Hot-shot Olan O’Donovan fires table-toppers Barryroe directly into county semi-final

Barryroe 2-12

Milford 1-13

TOM LYONS REPORTS

A BRACE of goals, one in each half, by dynamic corner forward Olan O’Donovan was the foundation on which Barryroe built this narrow victory over Milford in the third round of the Co-op Superstores Premier JHC in Coachford.

This result saw Barryroe topping their group with three wins from three, and qualifying directly for a semi-final berth.

Not for the first time, Barryroe were grateful to young Olan O’Donovan at corner forward who not only struck two goals but also hit the butt of the upright and had a goal disallowed for square infringement. O’Donovan also converted five frees, to bring his total to a commendable 2-5.

Add in also the contribution of goalkeeper Michael Whelton, who hit five points from long-range frees, and one can see that Milford were clinically punished for their indiscretions. But the fact that Barryroe raised only two white flags from play, both from Ryan O’Donovan, must be a worry for the mentors going forward.

‘It was mission accomplished, two points in the bag and a place in the semi-final,’ said a relieved Barryroe manager Dan Murphy. ‘It’s not so much the rest now until the semi-final but that we won’t have the bother of a quarter-final to worry about.

‘The first half wasn’t great and we seemed to rest on our oars after Olan’s early goal. There was a big improvement in the second half and I thought we played some good hurling until the closing minutes when Milford really came at us trying to retrieve a result.’

In a tentative first quarter there was nothing between the teams, the sides sharing six points. Ryan O’Donovan, Michael Whelton (free) and Olan O’Donovan (free) answering scores from Henry O’Gorman (two frees) and Eoin Dillon (free). However, the vital score arrived in the ninth minute when Ryan O’Donovan set up his cousin Olan for a tap-in goal.

There was a Milford takeover in the second quarter. O’Gorman was unerring as he split the posts from three frees in a row to level the scoring. When corner forward Brian Murphy worked his way through for a great individual goal, Milford were really rocking. A mini Barryroe rally before half time saw Whelton and O’Donovan converting Barryroe frees and the lead was down to a single point, 1-6 to 1-5, at half time in favour of the Milford men.

O’Gorman stretched the lead to two to start a second half in which the Barryroe men upped their work rate and showed great determination. They levelled with points from O’Donovan and Whelton frees before Anthony Watson shoved Milford in front again. It was tough, hard-hitting stuff as Whelton (free) levelled the game for the fifth time.

The most vital score came in the 40th minute when Daniel O’Driscoll set up O’Donovan for a cracking goal. Five minutes earlier we almost had the goal of the game when a superb Barryroe move saw O’Donovan cracking a rasper against the butt of the upright. Barryroe weren’t to be caught again.

Three times never-say-die Milford managed to cut the lead to two points with scores from Tadhg O’Flynn and Henry O’Gorman but they could never get the goal they needed against a tigerish Barryroe defence. Points from the O’Donovans and Whelton just about carried Barryroe over the line. David Murphy, Adam McSweeney and the high-fielding Ryan Kilbane were others to do well for the winners.

Scorers

Barryroe: Olan O’Donovan 2-5 (5f); Michael Whelton 0-5f; Ryan O’Donovan 0-2.

Milford: Henry O’Gorman 0-9 (7f); Brian Murphy 1-0; Tadhg O’Flynn 0-2; Anthony Watson, Eoin Dillon (1f) 0-1 each.

Barryroe: Michael Whelton; Seán O’Riordan, Cathal Sheehy, Tomás O’Buachalla; Stephen Madden, James Moloney, Jerome O’Brien; David Murphy, Adam McSweeney; Ryan Kilbane, Daniel O’Driscoll, Michael Walsh; Ryan O’Donovan, Robbie Kiely, Olan O’Donovan.

Subs: Con Dineen for M Walsh (ht), Dónal Ó Buachalla for D O’Driscoll (49), Seán Holland for R Kilbane (52).

Milford: Mike Cremin; Stephen O’Flynn, Kieran O’Flynn, Ryan O’Gorman; Tadhg O’Flynn, Eoin Dillon, Ciarán O’Sullivan; Michael O’Flynn, Pat Watson; Daire Hannigan, Anthony Watson, Brien Villers; Seán O’Connell, Henry O’Gorman, Brian Murphy.

Subs: Tommy Curran for D Hannigan (49), Patrick O’Flynn for B Villers (53).

Referee: John Ryan (Macroom).