Brilliant Burke on target to help Oranmore-Maree hit back for glory
ORANMORE-MAREE half-forward Niall Burke fired over 1-11 in a stunning second-half comeback to clinch the All-Ireland intermediate honours at the expense of Charleville in Croke Park.
The Cork side would finish with 13 men after Jack Doyle and Cian Carroll were sent off in the second half and they were duly punished for their indiscipline. Burke nailed a penalty and Seán McInerney scorched in for goal in the game’s closing stages to seal the 12-point turnaround.
Charleville, coached by Ben O’Connor, looked well on course for victory midway through the first half with some nice forward play illustrated fully by a calm Andrew Cagney finish to the net.
The Munster side led 1-10 to 0-7 at the break with Darragh Fitzgibbon, positioned on the edge of the square. The Cork star was proving a real handful and finished the game with ten points to his name.
Burke set the tone upon the resumption, rattling over three quick scores. When Gearóid McInerney’s inspirational effort found the range in the midst of Charleville’s double dismissals, all the momentum was with his side, managed by his father Gerry.
Charleville simply could not respond and the Galway side made use of the space the extra men provided with two decisive goals. SCORERS – Oranmore-Maree: N Burke 1-11 (4f, 1-0 pen, 3 ’65s); S McInerney 1-2; A Burke 0-2; É Burke, G McInerney and P Keane 0-1 each. Charleville: D Fitzgibbon 0-10 (6fs, 1 ’65); A Cagney 1-1; D O’Flynn, D Casey, J Doyle, K O’Connor and C Buckley 0-1 each. ORANMORE-MAREE – R McInerney; S Bannon, S Geoghegan, A Bannon; M Hanniffy, G McInerney, L Keane; N Geoghegan, R Maher; M Quinn, A Burke, N Burke; R Malone, P Keane, S McInerney. Subs: É Burke for M Quinn (44), N Qualter for L Keane (50) S Dunne for N Geoghegan (59), CHARLEVILLE – C Collins; D Butler, J Meade, F Cagney; A Dennehy, J Buckley, C Carroll; J O’Callaghan, K O’Connor; D O’Flynn, D Casey, J Doyle; A Cagney, D Fitzgibbon, C Buckley. Sub: T Hawe for K O’Connor (55).
REF – C Cunning (Antrim)