Red-hot Darren O’Donovan hits 1-4 to fire Goleen into last four of county junior B

Goleen 1-9

Dungourney 1-5

BRENDAN KENNEALLY REPORTS

GOLEEN needed two very late goals to narrowly take the West Cork title one week earlier but at Kilmurry on Saturday, in the quarter-final of the county junior B football championship, they showed that they had learned their lesson.

The Carbery champs forced the pace from the start and never let up in their intensity. They led by three points at half time and when they struck for a decisive goal from Darren O’Donovan in the 44th minute to open up a five-point gap one felt that they were on the road to victory.

Goleen had the perfect start, despite facing a strong, cold wind. Darren O’Donovan set up Michael O’Reilly for a point in the first minute and 60 seconds later O’Reilly from a free doubled the Goleen advantage. In the fifth minute Darren O’Donovan added another point. The Goleen attack was clearly in form, in marked contrast to the East Cork side that tended to overplay the ball in attack, were hesitant to shoot and inaccurate when they did.

Points from Goleen corner back Eden Healy and Darren O’Donovan saw Goleen race 0-5 to 0-0 clear as the second quarter commenced. The lead stretched to six in the 20th minute when Darren O’Donovan was at the end of a Pa Sheehan-Pádraig Reidy move.

Midfielder Mike McGrath got Dungourney on the scoreboard, at last, with a point in the 24th minute but this was cancelled out by a Michael O’Reilly point from a Goleen free. Dungourney were unlucky when Kelvin Cody-Byrne saw his palmed connection with a Jack Leahy pass hit the crossbar and rebound to safety, but in added-time they got the break they needed when Niall Motherway goaled from five metres out to leave the score at half time 0-7 to 1-1 in favour of Goleen.

On the restart, it was the men from the West who scored first, Darren O’Donovan once again the lethal finisher with a smart point after a pass from O’Reilly. When Bryan Forbes and James McCarthy both scored for Dungourney, only two points separated the teams, 0-8 to 1-3, after 43 minutes.

One minute later came the decisive score when the irrepressible Darren O’Donovan took a pass from Cormac Griffin, turned and blasted to the Dungourney net from close range to open up a five-point gap.

Goleen needed this score. With confidence restored they never looked likely to lose subsequently. Michael O’Reilly pointed a free in the 50th minute to increase their lead to six points and even though Dungourney did add two further points to their tally, the men from the Mizen were never going to let victory slip from their tight grasp. They now move on to face Garnish in the county semi-final at Bantry this weekend.

Scorers

Goleen: Darren O’Donovan 1-4; Michael O’Reilly 0-4 (3f); Eden Healy 0-1.

Dungourney: Niall Motherway 1-0; B Forbes, S Hegarty, J Leahy, Js McCarthy and M McGrath 0-1 each.

Goleen: Ronan Kennedy; Eden Healy, Paul Collins, Michael Sheehan; Pádraig Reidy, Jack O’Driscoll, Pa Sheehan; Mathew Sheehan, Tadhg Cullinane; Tadhg Reidy, Daniel O’Driscoll, Jake Coughlan; Adam Sheehan, Darren O’Donovan, Michael O’Reilly.

Subs: Mike O’Driscoll for A Sheehan (inj, 28), Paudie O’Regan for T Reidy (ht), David O’Leary for D O’Driscoll (59).

Dungourney: Kieran Geaney; Shane Rohan, Mike Leahy, Warren McCarthy; Conor Padden, Niall Motherway, Dylan Healy; Bryan Forbes, Mike McGrath; Kelvin Cody Byrne, James McCarthy, Seán Geaney; John Ahern, Jack Leahy, Niall McGrath.

Subs: Cormac Griffin, Shane Hegarty.

Referee: Luke Knight (Kilmurry).