Ballylongford stay top but Cordal stay hot on their heels

DIVISION FIVE

GIVEN the nature of their defeat to Cordal the previous week, Ballylongford bounced back on home turf over Rathmore B as they stayed at the top of the table thanks to a 2-7 to 0-12 win at the weekend. Ciaran O’Connor gave them a dream start with their first goal inside the opening minute but Rathmore did more of the scoring in the first period as Joe McCarthy scored the hosts first point from a free after 16 minutes as they went in level at 1-3 to 0-6 at the break.

The visitors searched hard for a goal in the second period but Paudie Moroney pulled off some big saves for the hosts as the game was level with 10 minutes left. The decisive score came with three minutes left as Darren Murphy was fouled at the concession of a penalty which O’Connor converted. The visitors lost Donnacha McCarthy to a red card as John O’Keeffe and Denis McCarthy kicked late points but it was too late for the visitors to try and salvage matters.

Cordal are still in possession of a 100% record as they honoured the memory of the late Tom Wrenn, whom the stand at the club pitch has now been named after, with a 0-16 to 0-5 win over fellow St Kierans side Knocknagoshel. Eight consecutive first half points were a big feature in their win as they led by 0-12 to 0-3 at the break with Sean Óg Ó Ciardubháin pulling off a good second half save that prevented any chance of a turnaround in the second period. That is Cordal’s sixth straight win as a three way tie in the table has now developed between Cromane, Moyvane and Churchill for third place.

Cromane had to dig deep to get the better of Kilgarvan trailing by three points with 10 minutes left, something that didn’t look likely after going ahead by 0-4 to 0-0 after eight minutes. John Mark Foley and Gearóid Fennessy started to give the visitors a foothold however, as they trailed by 0-6 to 0-5 at the break. Two Christopher Creedon points were part of a run of four unanswered from the visitors after the break as they went ahead by three with the crossbar denying both Cromane’s Emmet Casey and Liam Walsh on separate occasions. Connie Cremin also had goal chances for Kilgarvan but Walsh combined with Sean O’Sullivan to set Micheál O’Shaughnessy up for the game’s only goal with three minutes left. Cremin levelled the match but Cromane goalkeeper Paudie McCarthy made a point blank save from Foley as Cian O’Keeffe and Darren Houlihan scored the insurance points for the hosts in a 1-9 to 0-10 win.

Moyvane defeated Ballyduff by five points as a fortuitous Timmy Noonan goal gave them a 1-5 to 0-3 lead at the break in Ballyduff. The hosts came back within two points in the second period but Aidan Keane scored a second goal for the visitors in a 2-10 to 0-11 win.

Churchill had a successful trip down to Tuosist meanwhile taking advantage of a number of absentees for the Kenmare District side. They scored the first five points of proceedings (four from Killian Fitzgerald) as Danny O’Shea scored Tuosist’s first point in the 13th minute. The visitors led by 0-12 to 0-3 at half-time but the hosts did stage a bit of a revival in the second period, O’Shea getting a goal but it proved to be only consolation in a 0-16 to 1-8 defeat. Asdee conceded a walkover to Kilgarvan in the other fixed game.

Division 5

PW Ballylongford 8 7 Cordal 6 6 Cromane 6 5 Moyvane 7 5 Churchill 8 5 Rathmore 7 4 Tuosist 7 3 Valentia 7 3 Kilgarvan 6 2 Asdee 7 2 Austin Stacks 7 1 Ballyduff 8 1 Knocknagoshel 8 1

D 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0

L 1 0 1 2 3 2 4 4 3 5 6 7 7

Pts 14 12 10 10 10 9 6 6 5 4 2 2 2