BEARA UNITED 0

BUNRATTY UNITED 6

GER McCARTHY REPORTS

BUNRATTY United have bounced straight back up to the West Cork League Premier Division.

With champion Ardfield already promoted from the Championship, Beara United and Bunratty had finished level on points (48) in joint second place, so a play-off was needed to separate them.

One-nil up at the break in Drinagh on Sunday, Bunratty discovered their scoring touch in the second period. The Schull club netted five more goals to emphatically seal promotion.

One season after suffering relegation, Bunratty are determined to make their mark when they return to the top tier.

‘We are looking forward to playing Premier Division football once again even though it’s going to be very hard,’ Bunratty United coach Calvin McSweeney said.

‘I suppose, for the last few years, Bunratty has been a bit of a yo-yo team, going up to the Premier and back down to the Championship. Next season will be all about trying to consolidate and stay in the division, if we can.

‘As a club, it is important to be playing in the top tier of West Cork League soccer. So, we are delighted as promotion was something we set out to achieve at the start of the season.’

Amid torrential rain, it was Bunratty who enjoyed the brighter start.

Dominating territory and possession, the Schull club pinned back their opponents for much of the opening quarter. Conor Brosnan and Ryan O’Neill both went close in a period Sam Logan and Milan Vearncombe instigated numerous attacks.

Beara United's Rory O'Neill closes in on Bunratty United's Jayden Spiegel. (Photo: Paddy Feen)

Beara slowly began to make inroads at the opposite end. Richard Murphy arrowed a 20-yard attempt wide of the target.

A dominant Bunratty kept pressing however, and Isaac Solomon’s low drive made it 1-0 after 12 minutes.

Cormac Whelan had to produce two consecutive saves to prevent Beara from falling further behind shortly after.

Beara remained a threat on the counter-attack, and Rory O’Neill and Richard Murphy brought the best out of Bunratty goalkeeper Shane Bowen following swift breakaways.

Bunratty looked the more likely to score next and only the width of an upright prevented Ryan O’Neill from making it 2-0.

Bunratty United's Conor Brosnan is challenged by Beara United's Richard Murphy. (Photo: Paddy Feen)

Beara shook off that near miss and finished the opening half on the attack. Rory O’Neill and Jakob Hesse forced saves before Liam Steele’s first-time shot cleared the crossbar by inches. It was 1-0 at the break.

Pressing higher up the pitch in the second half, Bunratty retook control. The pressure finally told when Beara’s defence was breached for a second time after 57 minutes. Sam Logan found Ryan O’Neill, who sprung Beara’s offside trap and held off a defender before slotting under an outrushing Whelan.

Bunratty put the result beyond doubt with two goals in two minutes. First, Conor Brosnan’s long-range effort found the net before Milan Vearncombe tapped in a rebound from a Cormac Whelan parry to make it 4-0.

In the 70th minute, Ryan O’Neill headed home a Conor Brosnan cross to take Bunratty’s total to five.

The Castletownbere-based club looked to net a late consolation but Liam Steele and Reuben McAtasney failed to find the net.

Instead, a sixth Bunratty goal arrived when Sam Logan’s left-footed rocket found the top corner four minutes from the end. It was a fitting conclusion to a dominant Bunratty second-half performance that secured promotion back to the WCL’s top tier.

Beara United: Cormac Whelan, Cornelius Sullivan, Oisin Hurley, Kieran Darb O’Sullivan, David McCarthy, Reuben Mc Atasney, Liam Steele, Richard Murphy (captain), Jakob Hesse, Rory O’Neill, Aleksandr Spundov.

Sub: Roberto Torres Garcia.

Bunratty United: Shane Bowen, Jayden Spiegel, Stephen O’Driscoll, Fintan O’Brien, Conor Brosnan (captain), Sam Logan, Ryan O’Neill, Milan Vearncombe, Eoin O’Brien, Micheal Ward, Isaac Solomon.

Subs: Micah Simpson, Aleksandrs Sahovs.

Referee: Colin Clancy.