Kinsale win battle over Ballydesmond in extra-time

Kinsale 1-15 Ballydesmond 0-14

KINSALE dug deep into their reserves in extra time to ditch the hopes of Ballydesmond in a keenly contested County Intermediate Football Championship Round 1 encounter at Carrigadrohid.

Very little was expected to separate the sides, indeed that’s the way, the game panned out. With both protagonists holding spells of dominance, the outcome was always going to be decided upon the tightest of margins, territory that Kinsale exploited with the game’s only goal netted by Gearóid Finn in the first period of extra time.

From a game of fine margins , Ballydesmond gave as good as they got and had they availed more of a cutting edge, they could had prevailed in a competitive contest. Still a battling show, to reflect on ahead of facing into round 2 opponents to remain in championship 2019.

Despite the windy conditions, the play over close to 90 minutes was back and forth to an expansive and enjoyable contest that grew on intensity as the proceedings developed. A rather cagey opening saw scores hard earned, Kinsale points by Brian Coughlan and Finn matched by Donncha O’Connor and Niall Fleming for stalemate at 0-4 apiece at the interval.

The tempo rose on the restart, Kinsale nudging ahead for the first time when Colm Donnellan angled over a point. Though Ballydesmond responded with a brace of O’Connor points , Kinsale held sway with Coughlan and Finn adding points for a 0-10 to 0-8 lead.

And Ballydesmond incurred a further blow, at a numerical disadvantage, losing Donal Kelly to a second yellow card. In fairness, Ballydesmond reinvented themselves with Jerry Healy, John O’Keeffe and Seán Carey to the fore, picking off points to

O’Connor, Richard Flynn and Darragh Moynihan to jump ahead 0-11 to 0-10 approaching the end of regulation time. Amidst exciting exchanges, Kinsale searched for a reprieve, goalkeeper Shane O’Neill ‘s effort from a 45 sliced off target.

Some lengthy passages of play followed and in the 8th minute of injury time, Coughlan stood up to split the uprights for stale mate to ensure extra time. On the restart, the teams swapped points prior to the crunch score surfacing, Chris Mitchell feeding Finn to fire home the all important goal.

Credit Ballydesmond for attempting to remedy the situation, Donncha O’Connor close to a goal only for Kinsale netminder O’Neill produce a fantastic save. The game continued to run with Kinsale for Barry McGrory and Finn land telling points.

A tiring Ballydesmond worked hard to rescue the situation, their lone contribution fell to a late Fleming point, merely a consolation score where in the context of extra time, Kinsale emerged the sharper outfit to secure a Round 3 engagement and leave Ballydesmond waiting in the wings for a round 2 draw for defeated opening day sides. KINSALE: S O’Neill; W O’Hea, C Lane, R O’Regan; C McCarthy, N McCarthy, S O’Brien; D Coughlan, B Coughlan 0-5; C Mitchell, T Broderick 0-1, J O’Brien 0-1; C Donnellan 0-2, G Finn 1-5 (0-4f), J Wright. Subs: D O’Mahony for C Mitchell (ht), J Gould for C Donnellan,(58), G O’Leary for W O’Hea (et), C Mitchell for S O’Brien (et), B McGrory 0-1 for J O’Brien.

BALLYDESMOND: F O’Sullivan; C Linehan, N O’Leary, S O’Connor; J Healy, J O’Keeffe, Donal Kelly; S Kelly, K O’Connell; R Flynn 0-1, N Fleming 0-2, S Carey 0-2; D Moynihan 0-2, S Cronin, D O’Connor 0-7 (5f). Subs: Donal O’Connor for S Cronin (ht), N O’Sullivan for S Kelly (45), S Murphy for D O’Connor (54), N O’Connor for N O’Leary (60 inj), Denis Kelly for S O’Connor (ET), S Kelly for K O’Connell (ET).

REFEREE: C Ó Mocháin (Cill na Martra). AGHABULLOGUE advanced in the County IFC following their opening round game with Mitchelstown on Sunday in Mallow. Strong wind and rain made for difficult conditions. Mitchelstown had the aid of the elements in the first half. They had the opening score a pointed free by Cathal O’Mahony. A foul on Shane Beston led to a pointed free by James Sheehan.

In the ninth minute Aghabullogue took the lead when Sean O’Sullivan