Cloughduv 1-25
Barryroe 1-9
NOEL HORGAN REPORTS
A POINT from Olan O’Donovan opened their account within seconds of the throw-in, but that was as good as it got for Barryroe in the county premier junior hurling championship clash with Cloughduv at Páirc Uí Rinn.
They were 1-12 to 0-6 adrift at the end of a lopsided first half, and their fortunes didn’t improve to a significant degree after the interval, although they did manage a goal, courtesy of O’Donovan, in the 35th minute.
It’s fair to say the West Cork men looked a little out of their depth for most of the contest. On this evidence, they could be hard-pressed to preserve their status in a relegation play-off with Meelin next time out.
Manager Conor Walsh didn’t expect Barryoe to be so comprehensively outgunned, but he was fully aware Cloughduv would be a hard nut to crack.
‘Cloughduv are a good team, they were intermediate last year, and they were always going to be one of the strong sides at this level,’ he said.
‘We’re obviously disappointed we didn’t do better, it just didn’t come together for us, but I know we have a lot more potential than we showed tonight.
‘We’ll prepare for a relegation battle now, but we’ve a young group, they’ll have gained a lot of good experience from this contest, so we’ll see how we’ll go the next day.’
After a converted free by Olan O’Donovan left Barryroe 0-3 to 0-2 in arrears with five minutes gone, Cloughduv gained a firm grip on the proceedings, stretching their advantage to ten points before Adam McSweeney added to the losers’ tally in the 23rd minute.
A goal from Aidan O’Leary, which made it 1-5 to 0-2 in the tenth minute, was the signal for Cloughduv to move into top gear, with O’Leary looking particularly sharp at corner-forward during the early exchanges.
He was well-policed as the first-half progressed by Barryroe’s Sean O’Riordan, who, along with James Moloney and Tomás Ó Buachalla, performed most creditably at the back for the losers overall.
Barryroe struggled alarmingly to make headway up front, however, against a well-knit Cloughduv rearguard before late points from midfielder Ryan O’Donovan, Donal O’Buachalla, and a beauty from Brian O’Donovan completed their first-half return.
The goal from Olan O’Donovan – who first-timed the rebound home after his initial effort from a close-in free had been foiled – left Barryroe trailing by 1-14 to 1-6, but Cloughduv responded with four points on the trot to rule out any remote chance of a recovery by the Carbery side.
Donal Ó Buachalla bagged a brace of tasty points for Barryroe midway through the second half, but they didn’t score again until Sean O’Riordan was on target from a 65 in stoppage time.
Cloughduv steadily tightened the screw in the interim to underline their far greater potency in attack where Brian Verling and Mark Verling were particularly impressive.
Scorers
Cloughduv: B Verling 0-8 (4f); M Verling 0-6 (4f); A O’Leary 1-1; A Twomey, M Walsh, C O’Leary 0-2 each; O O’Driscoll, A Murphy, E McNabola, M O’Leary 0-1 each.
Barryroe: O O’Donovan 1-2 (1f); D Ó Buachalla 0-3; A McSweeney, R O’Donovan, B O’Donovan, S O’Riordan (65) 0-1 each.
Cloughduv: S O’Donoghue; J Moynihan, P O’Driscoll, L Kelleher; O O’Driscoll, E Clifford, M O’Leary; A Elliott, M Walsh; E McNabola. A Murphy, M Verling; B Verling, A Twomey, A O’Leary.
Subs: O McDonald for Twome (44), C Canty for M Verling (48), C O’Leary for Murphy (52), S Barry for O’O’Driscoll (53), S Curzon for Walsh (58).
Barryroe: M Whelton; S O’Riordan, C Sheehy, D Maloney; J O’Brien, J Moloney, T Ó Buachalla; C Dineen, R O’Donovan; B O’Donovan, D Ó Buachalla, C Madden; C O’Donovan, A McSweeney, M Walsh.
Subs: S Holland for Walsh (ht), D McCarthy for Madden (44), P Moloney for R O’Donovan (49).
Referee: J Smiddy (Castlemartyr).
