Watergrasshill have too much for Mallow
Watergrasshill 2-16 Mallow 3-11
PLAYING catch-up for most of the county junior ‘B’ inter-divisional hurling final replay at Páirc Uí Rinn last Saturday, it seemed as if Mallow were about to register a remarkable victory when they eventually hit the front, 2-10 to 0-15, courtesy of a goal from Mattie Taylor a minute into stoppage time.
The drama didn’t end there, however, as Taylor’s strike was quickly negated by Killian Roche, who fired in another goal to seal a win for Watergrasshill that was richly deserved on the overall run of the play.
Mallow manager Joe Daly magnanimously agreed that the laurels rested where they belonged at the finish, but he stressed he was immensely proud of the effort from his players, particularly in the second half.
“We didn’t perform well in the first half, but the lads battled hard to get back into the game after the interval, and a shock looked on the cards after we went ahead near the end.
“Unfortunately, our excellent full-back line gave up a couple of late goals, which I suppose was inevitable considering they were under fierce pressure throughout the game, and the reality is that Watergrasshill were the better team overall,” admitted Daly, who lauded the input from former Cork senior star Fergal McCormack following his introduction at full forward for the second half.
“Fergal is an absolute stalwart, a legend in our club, and he showed his leadership qualities in no uncertain manner after he came on today,” said Daly.
Mallow had obvious problems up front in the first half when Watergrasshill looked the more convincing side overall as they eased into an 0-7 to 0-3 lead with 20 minutes gone.
Although stung by a Mallow goal from Barry John Ryan – who bundled the ball over the líne after Watergrasshill ‘keeper Jason Foley had failed to hold a delivery from Gary Sweeney – a minute later, the East-Cork men made light of that setback, tacking on three unanswered points before the break.
That one of those scores came when Thomas Dinan was presented with a clear-cut goal-chance by TJ Forde made it easy to appreciate why Watergrasshill were by no means flattered to turn over leading by 0-10 to 1-3.
Fergal McCormack made his mark for Mallow within a minute of the restart, slotting over a point following good work by Michael Maher, Brian Murphy and Barry John Ryan, and he continued to add some badly-needed impetus to the losers’ attack as the second half progressed.
While he didn’t score from play again, he placed Brian Murphy for a point, kept the scoreboard ticking over for Mallow from frees (a number of which he won himself) and generally increased the pressure on a Watergrasshill rearguard that had ruled with a firm hand before the break.
For all that, WGH, with William Connolly sparkling in attack, remained in the driving seat, and it took some sterling resistance from Eoin Murphy, John Healy and Ciaran Murphy in the Mallow full-back line to keep them at bay.
Elsewhere, wing-forwards Conor Stokes and Brian Murphy showed up well in patches for Mallow, while Michael Maher put in a decent shift at midfield where Conor Hannon made a significant impact after being brought out from corner forward in a switch with Mattie Taylor for the last ten minutes.
It looked likely to prove a master-stroke on the part of the Mallow management after Hannon pointed before providing the delivery that was contested by Fergal McCormack and Watergrasshill full-back Colm Murphy, resulting in the ball breaking to Taylor, who finished it to the net with aplomb.
The cheers of the Mallow supporters had barely subsided, however, before Killian Roche struck at the other end for Watergrasshill, and, after Fergal McCormack and Roche exchanged points from frees, the latter bagged another goal to remove any lingering doubts about the outcome.
A long-range free by Brian Carey went all the way to the net shortly afterwards, but it was nothing more than a consolation score for plucky Mallow.
William Connolly turned in a man-of-the-match display at centre forward for Watergrasshill, while Colm Murphy, Kieran Coakley, Don O’Riordan, Kieran O’Keeffe, Willie O’Leary and Killian Roche were others to make especially generous contributions to their merited triumph.
Scorers
WATERGRASSHILL: K Roche 2-4 (2f), W Connolly 0-5, C Fenton 0-3 (f), T Dinan 0-2, W O’Leary and K O’Keeffe 0-1 each
MALLOW: F McCormack 0-6 (5f), BJ Ryan, M Taylor and B Carey (f) 1-0 each, M Maher (f) and C Hannon 0-2 each, B Murphy 0-1
WATERGRASSHILL: J Foley; C Cronin, C Murphy, M Murphy; M Kennedy, K Coakley, B Fenton; K O’Keeffe, D O’Riordan; W O’Leary, W Connolly, C Fenton; K Roche, TJ Forde, T Dinan Subs: C Healy for Forde, 41, E Desmond for Cronin, 58
MALLOW: R Harkin; E Murphy, J Healy, C Murphy; B O’Riordan, B Carey, R Downey; M Taylor, M Maher; C Stokes, G Sweeney, B Murphy; C Hannon, BJ Ryan, S Buckley Subs: F McCormack for Buckley, ht, G O’Sullivan for E Murphy, 42, M Roche for O’Sullivan (injured), 49, F Moynihan for Ryan, 56, J Glynn for Sweeney, 56
REFEREE: D Daly (Brian Dillons)