Sharper Boherbue comfortably hold off Rockchapel

Boherbue 1-11 Rockchapel 0-8

DIVISIONAL JAFC holders Boherbue found the formula for victory to overcome Intermediate outfit Rockchapel in a quarter-final of the Donagh Hickey Motors Duhallow Cup at Cullen. Superior movement going forward and a huge work ethic confirmed Boherbue as the more complete side, their passing, tackling and work-rate more commendable over the full hour.

Rockchapel entered the fray, having negotiated a victory over Ballinora in the opening round to the County IFC but on this occasion, they failed to cope with the intensity Boherbue brought to the proceedings. Early on, the exchanges were keen, the play swinging from end to end with little to choose between the sides.

Rockchapel availed of the solid play of Den Joe O’Callaghan, Shane Curtin and Eamon O’Callaghan to mount a series of raids for Jack Curtin and William Murphy point. However Boherbue worked their way into the contest with Jerry O’Connor and Richard Moynihan in fine shooting form. Indeed as the opening half progressed, Boherbue began to grab control in the midfield region, that provided ample fodder up front to stretch the Rockchapel rearguard.

After Denis McCarthy blasted narrowly wide a goal chance, Boherbue grabbed the only green flag when a centre from Kevin Cremin allowed O’Connor flick to the net from close range. Rockchapel recovered, points from Curtin and Mike McAulliffe narrowed the arrears 1-6 to 0-7 at the break.

In an attempt to break Boherbue’s stranglehold in the centre, Rockchapel brought full forward Seamus Hickey to midfield yet they found it difficult to win possession. As both sides lamented poor shooting, Boherbue added to their tally from Adrian Murphy and O’Connor point, Rockchapel did deliver a response, Curtin posted their lone score to the second half.

It was clear that the creativity and vision remained with Boherbue through the effective play of Niall Murphy, Pa Daly, Andrew O’Connor and Kevin Cremin. And up front, there was no stopping Jerry O’Connor who curled over a sequel of excellent points.

That ensured Boherbue weren’t going to be caught from this position and rubber-stamped their place in the penultimate hurdle.

BOHERBUE: K Murphy; J Daly, N Murphy, C O’Riordan; M O’Gorman, M O’Connor, P Daly; A O’Connor, K Cremin; A Murphy 0-1, D O’Connor 0-1, D Hickey; J O’Connor 1-7, R Moynihan 0-2, D McCarthy. Subs: P Murphy for D Hickey, C J O’Sullivan for R Moynihan, D Moynihan for M O’Gorman, B Herlihy for A Murphy, M Murphy for C O’Riordan.

ROCKCHAPEL: C Murphy; D Keating, E O’Callaghan, N O’Callaghan; S Curtin, S Geaney, J O’Sullivan; D O’Callaghan, W Murphy 0-1, J Curtin 0-6, K Collins, J Walsh; P Collins, S Hickey, M McAulliffe. Subs: M Doody for J O’Sullivan, D Murphy for W Murphy, P Stack for P Collins.

REFEREE: E Walsh (Freemount)