Second quarter surge sees Mallow win big

Mallow 0-14 Éire Óg 0-7

A FIVE-point flurry towards the end of the first-half set Mallow on the road to victory over Éire Óg in the county senior ‘A’ football championship clash at Mourne Abbey last Saturday evening.

It left them leading by 0-9 to 0-4 at the interval, but, more importantly, it caused their confidence to soar and Éire Óg’s to dip in equal measure, with the result that the outcome was never in doubt in the second-half.

Preceded by a narrow loss to Kiskeam in their opening assignment in the four-team group, Mallow’s seven-point winning margin means they will probably advance to the knock-out stages should they deliver the goods against Bantry Blues next time out.

Despite clocking up a decisive win over Bantry in their first-round tie, the likelihood is Éire Óg will need to lower the colours of group table-toppers Kiskeam to be in with a chance of emerging from the round-robin series with their title aspirations intact.

As things stand, all four teams are still in contention for the two places up for grabs in the group, but Mallow certainly took a giant step towards qualification with this emphatic triumph. Éire Óg manager Harry O’Reilly agreed that Mallow were very impressive, adding he was very hopeful regarding his side’s prospects going into the game.

He suggested that, in light of the club’s dual-commitment, fatigue might have been a factor in their second-half slump, pointing out that for the majority of his charges it was a fourth successive week on championship duty.

Considering only two players, Darragh Moynihan and Kevin Sheehan, operate on Mallow’s top team in both hurling and football, perhaps O’Reilly’s remarks weren’t without validity, but the bottom line is last year’s premier intermediate kingpins failed dismally to measure up.

Ironically, there was little to indicate during the opening25 minutes that Mallow would have it so easy, as Éire Óg, with Daire McCarthy and John Cooper to the fore in the half-back líne, enjoyed a slight territorial edge in this period.

They found openings difficult to come by against a well-drilled Mallow defence in which James Loughrey and Andrew Cashman played key roles by keeping tabs on Éire Óg’s marquee attackers Daniel Goulding and Ciaran Sheehan respectively.

Goulding did draw first-blood for the Muskerry side, who, after falling 0-2 to 0-1 behind, almost regained the lead in the 8th minute when midfielder Ronan O’Toole brought the best out of Mallow custodian Kevin Doyle.

As it was, there was never more than the minimum in the difference until Kevin Sheehan and Michael O’Rourke shared a quick brace of points to push Mallow 0-6 to 0-4 ahead inside 27 minutes.

O’Rourke, with an outrageous effort from a free out near the touchline, Seán McDonnell and Darragh Moynihan quickly added to Mallow’s tally, allowing them to go in at the break with their tails up.

Moynihan was a forceful figure at midfield for Mallow during the second-quarter, while the experienced Cian O’Riordan impressed from the outset in attack where Kevin Sheehan and Seán McDonnell were others to catch the eye as the first-half progressed.

Kieran O’Sullivan also moved menacingly on the right wing, even if his finishing wasn’t up to scratch on occasions, and, all things considered, Mallow, for whom Shane Merritt and Mattie Taylor were others particularly effective at the back, had good cause for optimism at half-time.

The opposite was the case for Éire Óg, all the more so since their midfielder Liam Sheehan had been black-carded with two minutes to the interval. Despite being numerically disadvantaged in the early stages of the second-half, Éire Óg didn’t lose any further ground, but they had no answers once Mallow clicked into top gear for the last 20 minutes.

Following an exchange of scores between Daniel Goulding, from a free, and Cian O’Riordan, Kieran O’Sullivan finally found his range for Mallow before Kevin Sheehan completed a three-point sequence in the 41st minute.

Ruling the roost in all sectors, Mallow more or less toyed with the opposition in the last quarter when lively corner-forward Sean McDonnell, having scorched in from the left wing, almost embellished their victory with a goal.

It took an excellent save by Éire Óg ‘keeper Chris Kelly to deny McDonnell in the 48th minute when Mallow led 0-12 to 0-6, an advantage which they stretched to seven points before the finish.

Michael O’Rourke and substitute Jack Dillon completed Mallow’s tally, sandwiching a point from Éire Óg corner-back Dermot O’Herlihy, who registered the losers’ only second-half score from play.

MALLOW: K Doyle; O Carroll, A Cashman, J Loughrey; T McEvoy, S Merritt, M Taylor; D Moynihan 0-1, E Stanton; K O’Sullivan 0-1, R Harkin, M O’Rourke 0-3 (2f); C O’Riordan 0-4 (1f), K Sheehan 0-3, S McDonnell 0-1 Subs: J Dillon 0-1 for O’Rourke 52, (injured), P Hennessy for Sheehan, 59

ÉIRE Óg: C Kelly; C McGoldrick, J Mullins, D O’Herlihy 0-1; D McCarthy, John Cooper, D Dineen; L Sheehan, R O’Toole; E O’Shea, J Murphy, C O’Callaghan 0-1; D Goulding 0-4 (3f), C Sheehan, B Hurley 0-1 Subs: K Hallissey for Hurley, ht, Joe Cooper for O’Toole, 50, J Kelleher for Dineen, 51

REFEREE- Michael Collins (Clonakilty)