Goals set Lough Rovers on their way to victory

COUNTY JBFC Lough Rovers 3-9 Ballyhooly 1-10 GOALS at crucial stages helped Lough Rovers overcome the Ballyhooly challenge in the opening round on Friday evening last.

The winners made the best possible start and helped by goals from wing forward Terry White they raced into a 2-1 to 0-1 lead by the 6th minute. As the half went on Ballyhooly upped their efforts greatly.

Their backline tightened up considerably as they tried to sustain the threat imposed by the Lough Rovers forward line. At midfield Denis Kiely and Darragh O'Reilly came more into the tie. Cathal O'Keeffe got their revival in motion with two rapid points.

In the 16th minute Ballyhooly's Denis Kiely won possession from a Lough Rovers kickout and placed Darragh O'Reilly who soloed through to score a fine point. At the otherend Darren Haines replied with a point for Lough Rovers after receiving a good pass from Dave Daly.

However, at this stage Ballyhooly were enjoying the lions share of possession but they were unable to make it count on the scoreboard when missing some bad scoring chances. Kevin Kiely added a point from a free for the North Cork side in the 24th minute with Terry White responding in kind two minutes later with another free.

In the run up to the break Ballyhooly created two goal scoring chances. In the 28th minute a delivery by Kevin Kiely was punched narrowly wide by Patrick O'Connor but nevertheless they made amends on the stroke of half time when Kevin Kiely, Cathal O'Keeffe, Patrick O'Connor linked up well to find Michael Whelan whose attempt for a point from a very tight angle came back off the upright with the well placed Shaun O'Mahony quick to react when he scrambled the rebound to the net as the Avondhu outfit came within the narrowest of margins at the short whistle when in arrears 2-3 to 1-5.

On the changeover Ballyhooly started the second half the way they finished the first and helped by a point each by Kevin Kiely and Cathal O'Keeffe they edged in front for the first time and with the aid of the strong breeze they looked like pushing on from here.

However, Lough Rovers had other ideas as they dominated matters in the last 20 minutes with Ian Raymond, Sean Shanahan, Wayne Cotter, Denis Lyons, David Daly, Terry White, Darren Haines and Danny Kiely most impressive.

From their next attack they hit the front again when a Ballyhooly clearance was intercepted with Barry Murphy eventually getting through to score their third goal from a very tight angle after David Daly's initial shot at goal came back off the crossbar 3-4 to 1-7 and entering the last quarter they moved ahead 3-7 to 1-7.

Ballyhooly refused to yield and stayed in touch when Cathal O'Keeffe kicked over two points but these scores were cancelled out when Terry White and David Daly were on target for the City side by the 56th minute 3-9 to 19.

With time running out Ballyhooly badly needed a goal to stage a grandstand finale. Kevin Kiely had a point in the 57th minute and in their last attack they created a goal scoring opportunity when Kevin Kiely's shot a goal in front of a crowded Lough Rovers goal line was deflected out for a '45.

Time ran out for Ballyhooly in the end and there was no denying Lough Rovers their well merited victory. LOUGH ROVERS: D O'Callaghan, J P Heffernan, I Raymond, B Murphy 1-0, W Cotter 0-1, S Shanahan, D Lyons, A O'Sullivan, D Kiely 0-2, T White 2-2 (0-2f), D Haines 0-1, C O'Callaghan, R O'Connor, C Byrnes, D Daly 0-3 (0-1f) BALLYHOOLY: K McCarthy, B Kiernan, F O'Connell, R Walsh, M Hanrahan, J O'Connor, P Aherne, D Kiely, D O'Reilly 02, C O'Keeffe 0-5 (0-2f), K Kiely 0-2f, S O'Mahony 1-0, M Whelan 0-1, K O'Driscoll, P O'Connor Subs: P Leahy for B Kieran, E Hanrahan for K O'Driscoll, A O'Driscoll for M Whelan REFEREE: Michael Myers (Blarney)