St Mary’s 0-15
Castletownbere 1-12
JOHN MURPHY REPORTS
A MAGNIFICENT two-pointer deep into injury-time by wing forward Lee Kelly salvaged a deserved draw for Castletownbere against unbeaten hosts St Mary’s in this Dubliner Cheese Carbery-Beara Division 2 Football League clash at balmy Enniskeane on Saturday.
This result propelled the Saints into joint top position with Kilmeen and Tadhg McCárthaigh, all on seven points, having garnered three wins and a draw from their four outings. In contrast, Castletownbere have with this result put their first point on the board. However, a depleted Saints, missing several regulars, were put to the pin of their collar to thwart the challenge presented by the Beara team. It was a result that pleased St Mary’s mentor Dan Cronin.
‘Look, we learned a lot from this game. We asked the players to up the work-rate and commitment and they certainly were not found wanting in this respect. We were missing ten of our panel today with injuries. The replacements stood up to the plate and if we can improve steadily as we did today, it augurs well,’ Cronin said.
St Mary’s Olan Corcoran gave a master-class up front, annexing a magnificent tally of 0-11, with just one from a free. Others to excel in attack were Niall Kelleher, Gearóid Harrington and Michael O’Driscoll. Rory O’Connor made a welcome return from foreign climes and grafted hard around the middle third, ably supported by Eoin Cullinane, both getting on the scoresheet. In defence, David Curtin was soundness personified between the posts and his outfield switch with Brian McCarthy for the last quarter proved beneficial to both players. Ryan Scannell, Kevin Murphy and Jack Hurley were others to shine in a fine team performance.
Castletownbere contained a nice mix of youth and experience. While St Mary’s had an ace in the pack in the shape of Olan Corcoran, the Beara boys had Colm Murphy who proved a class football act. Indeed, the Murphy movement in general were key figures, Colm scoring 1-3, Olan getting 0-4 while Chaelim at midfield, and Ultan leading the attack gave virtuoso performances. Lee Kelly took a magical two-pointer, while Mikie Orpen, Jack Hanley and goalkeeper Jack O’Connor all had fine outings.
Olan Corcoran was up and running on the scoresheet early on – he had three beauties inside the opening five minutes. Olan and Colm Murphy gave positive replies, sandwiched in between came another Corcoran special from an acute angle. By the 11th minute it was all to play for 0-4 to 0-4, when the western boys rocked the Saints with a well-taken goal. Olan cut in from the right touchline, spotted Colm in space and the latter blasted the ball past David Curtin.
At this juncture the attacking threat up front by the Saints generally manifested itself in the shape of scores by Corcoran and he duly answered the call, albeit a superb white flag by Niall Kelleher was of paramount importance. Colm Murphy, with Mikie Orpen, Olan Murphy and James Spencer leading the charge, soon had the scoreboard operator in overdrive, Lee Kelly and Eoin Cullinane trading points. It left half-time reading 1-7 to 0-9.
On resuming the scoring well dried up somewhat. Corcoran and Niall Kelleher extended the lead, but Castletownbere battled away. It all looked in vain, as with time almost up as a crucial Rory O’Connor point left the hosts ahead, 0-15 to 1-10. But in a last frenetic attack, Kelly saved the day and the spoils were shared.
Scorers
St Mary’s: Olan Corcoran 0-11 (1f); Niall Kelleher 0-2; Rory O’Connor, Eoin Cullinane 0-1 each.
Castletownbere: Colm Murphy 1-3; Olan Murphy 0-4 (1f); Lee Kelly 0-4 (2tp); Mikie Orpen 0-1.
St Mary’s: David Curtin; Paul McMenamin, Willie Hennigan, Kevin Murphy; Jack Hurley, Ryan Scannell, Eoin Keohane; Rory O’Connor, Eoin Cullinane; Michael O’Driscoll, Brian McCarthy, Mark O’Driscoll; Niall Kelleher, Gearóid Harrington, Olan Corcoran.
Subs: Ciarán McCarthy for Kevin Murphy (54), Dave O’Riordan for Jack Hurley (57).
Castletownbere: Jack O’Connor; Killian Murphy, Shane Power, Seán Óg Donegan, Jack Hanley; Seán O’Sullivan, Daniel Walsh; Chaelim Murphy, Mikie Orpen; Lee Kelly, Olan Murphy, Ultan Murphy; Colm Murphy, Dean Hegarty, James Spencer.
Subs: Ger Healy, Marty Orpen.
Referee: Olan O’Donovan (Clonakilty).
