Donoughmore 2-14
Grenagh 0-6
BY BRENDAN KENNEALLY
DONOUGHMORE inflicted a heavy defeat on Grenagh in the first semi-final of the Ross Oil Mid Cork Junior Football Championship at Ballyanley.
The teams had played a draw earlier in the season in the league, unbeaten Grenagh had topped their group subsequently in the championship and qualified directly for the semi-final stage. But Donoughmore had to play a quarter-final to qualify having suffered a loss to Ballincollig.
Here, Donoughmore were on top from early on and never lost control and were clearly the better team.
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Points from Scott Barrett, Declan Keating and Daniel Holland had the winners 0-3 in front after ten minutes. It was not until early in the second quarter that Grenagh had an opening score, an Ultan Duggan free. Scott Barrett quickly matched this.
In the 20th minute Donoughmore wing back Kevin O’Connell progressed up the left wing, parted to full forward David McDonnell who sent a high ball across the goalmouth where Barrett was on hand to palm to the net. When Adam Dinan added a point, the winners already led 1-5 to 0-1. Grenagh did outscore the winners in the ten minutes before half time, but trailed at the break by 1-6 to 0-4.
Donoughmore stayed in control in the second half, and when Scott Barrett tapped home his second goal in the 48th minute, the winners led 2-10 to 0-5. Game over.
Scorers - Donoughmore: S Barrett 2-4 (1f); D Keating 0-3 (2f); D Holland, D McDonnell, G O’Sullivan (1f) 0-2 each; A Dinan, K O’Connell 0-1 each. Grenagh: U Duggan 0-4 (4f); T Twomey, L Walsh 0-1 each.
Donoughmore: Kevin O’Riordan; Frankie Honohan, Mark Foley, Seán Broderick; Rory Honohan, Josh Crowley, Kevin O’Connell; Seán O’Hanlon, Mark Lucey; Adam Dinan, Gavin O’Sullivan, Daniel Holland; Declan Keating, David McDonnell, Scott Barrett. Subs: Paul Crowley, Donnacha Morrissey, Jack Murphy, Daniel Honohan.
Grenagh: Michael White; Tyrone Dorgan Desmond, Kevin O’Neill, Paul Ahern; Niall Coleman, Ted Twomey, Danny Warren; John Lehane, Dan Twomey; Sean Joyce, Robert Coleman, Ultan Duggan; Jack Twomey, Liam Walsh, Darragh Kenny. Subs: Shane Morley, Paul Barry-Murphy, Alex Kiely, Dara O’Shea.
Referee: John Ryan (Macroom).
***
Aghinagh 2-8
Éire Óg 0-13
Aghinagh joined Donoughmore in the Mid Cork final after earning their passage with a narrow win over Éire Óg at Coachford.
Aghinagh started well. After Liam Twohig (Aghinagh) and Seán Hurley (Éire Óg) traded points, Aghinagh struck for a fourth-minute goal – Con Buckley scoring. It was a perfect start for Aghinagh. But points from David Kirwan, Michael Murphy and a Seán Murphy free brought Éire Óg level by the 17th minute. Murphy’s punched effort over the bar had the Ovens men in front a minute later.
After Liam Twohig had a second point for Aghinagh, Éire Óg fired over three points without reply to lead by 0-8 to 1-2 at the break
Liam Twohig and Seán Murphy swapped frees early in the second half, as Éire Óg led 0-9 to 1-3. It all changed in the 46th minute – after Twohig scored a point, from the kick out Aghinagh were back in attack, Con Buckley parted to William Coakley who goaled to put Aghinagh in front, 2-4 to 0-9.
Con Buckley kicked a two-pointer on 52 minutes to increase the lead to three points. Éire Óg held their heads and Seán Murphy scored two points in a row to reduce the deficit to the minimum on 57. Aghinagh responded with a point from Tadhg Sheehan.
Another Aghinagh substitute Seán Cummins took a fine score after cutting in from the right corner – this proved to be the winning margin. Experienced Éire Óg substitute Kevin Hallissey kicked a marvellous two-pointer to reduce the gap to a single point on. But time ran out on Éire Óg and Aghinagh progressed to the final with plenty of room for improvement.
Scorers - Aghinagh: C Buckley 1-2 (2pt); L Twohig 0-4 (1f); W Coakley 1-0; T Sheehan, S Cummins 0-1 each. Éire Óg: S Hurley 0-4 (2f); S Murphy 0-4 (3f); M Murphy, K Hallissey (2pt) 0-2 each; D Kirwan 0-1.
Aghinagh: Jason McCarthy; John Lynch, Donagh O’Riordan, Olan Cummins; Declan Ambrose, Luke O’Leary, TJ Buckley; Mathew McCarthy, Thomas Morgans; Jack Kearney, Con Buckley, Shane Corkery; William Coakley, Liam Twohig, Gearóid O’Sullivan. Subs: Seán O’Riordan, Tom Buckley, Tadhg Sheehan, James Ambrose, Seán Cummins.
Éire Óg: Eoin Kelleher; Cillian Murphy, John Kelleher, Kevin Cooper; Dan O’Connor, Dermot O’Herlihy, Adam McCarthy; Oisín O’Shea, Mark Kelleher; Denny Murphy, Brian Thompson, David Kirwan; Seán Murphy, Michael Murphy, Seán Hurley. Subs: Kevin Hallissey, Kevin Beechinor, Eoin O’Shea, David Casey, Colm Quigley.
Referee: Peter O’Leary (Cloughduv).
