Ballyhooly hurlers out gun Castletownroche
Ballyhooly 4-17 Castletownroche 2-13
BALLYHOOLY will meet Harbour Rovers in one of the Hibernian Hotel JAHC quarter-finals after they defeated their neighbours Castletownroche in the concluding round at Fermoy on Sunday evening.
In a high scoring contest Ballyhooly seized the early initiative and helped by a goal each by Barry Johnson and Denis Kiely they raced into a 2-3 to 0-3 lead by the 14th minute. Castletownroche aided by the strong breeze regrouped well.
The impressive Mark O’Callaghan reeled off two rapid points before they narrowed the lead to two points in the 19th minute when a long delivery by Muiris Browne was fetched by Donal Relihan on the edge of the square who turned his marker and billowed an unstoppable shot to the Ballyhooly net 2-3 to 1-4.
Over the next couple of minutes some fine points were swopped between Barry Johnson (2) Mark O’Callaghan and Patrick Sheehan. In the run up to the break Castletownroche were dealt a blow when they had a defender sent to the line for a second bookable offence. Nevertheless a good rally by last years Co JBHC kingpins saw Dayne O’Neill, John Browne and Mark O’Callaghan have points for Castletownroche as they got back on level terms at the interval at 2-6 to 1-9.
On the changeover both teams were quick off the mark. Seamus Roche and Mark O’Callaghan traded a point before Castletownroche took the lead for the first time when Mark O’Callaghan pointed a free in the 33rd minute 1-11 to 2-7. The lead was short lived with Ballyhooly’s Darragh O’Reilly setting up Diarmuid Linehan to force parity in their next attack. From here on the better balanced Ballyhooly side prevailed and five points on the trot entering the last quarter by Barry Johnson (3) Kevin Kiely and Gearoid Roche opened up a lead 2-13 to 1-12.
Castletownroche pulled a point back by the hard-working John Browne. It was the winners that moved a step closer to victory in the 48th minute when Barry Johnson drilled a free to the Castletownroche net 3-13 to 1-12. Moments later good work by Diarmuid Linehan released Seamus Roche who netted as they moved 4-13 to 1-12 clear.
Castletownroche battled to the end. Donal Relihan had a close in free saved on the line by the Ballyhooly keeper in the 57th minute with Relihan making amends two minutes later when he finished to the net after receiving a good pass from Mark O’Callaghan. However it proved too little too late with Ballyhooly running out convincing winners.
BALLYHOOLY: P O’Connor, P Aherne, C O’Keeffe, F Linehan, D O’Reilly, S Linehan, E Buckley, J Roche 0-1, S Roche 1-1, B Johnson 2-8 (2-7f, 0-1 ‘65’), D Linehan 0-3, K Kiely 0-1, J Mehigan, D Kiely 1-2, F O’Connell. Subs: S O’Mahony for J Roche, G Roche 0-1 for J Mehigan, S Murphy for F O’Connell, E O’Riordan for K Kiely,
CASTLETOWNROCHE: J O’Callaghan, Sean Sugrue, Harry Farrell, Noah O’Brien, Aidan O’Leary, M Browne, J Browne 0-2, D O’Connor, P Sheehan 0-1, N Hazelwood, K Skinner 0-1, M O’Callaghan 0-7 (6f), D O’Neill 0-2, D Relihan 2-0, S Skinner. Subs: J Batterberry for K Skinner, L Farrell for D O’Neill, J.P Ryan for A O’Leary, L McGrath for N O’Brien.
REFEREE: Aidan Hyland (Kilworth)