McCarthy hails Urhan players after booking quarter-final spot

Urhan 0-12

St Nick’s 0-10

JOHNNY CAROLAN REPORTS 

A GOOD final quarter was key as Urhan overcame St Nicholas to top Group A of the Bon Secours Hospital Cork Premier JFC.

Leading by 0-8 to 0-3 at half time, the Beara side saw that advantage wiped out as their city opponents enjoyed a good start to the second half. There was no panic though and, crucially, Urhan never fell behind. They finished with a flourish to book a quarter-final tie against Millstreet in Kealkill on Saturday, September 23rd.

The advent of this grade has benefited Urhan more than most. Having been the only junior A side in Beara, they were left short of match practice by the time the county championship came around but the round-robin format has been a boon, joint-manager Martin McCarthy feels.

‘Yeah, it’s been massive,’ he said.

‘No challenge games or training sessions and going to prepare you in the way these games do. It’s a round-robin system and you won’t test lads in an environment unless it’s championship football.

‘You need to be playing in that and that’s what builds strength in players and builds strength in the panel. We were very happy on Friday with how the whole squad contributed, even a couple of subs coming off the bench made an impact. It’s a 20-man game now and we need this kind of championship football going forward.’

After an even opening, good points from the excellent Alan Ephick and Philip O’Shea helped Urhan to establish an advantage while Conor O’Sullivan was strong in the full-back line.

While Danny Morris did end 13 scoreless minutes for Nick’s to bring them back to within three, Steven O’Shea – after a lovely move featuring Conchubhar Harrington and Ben O’Sullivan – and Philip O’Shea were on target to send Urhan in with a considerable cushion.

‘We were very happy at half-time,’ McCarthy said, ‘we thought we were deserving of a five-point lead.

‘The first 15 minutes of the second half, through indiscipline we kind of let ourselves go a bit and we left Nick’s back into the game. Our lads showed massive heart and determination to dig that win out. We spoke at half time about how we weren’t leaving Dunmanway without a win and, really, in the last five or six minutes, the big players all over the pitch stood up and were counted.’

However, the introductions of Fiachra O’Driscoll, Dean Brosnan and Nathan Goulding at half-time helped Nick’s to claw their way back. The latter two were among the scores before Donagh Coughlan rounded off a great move to tie the game.
When Urhan needed big players, they found them. Alan Elphick, set up by captain Philip O’Shea, landed his fourth point of the evening to put Urhan back in front.

Though Donagh Coughlan again tied the match for Nick’s, the outstanding Joseph O’Shea strode forward from centre-back to make it 0-10 to 0-9 for the men from the peninsula. While they rode their luck as Nick’s created, but failed to take, further equalising chances, Ciarán O’Sullivan set up sub Seán O’Sullivan to give Urhan a two-point cushion and Joseph O’Shea had them a goal in front as the game moved into injury time.

Three was the magic number as a draw would still have sufficed for them and, though Nick’s sub Danny Barry left two in it after a 45 broke, there was no chance for a game-winning goal for the northsiders.

Scorers

Urhan: Alan Elphick 0-4; P O’Shea 0-3; J O’Shea 0-2; S O’Shea, C Harrington (1f), S O’Sullivan 0-1 each.

St Nick’s: N Goulding (0-2f), D Brosnan, D Morris, D Coughlan 0-2 each; D Barry, S O’Callaghan (0-1f) 0-1 each.

Urhan: Ryan Crowley; Eamon O’Shea, Conor O’Sullivan, Darragh Harrington; Joseph O’Shea, Micheál Shea, Daniel Elpick; Alan Elphick, Alan O’Sullivan; Andrew O’Neill, Philip O’Shea, Steven O’Shea; Conchubhar Harrington, Ciarán O’Sullivan, Ben O’Sullivan.

Subs: Martin McCarthy for Eamon O’Shea (40), Dylan Crowley for O’Neill (45), Seán O’Sullivan for Ben O’Sullivan (54), Cian Crowley for Conchubhar Harrington (59).

St Nicholas: Eddie Fuller; Scott Cronin, Eoghan Varian; David Dunlea, Eoin Downey, Seán Horgan; Luke Forde, Ken McCarthy; Stephen O’Callaghan, Lee Quilligan, Liam Coughlan; Gavin Marshall, Danny Morris, Donagh Coughlan.

Subs: Fiachra O’Driscoll for Seán Horgan, Dean Brosnan for O’Callaghan, Nathan Goulding for Forde (all ht), Danny Barry for Marshall, Ryan Long for Quilligan (both 44).

Referee: Liam O’Shea (Rosscarbery).