CASTLEHAVEN and Carbery Rangers both missed out on the semi-finals in the Cork Credit Unions Division 1 Football League.
Despite beating Mallow by 3-9 to 0-15 in their final Group A game, Castlehaven finished third in the table, with the top two – St Finbarr’s and Éire Óg – advancing to the semi-finals where they meet the top two from Group B, Nemo Rangers and Cill na Martra.
Cathal Maguire, Conor Nolan and Robbie Minihane scored Castlehaven’s goals in their sixth win in nine games. It’s worth noting that this was a young Haven team with just five of the starters from last season's Cork PSFC semi-final against St Finbarr's. Even though the West Cork team finished level on points with Éire Óg, the Mid Cork side advanced on the head-to-head record.
Also in Group A, table-toppers and reigning champions St Finbarr’s beat Béal Átha’n Ghaorthaidh by 0-15 to 0-13, with Cillian Myers Murray scoring 0-6. This loss saw the Ballingeary man finish sixth in the table and as a result will line up in Division 2 in 2023.
The final placings in this year’s league dictates the line-up in next season’s revamped county leagues that will have five divisions of ten teams and one division of 12 teams. The top five teams in both Group A and Group B of this season’s Division 1 will be in the ten-team Division 1 next year. In Group A this season, St Finbarr’s, Éire Óg, Castlehaven, Ballincollig and Kiskeam took the top five spots, while in Group B it was Nemo Rangers, Cill na Martra, Valley Rovers, Carbery Rangers and Douglas.
Carbery Rangers just missed out on a Division 1 semi-final spot as they finished fourth in Group B, but they know if they had beaten Clonakilty then the Rosscarbery team would have finished second.
Instead, Clon got a badly-needed win (0-11 to 1-5) to haul themselves off the bottom of Group B. Conor Daly (0-3) and Gearóid Barry (0-2) were amongst the Clon scorers, while Peadar O’Rourke (1-1), Darragh Hayes (0-2), Jack O’Regan (0-1) and JP Eady (0-1) were on target for Rangers.
As a result of Clon’s victory, it’s Ilen Rovers, who lost eight of the nine league games including 2-11 to 1-8 against Douglas, that finished in bottom place. They will now line up in Division 3 next season. Clonakilty, like O’Donovan Rossa who finished seventh, will both be in Division 2. Jamie Davis scored two goals for Rossas as they defeated Clyda Rovers 2-11 to 1-8.
The Division 1 semi-final line-up will see St Finbarr’s play Cill na Martra in Togher this Sunday, July 10th (3pm), while Nemo Rangers will host Éire Óg in Trabeg on the same day, also at 3pm.
There was good news for Dohenys who, after beating Bantry Blues by 1-14 to 3-4, topped Division 2 Group A and now have home advantage for their semi-final against Kanturk this July 10th, at 3pm. The other semi-final will see Aghada play Rockchapel.