Iveleary finish the stronger to see off Buttevant in first round

Iveleary 0-13 Buttevant 2-4

IVELEARY discovered a new urgency during the closing quarter to outsmart Buttevant in an incident filled County Junior A Football Championship Round 1 at Donoughmore on Saturday.

AN injury picked up by Buttevant’s Denis O’Sullivan midway through the second half halted the game for close on eighty minutes. Medics requested an ambulance that arrived, fortunately the player’s injury was not as serious as initially feared.

And though conceding a goal on the resumption of play, Iveleary cranked up their performance big time on utilising the ball intelligently and worked telling scores to pull away for a deserved win.

Both sides entered the contest under a cloud, Buttevant had relinquished their divisional Avondhu crown to Charleville. For their part, Iveleary had halted a losing sequence of back to back defeats in Muskerry yet two of their key men namely Cathal Vaughan and Brian Cronin were absent owning to injury.

The opening half didn’t exactly set the scene alight in a scrappy and tense affair, both sides passed up goal chances, Iveleary full-back Daniel O’Riordan firing wide with Buttevant’s Mark Lenahan blocked in a good position.

Buttevant appeared to be clearly on a mission to erase the memory of a surprise defeat in the North Cork decider and they got into a decent rhythm, the play of Seamus Madigan, O’Sullivan and Ryan Fowley inspired confidence. And the Avondhu men backed by a swirling breeze received a boost from points by Mark and Kevin Lenahan to enjoy a 0-3 to 0-1 grip.

Iveleary found their feet, positive signs delivered from the impact of Chris Óg Jones who with goalkeeper Joe Creedon landed points for a 0-5 to 0-4 advantage at the break. Missed chances and turn overs dominated the changeover and from a couple of flash points, Buttevant’s Kevin Lenahan picked up a second yellow card.

The departure of Denis O’Sullivan after an accidental clash with his brother Tadhg halted the proceedings for a lengthy spell. However, Buttevant returned the more energised side and a cracking Fowley goal ignited the contest, the skilful players made inroads along the wing to blast a terrific drive to the roof of the net.

The alarm bells rung for Iveleary as they wrestled the reins from their opponents in a purple patch that yielded seven points in quick succession from six different players with defenders Barry Murphy, Ciaran Galvin and Ger O’Riordan on target as was effective substitute Liam Kearney.

To their credit, Buttevant never stopped trying, Iveleary custodian Creedon saved well from Mark Lenahan before the same player grabbed a consolation goal in the last play.

Having incurred a narrow defeat to Knocknagree in last season’s county semi final, Iveleary can look ahead optimistically to the next round yet they will be hopeful of an improvement on the injuries front.

IVELEARY: J Creedon 0-2 (1 ‘45’, 1f); B Murphy 0-1, D O’Riordan, D Cotter; C Galvin 0-1, K Manning, G O’Riordan 0-2; C O’Riordan, S O’Leary; S Lehane, D O’Sullivan, F McSweeney Senior; F McSweeney Junior, C Óg Jones 0-5 (4f), B O’Leary 0-1 Subs:

J M O’Leary for D O’Sullivan (43), L Kearney 0-1 for H McSweeney Junior (51), C O’Leary for S O’Leary (53), G McSweeney for C Óg Jones (57), P O’Riordan for C O’Riordan (59)

BUTTEVANT: R Donovan; S Madigan, J O’Riordan, K Crowley; D Walsh, S Flynn, D O’Sullivan; M Lenahan 1-1 , B Jones; R Fowley 1-1, T O’Sullivan, B O’Shaughnessy; K Lenahan 0-1, K O’Keeffe, P Mannix 0-1f Subs: J Buckley for D O’Sullivan (44 inj), J O’Keeffe for K O’Keeffe (44), A O’Connor for B O’Shaughnessy (44), J D Murphy for P Mannix (52)

REFEREE: M J O’Keeffe (Dromtariffe)