O’Donovan Rossa 1-9
Lough Rovers 0-11
TOM LYONS REPORTS
IT was nerve-jangling time for O’Donovan Rossa junior B hurlers in the closing minutes of this Co-Op Superstores confined county junior B hurling first-round game in Kilmichael on Saturday.
Four points in front entering the closing ten minutes, the Skibbereen men were cruising towards the finish line with the wind to their backs. But Lough Rovers refused to throw in the towel. Three unanswered points saw the smallest of gaps between the sides as the game entered injury time. It was backs-to-the-wall for the Rossas but the referee’s final whistle came to their rescue as they took the win and the two points at stake.
Despite a substandard performance with a young team, Rossas should never have found themselves in that position. Level at half time courtesy of a goal from Dan Nzunu, having played against the breeze, they took control in the third quarter to slowly build a four-point lead, holding the city side scoreless.
The Rossas had numerous chances to consolidate their lead but their shooting left them down as they hit ten wides in that half. There was an over-dependence on midfielder Jason Nott for their points – he accounted for eight of their nine points, six from superb free-taking, with Nzunu scoring the odd one out. As it turned out, Nzunu’s was a vital point, in the 46th minute, Rossas’ last score of the game and the winning one.
‘We’ve a very, very new team and it will take them a while to gel together,’ said the new Rossa manager, Kevin Cotter, who was pleased his side came through this battle.
‘A lot of the pressure today came from our own mistakes. I’d be a lot more worried if it was Lough Rovers who caused us most problems but, in truth, it was our own mistakes. Far too many wides, especially near the end and we have work to do on basic skills.’
O'Donovan Rossa's Paddy McCarthy is challenged by Lough Rovers' David Fogarty.
It was easy to keep track of the scoring in the first half, the Lough with the breeze. Harry Phelan, Diarmuid Ward and the long-striking Darragh O’Callaghan backboned a hard-hitting Lough defence while Rob Long and Colm O’Driscoll were the pick of a lively Rossa defence, in front of reliable goalkeeper Alan Foley. The sides swapped points twice in the opening quarter, Nott pointing two Rossa frees and Jonathan English scoring from play and a free in reply.
There was an improvement in the second quarter with both sets of midfielders hurling well, Mark O’Driscoll and Nott for Rossas and Gavin O’Donovan and Cian Allen for the Lough. English and Nott again swapped frees before Rossa struck a vital blow in the 20th minute when Kevin O’Driscoll and Paddy McCarthy combined to set up Dan Nzunu for a cracking goal. The only green flag of the game was to prove vital.
Rossas failed to build on their goal lead as the Lough responded with the next four points – Darragh O’Callaghan’s long-range free-taking was top class. Two points from the centre back plus two more from Emmet Sheehan had the Lough in front by one but Nott, from his fourth free, tied it all up at the break, 1-4 to 0-7.
O'Donovan Rossa's Micheál O'Donovan goes around Lough Rovers' Diarmuid Ward.
Rossas made changes at half time, the experienced Eugene Daly making an impression at wing-forward and Dinny O’Regan hurling well in defence. Four more points from the rampant Nott had the westerners four to the good as the third quarter drew to a close but O’Callaghan pointed another free to cut the lead to three at the three-quarter mark. Nzunu restored the four-point lead in the 46th minute and, amazingly, despite dominating possession, they weren’t to score again.
The Lough took advantage of Skibb’s waywardness to close the gap with points from Shane Buckley and Jonathan English (free). When Jordan O’Connor hit a marvellous point from the wing in the closing minutes, the lead was down to one. Somehow Rossas managed to stay in front in those nerve-tingling final minutes to register a win in their opening group game.
‘A win tonight was a bonus,’ said Cotter. ‘We have Bantry and Ballyclough in our group. Ballyclough would be in a different class than us and when Bantry take it seriously, they can be very good, they played junior A last season. It will be a tough group to come out of.’
Scorers
O’Donovan Rossa: Jason Nott 0-8 (6f); Dan Nzunu 1-1.
Lough Rovers: Darragh O’Callaghan 0-4f; Jonathan English 0-3 (2f); Emmet Sheehan 0-2; Shane Buckley, Jordan O’Connor 0-1 each.
O’Donovan Rossa: Alan Foley; Eoin O’Sullivan, Shane Donoghue, Colm O’Driscoll; Michael J O’Regan, Rob Long, Jack O’Driscoll; Jason Nott, Mark O’Driscoll; Mícheál O’Donovan, Kevin O’Driscoll, Cian O’Reilly; Paddy McCarthy, Feighlim Dignan, Dan Nzunu.
Subs: Dinny O’Regan for MJ O’Regan (ht), Eugene Daly for C O’Reilly (ht), Pa Crowley for F Dignan (48).
Lough Rovers: Colin Murphy; Aaron Buckley, Harry Phelan, Aidan O’Sullivan; Niall O’Sullivan, Darragh O’Callaghan, Diarmuid Ward; Gavin O’Donovan, Cian Allen; Jonathan English, Emmet Sheehan, Jamie Cole; Shane Long, Jordan O’Connor, Shane Buckley.
Subs: Adam O’Keeffe for J Cole (37), Alan Power for S Long (50), Rory Shine for C Allen (55).
Referee: Colm Ó Mocháin (Cill na Martra).
