Mallow hold their nerve to secure semi-final spot
A GAME to be savoured last Sunday in Blarney where Mallow got the better of Bandon to book a place in the county senior A football championship semi-finals.
Leading by 2-7 to 1-8 at the end of an exhilarating first-half, the Avondhu side laid the foundations for victory during the third-quarter when, turning on the power in all sectors, they stretched their advantage to an unflattering six points.
Had not Cian O’Riordan and Michael O’Rourke being denied a goal by Bandon ‘keeper Pat Prendergast and the upright respectively in this period, Mallow would have been home and hosed before substitute Philip Crowley found the net to bring the West-Cork men back within striking range, 2-12 to 2-9, in the 46th minute.
It wasn’t enough to derail Mallow’s ambitions, however, as their defence, in which Mattie Taylor and James Loughrey were especially defiant in front of competent custodian Kevin Doyle, ensured Bandon were unable to make further inroads on the deficit in the closing stages.
While Mallow were full value for their victory overall, what made it especially satisfying was that it was achieved in the face of a vibrant challenge from the losers, who certainly lost no caste in defeat.
The teams looked evenly-matched throughout a first-half in which end-to-end football was very much the order of the day. It also contained an abundance of quality scores, with Bandon’s Mark Sugrue setting the pattern with a superb individual goal inside two minutes.
After Mallow responded with a hat-trick of points, Darren Crowley nudged Bandon ahead again before Sugrue tacked on a splendid score to make it 1-2 to 0-3 with ten minutes gone. That prompted Mallow to switch Mattie Taylor from the left wing to centre-back on Sugrue – a move that brought greater stabilty to the Avondhu side’s rearguard as the first-half progressed.
Sugrue remained a threat at the same time, evidenced by the fact that he chipped in with two more points from play before the break. Equally impressive at the other end for Mallow was the evergreen Cian O’Riordan, who had the satisfaction of shooting a fine goal that allowed them to lead for the first-time, 1-3 to 1-2, in the 11th minute.
Following an exchange of points between Mallow’s Ryan Harkin and Bandon’s Barry Collins, Mark Sugrue levelled matters entering the second-quarter, and there was never more than the minimum in it again before the break until midfielder Darragh Moynihan, fed by Sean McDonnell, goaled for the winners in stoppage time.
It left them 2-7 to 1-7 to the good, but Bandon had almost made a major breakthrough a few minutes earlier when good work by Barry Collins and Michael Cahalane came to nothing after James Loughrey’s intervention prevented Cahalane’s pass from reaching the unattended Mark Sugrue at the edge of the square.
With Sugrue completing the scoring for Bandon in the first-half, there was little to indicate the trend of the play would take such a dramatic swing in Mallow’s favour on the turnover.
It’s fair to say they really scaled the heights when play resumed, with everybody putting a shoulder to the wheel as they threatened to overwhelm their gutsy opponents with their cohesive and power-packed football.
Particularly influential were midfielder Eoin Stanton, Taylor, Loughrey and Andrew Cashman at the back, and the irrepressible O’Riordan in attack where Ryan Harkin also made a major impact.
O’Riordan, Stanton – whose effort was initially waved wide before the umpire had his decision dubiously overruled by the referee – and Harkin helped to extend Mallow’s advantage with points before substitute Pa Herlihy got in on the scoring act in the 39th minute.
Darren Crowley broke Bandon’s second-half duck four minutes later, but Cian O’Riordan restored Mallow’s six-point lead before the Carbery side were thrown a lifeline by Philip Crowley.
The latter was on hand to knock the ball over the line after Cian O’Mahony had brought the best out of Mallow net-minder Doyle, and when Michael O’Rourke was denied a goal at the other end by Pat Prendergast shortly afterwards, it seemed as if Bandon had been provided with a double boost at a critical stage of the proceedings.
To their credit, Mallow held their nerve when the crunch came, and their more purposeful and economical play enabled them to outscore Bandon by four points to one on the run-in, with substitute Jack Dillon putting his name on a brace, both of which were well-taken.
That there was much to admire about Mallow’s performance is beyond dispute, and, having come through this stern test from Bandon with flying colours, they are bound to be brimming with optimism ahead of their semi-final showdown with Fermoy in Glanworth next Sunday.
MALLOW: K Doyle; B Myers, A Cashman, J Loughrey 0-1; T McEvoy, S Merritt, M Taylor; D Moynihan 1-0, E Stanton 0-2; K O’Sullivan 0-1, R Harkin 0-2, M O’Rourke 0-1 (f); C O’Riordan 1-5 (1f), K Sheehan 0-1, S McDonnell Subs: P Herlihy 0-1 for McDonnell, 37, E Kelleher for Sheehan, 42, J Dillon 0-2 for O’Rourke, 50, P Hennessy for O’Sullivan, 55, D Breen for Merritt, 60
BANDON: P Prendergast; J O’Mahony, B Crowley, J O’Donovan; D O’Donovan, P Murphy, R O’Driscoll; R Long, David Crowley; C O’Mahony, M Sugrue 1-5 (1f, 1’45), Darren Crowley 0-3; M Cahalane, B Collins 0-1, R Crowley 0-1 Subs: J Walsh for Long, ht, J Mulcahy for David Crowley, 40, P Crowley 1-0 for D O’Donovan, 43, M O’Regan for Cahalane, 46 REFEREE- R Whelan (Aghada)