Victories for Duhallow and Muskerry in County SFC
COUNTY SFC DIVISIONAL SECTION
THE full time scoreline fully illustrates the dominance of Duhallow as they began the county senior football championship on a winning note following a comprehensive victory over Imokilly in the opening round to the Divisional / Colleges section at Páirc Uí Rinn on Bank Holiday Monday.
Showing no effects from a brave effort that came up just short to St Finbarrs in last season’s County Final, Duhallow operated with 10 members of that starting line up, and on this occasion, there was no denying the style as well as the substance to an impressive showing.
Imokilly were returning to the championship after some years outside the fence. Whatever chance they had evaporated in the opening quarter where literally every Duhallow attack yielded a score much to the satisfaction of team manager Pádraig Kearns.
“Look, we were short in match practice but these lads are committed, fully tuned in from the start. This job is complete, Round 2 is coming up, that’s going to be a much different ball game against CIT, that’s sure going to be a lot more intensive”, he said.
Maybe a one sided affair but those present saw two greats of Cork football, namely Donncha O’Connor and Pearse O’Neill produce more than a few moments of magic with a run of exquisite points at either end.
At their best in the opening half, last season’s county runners up constructed a series of dynamic passages of play that yielded a sequel of points from Donncha O’Connor, namesake Anthony and Eoghan McSweeney with Conor O’Keeffe forcing an excellent save from Jack Monaghan.
Inside 10 minutes, Duhallow were 0-7 to 0-0 ahead before Tim Hartnett got the East Cork combination off the mark.
Still, the initiative was running with Duhallow , holding pillars in defence where the McLoughllin brothers, Eamon O’Callaghan and Lorcan O’Neill stood out. At midfield, Paul Walsh won a massive amount of ball , feeding Fintan O’Connor to fire home a goal.
The initiative remained with Duhallow, a clever flick on set up team captain
O’Neill to raise a second green flag. Though Imokilly answered with a couple of points, the run in to the break was productive for Duhallow, Seamus Hickey, Conor O’Keeffe, Donncha O’Connor, Darren O’Keeffe and McSweeney pointing sweetly for a clear 2-16 to 0-5 advantage at the break.
The early stages to the second half went along similar lines with O’Connor, Newmarket’s Conor O’Keeffe and O’Neill adding to the tally. Naturally, the tempo dropped, Imokilly never gave up, their brave efforts earned points on the board, the lion hearted O’Neill posting outstanding points.
With a raft of substitutes introduced impinged on the free flowing nature, interestingly, during the closing 20 minutes or so, Imokilly outscored Duhallow 0-7 to 0-3.
That said, the contest was purely academic from a long way out, Duhallow well pleased at the outcome though a much sterner examination awaits in Round 2 against CIT.
DUHALLOW: P Doyle (Knocknagree), J McLoughlin (Kanturk), E O’Callaghan (Rockchapel), B Daly (Newmarket), L O’Neill (Kanturk) 1-1, A Ryan (Newmarket), L McLoughlin (Kanturk); D O’Keeffe (Newmarket) 0-2, P Walsh (Kanturk); F O’Connor (Knocknagree)
1-1, A O’Connor
(Knocknagree) 0-2, E
McSweeney (Knocknagree) 0-4, D O’Connor (Ballydesmond) 0-7 (0-2f), S Hickey (Rockchapel) 0-2, C O’Keeffe (Newmarket) 0-2 (0-1f) Subs: K Cremin (Boherbue) for E McSweeney (ht), J F Daly (Knocknagree) 0-1 for S Hickey (ht), D Hickey (Cullen) for E O’Callaghan (40), D Buckley (Boherbue) for L O’Neill (44), S Hickey (Millstreet) for A Ryan (50), D Moynihan (Ballydesmond) for D O’Connor (55)
IMOKILLY: J Monaghan (Youghal), S O’Reilly (Glenville), B Kelleher (Glanmire), K O’Shea (Aghada); A Joyce (Youghal), K O’Donoughue (Aghada), J Cronin (Aghada); S O’Connor (Fr. O’Neills), D Harrington (Fr. O’Neills) 0-1; T Hartnett (Aghada) 0-3, P O’Neill (Aghada) 0-5, D McCarthy (Glenville); M Kelly (Castlemartyr) 0-1f, J Comer (Midleton), S Long (Glenbower Rovers) 0-2f Subs: M O’Connor (Aghada) for D McCarthy (ht), A Kenneally (Fr. O’Neills) for B Kelleher (ht), C Ruddy (Russell Rovers) for S Long (44), G Manley (Midleton) 0-1f for J Comer (44), W Connolly (Glenville) for J Cronin (44)
REFEREE: P O’Leary (Kilmurry)
Following the game, the Duhallow team , management and Junior Board supported Kieran O’Connor Fund Raiser, fittingly both Duhallow and Imokilly team convened on the Páirc Uí Rinn pitch, fittingly former county team mates of Kieran O’Connor involved, Donncha O’Connor presenting a contribution to Pearse O’Neill.