Three goal Éire Óg have too much for Kildorrery
HAVING been defeated by Kildorrery in the knock-out stages of the County IHC over the last two seasons Éire Óg’s Intermediate hurlers finally gained revenge when they came out at the right side in this encounter at Rathcormac on Friday evening.
In the end it was three goals in the last quarter that turned the tie in the Mid Cork sides favour and got their campaign off to a winning start. Indeed it was the winners that started in a very determined manner with Fionn O’Rourke, Dermot O’Herlihy, John Cooper, John Dineen, Ronan O’Toole, Kevin Hallissey and Brian Hurley excelling from the offset.
They were 0-3 to no score in front before Kildorrery who were forced to line out without a number of key players for various reasons registered their first score when Michael Walsh pointed a free in the sixth minute.
However, at this stage Éire Óg were creating most of the running. In the 10th minute the hardworking John Cooper cut through the Kildorrery back line where his goal bound effort went narrowly over the crossbar for a point.
Moments later a poor clearance out of the Kildorrery defence saw the impressive Brian Hurley point from a tight angle 0-5 to 0-1. As the half went on Kildorrery quickly settled. Michael Walsh (free) and John Cooper traded a point by the end of the first quarter.
In Kildorrery’s next attack a puckout by keeper Ian Butler was fetched on the ‘40’ by Andrew O’Brien who turned his chances of taking the spoils.
Glanworth squared off against Douglas at the Hill and almost straight from the off the writing was on the wall for the men in green and black. Glanworth exploded out of the blocks in a fashion that would have put many so called better sides to the sword and showed no signs of letting up as this game continued to go the way of the north Cork side.
While most will remember last weekend as being a good one on the weather front it is easy to forget that Saturday night wasn’t all that great and to be fair the weather, particularly the high winds had a serious impact on this clash.
Glanworth were fortunate to win the toss and after little consultation decided to play with the strong marker to score a great point. Kildorrery were enjoying their best patch of his half at this juncture with Michael Walsh, Shane O’Neill and Andrew O’Brien making an impression.
They reduced the margin to the narrowest of margins in the 25th minute when Michael Walsh (2) and Andrew O’Brien reeled off points 0-7 to 0-6. In the closing moments the Éire Óg challenge came to the fore once again.
In the 28th minute a free by Dermot O’Herlihy set up John Cooper for a fine point. At the end of normal time Kevin Hallissey with a free increased the lead as they held a 0-9 to 0-6 interval advantage.
For the second half Éire Óg were again quick off the mark and within seconds of the throw in Paul McDonagh pointed. Kildorrery responded with a free by Michael Walsh following a foul on William Fouhy.
Exchanges were close and committed for the rest of the third quarter. Jamie breeze – something that obviously paid off when one considers the 11 point lead they had built up by the time the short whistle sounded. 1-9 to 0-1.
Glanworth were terrific in the first half with Shane O’Riordan leading the line spectacularly from the off. O’Riordan managed to bag 2-3 during this shift, a tally that would have seen off Douglas on its own.
Others to impress for the victors were Diarmuid Colfer, Michael and Emmett Sheehan, Robert O’Driscoll and Gerry O’Neill who all played major roles in what turned out to be a really impressive victory.
Douglas never got to the pace of the victors in the opening half and conceded over and over again O’Gorman and Ronan O’Toole were on target with a point apiece by the 38th minute. Michael Walsh and John Dineen traded another point with Dineen and O’Gorman swapping minors by the 44th minute 0-13 to 0-10.
It was all to play for at this stage with Kildorrery closing the deficit to a two point margin when Michael Walsh pointed a free to cut the lead 0-13 to 0-11. Just when Kildorrery looked to have the momentum Éire Óg had other ideas and two goals in quick succession turned the tie in their favour.
In the 49th minute a good movement involving Darragh McCarthy, Brian Hurley and Ronan O’Toole resulted in a goal by Daniel Goulding. Goulding followed with another goal two minutes later as they surged into a 2-13 to 0-11 lead.
Kildorrery battled away and had a goal chance from Michael Walsh cleared off the line by the Éire Óg centre back Dermot O’Herlihy in the 52nd minute. At the other to a Glanworth front six that could do little wrong. The Glanworth rear-guard also deserve credit as they held what is far from a bad side to one point in the first 30 minutes of play.
A slick move involving Emmett and Michael Sheehan set up O’Riordan’s first goal with points raining in from all angles before and after this major intervention.
The second half was always likely to be a closer run thing as Douglas played with the wind to their backs however reeling in a Glanworth side that looked comfortable in front was never really likely to be easy.
The city side did manage to outscore their opponents by 1-4 to 1-2 in the second period with Colin O’Brien making the most of end Kevin Hallissey had a point from general play before his side were denied a third goal when the Kildorrery keeper Ian Butler was forced to make a splendid save off his line from Ronan O’Toole at the expense of a ‘65’ that Kevin Hallissey pointed.
In the closing moments the winners dispelled any notions of a Kildorrery revival when Daniel Goulding was on hand to score his hat trick of goals as Éire Óg ran out fully deserved winners. some indecision in the Glanworth back lines to net his side’s only goal – cutting the gap to seven, 1-9 to 1-2.
Points followed for both sides with Glanworth looking relatively comfortable – that was before another brace of points from Darragh Kelly and Cormac Dineen cut the gap to five late on.
Not to be denied, however, O’Riordan settled this one with his second goal to kill off Douglas and secure what was a deserved progression to the next round of this hotly contested division of Cork football.
Glanworth’s stock has well and truly risen after this display as they prepare to head into the second round and, while no title has been settled as of yet, the men in black and amber will take some beating if they are to be stopped from making it to the next level of Cork football.