BISHOPSTOWN 2-13
O’DONOVAN ROSSA 1-13
MATTHEW HURLEY REPORTS
ALL is not lost for O’Donovan Rossa despite their defeat to Bishopstown in this McCarthy Insurance Group Senior A clash in Ballinascarthy.
A win against Dohenys, now battling relegation, in their final Group 3 game on September 14th in Drimoleague could send the Skibbereen team into the quarter-finals, and their boss Gene Hourihane knows this.
‘We have to get going again. There’s nobody thinking we’re out. We have a good senior group there, they are leading the charge – a lot of older heads were speaking about it inside in the dressing room and rightly so,’ the Skibb manager told The Southern Star.
‘We’re proud of the two performances we have put in. We’re a small squad, but the players are working hard.’
Ultimately a second half where Rossas were outscored by 0-11 to 1-4 was decisive. Even before Dylan Hourihane’s late penalty, Skibb had failed to score for 22 minutes.
‘It was hard to take, to be honest. We felt we had the chances,’ Hourihane admitted.
‘Being realistic, the two goals in the first half came back to haunt us in the end – they would be goals we’d be very disappointed with.
‘Bishopstown are a fine football team but if you’re going to be giving them easy goals, you are opening the gate to a defeat.’
It was Skibb who opened the scoring through Elliot Connolly before Kieran McFadden levelled it for Bishopstown. Rossas were reeling on nine minutes when Simon Collins played in Odhran Foley who finished to the net, 1-1 to 0-1.
Kevin Davis gave Rossa the ideal response with a two-pointed free but the city side found a way to goal again on 14 minutes. Collins turned from provider to finisher when Bill Cahill squared it to his onrushing teammate.
O'Donovan Rossa's Kevin Davis turns away from Bishopstown's Darragh O'Connor and Kieran McFadden.
Skibb settled, outscoring Bishopstown by 0-6 to 0-1 from then to the break. Davis and Hegarty got the ball rolling, but their scores were followed by one from Town’s Foley. Two two-pointers courtesy of Davis and Brian Crowley left the West Cork side 0-9 to 2-2 up at the short whistle.
Rossas started the second half better as Davis and Kevin Hurley increased their lead. Bishopstown’s Cahill bagged their first two-pointer before David Shannon and Davis had Skibb 0-13 to 2-4 in front.
Then came the Bishopstown surge. Every turnover, every bit of momentum, it was switching to the city boys. That was in no small part down to their subs, Gary Holland in particular who was responsible for the next six points. Two one-pointers to settle the youngster were followed by two gorgeous two-pointers. Suddenly, Bishopstown were in the driving seat.
Hourihane did respond for the Skibb men with the late spot kick but another sub Brian Clifford and Cahill sealed the deal for Town, who are through to the knockout stage.
OUR STAR: It can’t be anyone else other than Gary Holland. The Bishopstown sub hit 0-6 in just 22 minutes.
Scorers
Bishopstown: Gary Holland 0-6 (2tp); Bill Cahill 0-4 (1tp); Odhran Foley 1-1; Simon Collins 1-0; Kieran McFadden, Brian Clifford 0-1 each.
O’Donovan Rossa: Kevin Davis 0-7 (2f, 2tpf); Dylan Hourihane Snr 1-0 (pen); Brian Crowley 0-2 (tp); David Shannon, Elliot Connolly, Thomas Hegarty, Kevin Hurley 0-1 each.
Bishopstown: Colm O’Driscoll; Michael Murphy, Eoin Byrne, Nathan Gough; Harry Wixted, Michael Power, Odhran Foley; Kevin Murphy, Jack Murphy; Conor Dunne, Patrick Casey, Darragh O’Connor; Bill Casey, Kieran McFadden, Simon Collins.
Subs: Gary Holland for J Murphy (1-7, temp); Liam Hogan for N Gough (ht); Gary Holland for P Casey, Brian Clifford for S Collins (both 38).
O’Donovan Rossa: Ryan Price; Dylan Hourihane Jnr, Frank Hurley, Padraig O’Neill; Darren Daly, Kevin Hurley, Ciaran Coombes; Luke Connolly, Luca Harte; Brian Crowley, Kevin Davis, Niall Daly; Thomas Hegarty, David Shannon, Elliot Connolly.
Subs: Dylan Hourihane Snr for L Connolly (ht); Oisín Lucey for L Harte, Isaac Harte for D Shannon (both 50).
Referee: Pat O’Leary (Banteer/Lyre).
