Dan’s the man as St Colum’s maintain 100 percent record

St Colum’s 1-6                           

Ballinascarthy 1-5

JOHN MURPHY REPORTS

WITH seconds remaining in this Dubliner Cheese Carbery/Beara Division 1 football league tie at Ballinascarthy on Sunday, the hosts strung a series of passes together to mount one final assault on St Colum’s citadel.

A four-man move involving Ciarán Nyhan, Seán Ryan, Padraic Cullinane and Ciarán O’Neill saw the latter’s blistering drive come back off the woodwork before being ushered to safety by the St Colum’s defence.

It was the last act in what had been a dour yet competitive contesr, the brace of league points deservedly going to the Kealkil brigade.

‘We made a few changes at the break and it seemed to work in the second half. This time of year is opportune to try out new players. For some of these lads playing today it is only their second time playing junior football,’ said St Colum’s selector Conor O’Mahony.

Certainly, the introduction of Mike O’Shea, Mike O’Riordan, Donal Hurley and Damien Cronin at the break brought about a big transformation in the Saints fortunes.

Bal’s tendency to overdo the passing game, when more direct methods would have sufficed, saw several opportunities squandered and resulted in a narrow interval lead, 0-4 to 0-3. They had opened positively with two superb scores from Ciarán O’Neill and Pádraic Cullinane inside the opening seven minutes.

St Colum’s, despite conceding possession, still managed to draw level at the close of the opening quarter thanks to a score by Conor Doody and an excellent free from Tadhg Cronin. Two minutes later they hit the front, Dan Andrews hitting the target.

Bal came close to goaling in the 22nd minute as Pádraic Cullinane found Brian O’Donovan with a teasing cross and his bullet-like drive was magnificently parried to safety by Colum’s goalkeeper Cian Cronin. Granted, Brian O’Donovan split the posts and Conal Cullinane hit the target in the 29th minute, but it was a meagre return given their dominance.

St Colum’s, rejuvenated and positionally altered on resuming, began to make their presence felt as Dan Andrews obliged. Bal then had a huge stroke of good fortune – Brian O’Donovan tried his luck from an acute angle, the ball getting a wicked deflection off a Colum’s defender to nestle in the net in the 40th minute.

But Colum’s were now in control. Within five minutes, Dan Andrews performed the oracle on the double, his blistering drive flying past Cian Ryan to billow the net. A Mike O’Shea white flag that quite easily could have ended up in the net was tipped over by Cian Ryan. Intense Bal pressure brought a fine score from Pádraic Cullinane in the 56th minute, but Colum’s held on for a deserved win.

Our Star: St Colum’s Ben Murphy showed remarkable qualities of leadership and defensive sustenance.

Scorers

St Colum’s: Dan Andrews 1-3 (1f); Conor Doody, Mike O’Shea, Tadhg Cronin (f) 0-1 each.

Ballinascarthy: Brian O’Donovan 1-1, Pádraic Cullinane 0-2, Conal Cullinane, Ciarán O’Neill 0-1 each.

St Colum’s: Cian Cronin; Dan Lucey, Pat Daly, Anto O’Sullivan; Liam Hourihan, Ben Murphy, Martin Hurley; Mike Daly, Shane Murnane; Rob Cronin, Dermot Cronin, Conor Doody; JD O’Sullivan, Dan Andrews, Tadhg Cronin.

Subs: Mike O’Shea for Rob Cronin, Mike O’Riordan for JD O’Sullivan, Donal Hurley for Dan Lucey, Damien Cronin for Dermot Cronin (all at half-time.)

Ballinascarthy: Cian Ryan; Rory O’Brien, Ciarán Nyhan, James O’Brien; Stephen Shannon, Ciarán O’Neill, David Walsh; Seán Ryan, Seamus McCarthy; Luke Murray, Pádraic Cullinane, Aaron Ryan; Dean Harte, Conall Cullinane, Brian O’Donovan.

Subs: Eoin O’Brien for Stephen Shannon (43), Stephen Shannon for Eoin O’Brien (49), Eoin O’Brien for Aaron Ryan (53).

Referee: Ian McCarthy (Bandon).