Boherbue survive Cullen scare in Ducon
Boherbue 3-6 Cullen 1-11
A BLAST of first half goals lay the foundation for a narrow win for Boherbue over Cullen in an exciting Ducon Cup tussle between near neighbours. The reigning holders didn’t have it entirely all their own way but the slicker movement of the Boherbue attack in terms of goal taking ability proved the ultimate difference between the sides.
The tempo of this exciting encounter was set from the opening whistle with goals at either end. Boherbue tore into the fray, rewarded from a Denis McCarthy goal only for Cullen to storm downfield, Tomás O’Keeffe on hand to raise a green flag.
Once the contest settled, Boherbue held a far greater tempo and urgency to their play, demonstrated by the efforts of C J O’Sullivan, Jack Daly, Pa Murphy and Kevin Cremin. Clinically, the Boherbue attack made use of major opportunities for Murphy and Jerry O’Connor add goals for a 3-3 to 1-4 advantage at the break.
Cullen tightened up considerably upon the change of ends yet Boherbue looked well positioned following points to Murphy and Denis O’Sullivan. Credit Cullen, summoning up a comeback push thanks to the persistent efforts of Dermot Hickey, Francis Cronin, Alan Regan and O’Keeffe.
And as the game aged, Cullen’s gutsy challenge was sustained in the main by points from O’Keeffe and Regan to trim the arrears to the minimum.
Importantly for Boherbue, they defended well and snuffed out Cullen’s advances for a reprieve in the tense and competitive exchanges.
BOHERBUE: D O’Connell; C J O’Sullivan, N Murphy, C O’Riordan; D Moynihan, J Daly, P Daly; A O’Connor, K Cremin; P Murphy 1-1, A Murphy 0-1, D O’Sullivan 0-2, B Herlihy, J O’Connor 1-2, D McCarthy 1-0. Subs: D Hickey, T Murphy, D Buckley, B Buckley.
CULLEN: F O’Connor; M O’Riordan, D Twomey, C Hickey; C Kerins, D Hickey, F Cronin 0-1; P Murphy, A Regan 0-4; C O’Connor, G Twomey, M Twomey 0-1; T O’’Keeffe 1-4, C O’Leary 0-1, W O’Keeffe. Subs: D O’Sullivan, S Fleming, L Mullane, J O’Sullivan.
REFEREE: D Hickey (Millstreet)