Sullane and Skibb finish seasons on a high

SULLANE U13 and Skibbereen U15 won SuperValu West Cork Schoolboys and Schoolgirls League Shield trophies last weekend.

Canon Crowley Park was the venue for Beara United and Sullane’s U13 Schoolboys Shield decider on Saturday. The latter had overcome Togher Celtic (4-0) and Dunmanway Town (3-0) en route to the final. Beara received a bye in the opening round before knocking Castlelack United out 3-1 at the penultimate stage.

A cracking opening half saw Sean O’Neill’s strike hand the Castletownbere club a narrow 1-0 interval advantage. Yet, redoubling their efforts, Sullane proved too strong in the second period. Rory O’Sullivan netted twice and Cole O’Tuama also got his name on the scoresheet as Sullane turned a one-goal deficit into a 3-1 victory. Best for the winners included Rory O’Sullivan, Sean O’Tuama, Donnchadh O’Duinnin and Cole O’Tuama.

Beara United: F O’Neill, C Harrington, R Martin-Sullivan, S Powers, R Lowney, S O’Neill, K Lynch, H Darbys, J Driscoll, J O’Neill, F Gilsenan, C Lowney.

Sullane: D O’Duinnin, A Horgan Lynch, S O’Tuama, D Lynch, D Twomey, B De Roiste, E O’Cronin, C Dineen, B O’Riordan, S Carey, L O’Mahony, C O’Tuama.

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Castlelack and Skibbereen faced off in the SuperValu U15 Schoolboys Shield final in Lyre on Saturday. Both teams hit the net four times in their respective semi-finals with Castlelack outlasting Bunratty United 4-2 and Skibbereen edging Beara United 4-3.

An entertaining final was anticipated, and both teams delivered with defences on top throughout. It was fitting that one goal decided such a tight encounter and arrived after only four minutes had elapsed. Joe McCarthy fired into the back of Castlelack’s net and Skibbereen’s ability to keep a clean sheet saw the Baltimore Road club claim the U15 Schoolboys Shield on a 1-0 final score.

Despite the defeat, Castlelack contributed much with Jack McCarthy, Jack Chambers, Joe Hayes and Daniel Kiely excelling. For the winners, Joe McCarthy, Neil McCarthy, Danny O’Sullivan and Aaron O’Driscoll were the pick of the Baltimore Road club’s best contributors.

Castlelack: R Curtin, O O’Sullivan, J Chambers, J McCarthy, D Kiely, M Manning, P Clancy, S Allen, A Sheehan, J Hayes, R O’Leary, N O’Shea, E Sullivan, D Allen, E Sexton, T Kingston, H Chambers, L O’Donovan, G Collins.

Skibbereen: O O’Donovan, D O’Sullivan, J Byrne, E Daly, N Rowe, R Hourihane, J McCarthy, J Dolan, C O’Brien, J Collins, R Collins, O Herlihy, E Hickey, E Kreicbergs, A O’Driscoll, JJ O’Brien, M Hurley, N McCarthy.

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Cork Schoolboys League side Douglas Hall ended Castlelack Celtic’s interest in this season’s SFAI Subway National U14 Schoolboys Trophy competition on Sunday. The Brinny team was the last remaining WCSSL representative in the SFAI’s 2023/24 competitions. Celtic exited the U14 National Cup at the hands of Passage AFC (3-2) before being automatically entered in the SFAI U14 Trophy where an 8-0 win over Leeside set up last weekend’s third-round clash away to Douglas. The latter proved too strong on this occasion however, winning 4-0 despite Gearoid O’Keefe, Donal McSweeney and Daniel Kiely’s best efforts.

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This weekend’s busy SFAI National Inter-League competition fixture-list sees a host of West Cork Academy teams scheduled for on-field action.

The West Cork Academy U12 Schoolboys complete their SFAI Group H fixture-list with a difficult home assignment against Cork United. Despite two excellent displays against North Tipperary and Limerick County Whites, West Cork will be eager to pick up their first points from a very tough group. An unbeaten Cork United are looking to finish the group phase with a perfect record. Conversely, their opponents will turn to a talented squad containing Isaac Power, Dylan O’Brien, Danny Forristal and Oliver Kiely in the hopes of causing an upset.

Group F of this season’s SFAI National U13 Schoolboys Inter-League continues with the West Cork Academy scheduled to host Limerick District this weekend. Jack Allen, Max Bramoulle, Hugh McCarthy, Eoin Foley, Vittor Coutinho and Brehon O’Mahoney have been amongst West Cork U13’s standout players so far this term. Defeats to Limerick Desmond and Kerry occurred despite spirited West Cork U13 efforts and hopes are high that the rural region can get off the mark at the expense of a Limerick District team that has accrued four points from their opening two group games.

The West Cork Academy’s U15s play their third SFAI National Schoolboys Group D fixture away to North Tipperary this weekend. A tight group has four teams – Cork, Kerry, Limerick County and West Cork – all on three points heading into a pivotal set of fixtures. North Tipperary lost their opening fixture 5-2 away to Limerick County and will be anxious to bounce back at the expense of the West Cork Academy.

Don Hurley and JJ Hurley’s U15 side put in a terrific performance in losing 1-0 away to Kerry last time out. That followed a merited 1-0 win over Limerick County courtesy of Matthew Buttimer’s solitary strike. The home side will hope Buttimer, Alex Bramoulle, Christos Delis, Art O’Leary and Luke Holland can deliver a second victory in three Group D outings.

Meanwhile, Sligo-Leitrim will host the West Cork Academy U14s in the next phase of the SFAI National U14 Schoolboys competition.