (ht), D Comyns for C McCarthy (ht), C Buckley for O’Connell (33), C O’Sullivan for Walsh (48)

BALLYDESMOND: F O’Sullivan; C Linehan, Denis Kelly, S O’Connor; Donal Kelly, J Healy, N O’Connor; S Kelly, J O’Keeffe; Donal O’Connor, N Fleming 0-2, R Flynn 1-0; Donncha O’Connor 0-6 (2f), S Cronin 0-2, D Moynihan 0-1 Subs: D Ring for S O’Connor (35 bc), K O’Connell for Donal O’Connor (45), S Murphy for N O’Connor (52)

REFEREE: J Forbes (Dohenys)