Cordal in stunning form in win over Ballylongford

DIVISION FIVE

THE lead didn’t change at the top as a result of it but arguably Cordal struck a big psychological boost for themselves in the promotion as they had 22 points to spare over league leaders Ballylongford who put in a very poor showing at the East Kerry venue.

Brian Reidy with two along with single efforts from Phillip Griffin and Phillip O’Connor were responsible for four goals for the hosts in the first-half as Ciaran O’Connor and Joe McCarthy were Ballylongford’s only point scorers in trailing by 4-9 to 0-3 at the break. Padraig O’Neill scored a goal for the visitors after the restart but Cordal continued their dominance of proceedings with Reidy finishing with a total of 3-5 in proceedings as the crossbar denied Ballylongford some solace in losing out by 5-19 to 1-5.

They will want to bounce back quickly this weekend when they play host to Rathmore B who lost out for the first time in the campaign themselves last weekend against to Churchill. An Ivan Parker goal gave the St Brendans side the impetus for an early 1-5 to 0-1 lead as Garret Walsh did well to stop Cian Jenkins getting a goal for the visitors with the half-time advantage for Churchill 1-9 to 0-7. Even though Parker had to go off injured at half-time the hosts continued to dominate the game with Oisin and goalkeeper Eoghan O’Brien keeping them in control on the scoreboard.

Michael Kelleher converted a consolation penalty for the visitors in the second period as he finished the game with 1-4 as six Killian Fitzgerald points gave Churchill an eventual 1-18 to 1-9 win.

Churchill will make the long trek down to Tuosist this weekend as the Kenmare District side had a big win themselves over Austin Stacks B by 2-22 to 1-5.

The hosts led from start to finish as Colm Brosnan (1-6) and Dara Sugrue (0-8) were responsible for nearly two-thirds of their scores. Their lead at half-time was 1-11 to 0-2 with Sean Tansley and Danny O’Carroll the Tralee side’s as Seamus Bastable did manage to score a goal for them from a close range free near the end. That was only after Gary Harrington scored Tuosist’s second goal midway through the second-half in a 20 point drubbing.

In general all the games in the division this weekend were one-sided with Moyvane another side to score five goals in seeing off Knocknagoshel at Willie Walsh Park, also by 20 points. Somewhat embarrassingly for the hosts they failed to score in the first period as Moyvane scored 4-5 without reply.

Timmy Noonan, Donal Leahy, Brian and Martin Stack were the Moyvane goalscorers in the first period before a good ‘45 kicked by Niall Barrett finally got the hosts on the scoreboard after the restart. Colin Enright scored Moyvane’s fifth goal in sending them on to a 5-9 to 0-4 success as David O’Donoghue did his best for the hosts on the night when moved to midfield. It doesn’t get any easier for Knock with Cordal now their next opponents this coming weekend.

The other game played saw a long and unsuccessful trip to Valentia for Ballyduff as they lost out by 4-10 to 0-5 in the Young Islanders second win of the campaign.

Asdee vs. Kilgarvan was postponed meanwhile due to a bereavement.