Four teams left in the hunt for C crown

Last four: The Gabriel Rangers team that defeated Goleen in a semi-final of the South West U21 C football championship on Saturday in Bantry.

THE semi-finals of the South West U21 C football championship will be held this weekend.

On Saturday, in Bantry at 5pm, Gabriel Rangers will go into battle against Muintir Bhaire for a place in the final, while on Sunday, at 11.30am in Clonakilty, it’s going to be a battle of the saints when St James and St Mary’s collide.

Last weekend, Muintir Bhaire saw off the challenge of Randal Óg, 4-12 to 2-7, but the winners had to come from behind as it was Randals that led at half time, 1-5 to 1-3, with Kevin O’Donovan scoring Randal’s goal. A strong third quarter by Muintir saw them

advance to the last four.

Next up for Muintir are Gabriel Rangers, who were too strong for Goleen when the clubs clashed in Bantry on Saturday evening. Gabriels were always the dominant team here and won 2-14 to 0-5.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, St James got the better of St Colum’s, but they were made work all the way for this 3-8 to 1-9 win, especially as Colum’s raced out of the blocks with an early goal and a point.

St James came back and a Peter Walsh goal had levelled the contest by the end of the first quarter before three points from Sean O’Reilly, a point from Shaun Goggin and Walsh’s second goal of the quarter-final saw St James lead 2-5 to 1-4 at the break.

In the second half, Walsh completed a fantastic hat-trick of goals, while he also chipped in with a point for the winners, as did Euan Courtney, Sean O’Reilly and Aaron Hayes.

St James, as they had started the game, finished strongly, and it took two great saves from goalkeeper Ciarán O’Donovan to keep them at bay.

St James: Ciarán O’Donovan, Brian Lombard, Peter Whelton, Joseph O’Sullivan, Aaron Hayes (0-1), Niall Evans, Sean Scully, Dylan O’Sullivan, Sean O’Reilly (0-4), Sean O’Connor, Shaun Goggin (0-1), Peter Walsh (3-1), Jack Butler, Euan Courtney (0-1), Brandon Creagh.

Meanwhile, St Mary’s await St James in the semi-final after their 2-13 to 0-8 win against Glengarriff in Aughaville on Sunday. The winners led by five points at the break, 0-8 to 0-3, thanks to points from Niall Kelleher (0-4), Fineen O’Driscoll (0-3) and Ciarán Crowley (0-1), while Rory O’Connor was dominating midfield.

A Jack Hurley penalty early in the second half left St Mary’s in complete control before Fineen O’Driscoll added his side’s second goal in the 40th minute. Hurley (2), Kelleher (2) and Brian Everard all added points as Mary’s ran up un impressive winning margin.

St Mary’s: Kevin Murphy, Dylan Scannell, Sean Jackson, Ciarán Everard, Billy O’Brien, Brian Everard (0-1), Rory O’Connor, Niall Kelleher (0-6), Stephen Whyte, Fineen O’Driscoll (1-3), Jack Hurley (1-2), Ciarán Crowley 0-1.

Subs used: Brendan Whyte, Ciarán McCarthy.