Ice-cool Millie Condon rescues draw for Carbery with last-gasp equaliser

Carbery 4-12 

Avondhu 2-18 

BALLINASCARTHY rising star Millie Condon hit a last-gasp point to earn Carbery a draw in their SE Systems senior championship Group 4 clash against Avondhu in Castle Road.

Carbery coach Tony Coppinger was delighted with the result.

‘It was in the dying seconds, really, and it could have went against us, but credit to Millie, she stepped up and scored the last couple of points,’ Coppinger said.

‘In fairness to Millie, she stepped up and put it over, which is a great sign of her.’

The West Cork side, coming off the back of an opening group loss to Seandún, played to the very end and got their just rewards.

‘The draw was deserved because they fought right to the end; that’s a great sign of a team,’ Coppinger said.

‘You’d be hopeful that the starting 15 would battle and battle. Even the subs that came on, they all put in a good performance on the day.’

It was level at 0-2 apiece after five minutes but Carbery opened up a six-point advantage with scores from Siofra Patwell, Moira Barrett and two from Caoimhe Murphy. Patwell then set up Kate Wall for the opening goal.

Avondhu responded with an Eimear Duignan point and with Cliona O'Callaghan grabbing a goal, the lead was down to two.

Rachel Harty then hit a point but we had to wait 14 minutes for the next score before Wall raised a second green flag. The Kilbrittain/Timoleague star didn’t play in the 4-21 to 1-6 loss to Seandún but her impact here was evident.

‘Once we hit the ball into Kate, she was able to do damage,’ Coppinger explained. ‘She got her bunch of goals there. That was a great boost to us because it kept us in the game.’

Amy O'Sullivan responded, firing a superb effort to the Carbery net to put a point between the sides. Patwell and Fiona Nelligan traded points before the break as Carbery had their noses just in front, 2-7 to 2-6.

On the resumption, it was nip and tuck all through. Wall struck for her hat-trick to put Carbery four points clear but five points without reply edged Avondhu back ahead.

Patwell levelled matters before substitute Aoife O'Flynn-Meade put Carbery back in front with another goal. Cliona O'Callaghan hit two scores either side of a Rachel Harty point and it was back to level pegging. The pendulum swung Carbery’s way with Millie Condon and Patwell pointing but they couldn’t find the extra gear to go further ahead as Avondhu again hit four without reply to go back in front.

With three minutes remaining Carbery had to dig deep, two points in a row from Patwell and Condon had them on level terms again.

O'Callaghan’s point might have been the winner but Condon had other ideas as she confidently fired over to give her side a deserved draw.

With Cork star Libby Coppinger expected back for the next match against Carrigdhoun on September 4th, things are on the up for the West Cork team. Their final group game is against Imokilly on September 18th.

Carbery camogie are sponsored by Clonakilty Black Pudding while Rowa/Rowex is their underage sponsor.

Scorers

Carbery: K Wall 3-1; S Patwell 0-4 (2f); A O'Flynn-Meade 1-0; C Murphy, M Condon 0-3 each; M Barrett 0-1.

Avondhu: C O'Callaghan 1-8; E Duignan 0-4; A O'Sullivan 1-0; R Harty, F Nelligan 0-2 each; L Stack, K Kilcommins (45) 0-1 each.

Carbery: C Ní Bhucalla (Barryroe); A Whelton (Clonakilty), L Collins (do), E Sexton (Kilbrittan/Timoleague); A Crowley (do), E O’Donovan (Kilbree), N McCarthy (do); M Dullea (Ballinascarthy), M Condon (do); C Crowley (do), C Murphy (Kilbree), M Barrett (Ballinascarthy); S Patwell (do), K Wall (Kilbrittan/Timoleague), M Murphy (St Colum’s).

Subs:  A O’Flynn-Meade (Clonakilty) for M Murphy (ht), L Dineen (Kilbrittain/Timoleague) for N McCarthy (36), A O’Mahony (Kilbrittain/Timoleague) for A Whelton (48).

Avondhu: B Ganley; R Killeen, C Carroll, T Coleman; R Brosnan, A O'Sullivan, A O'Keeffe; K Kilcommins, C Collins; E Duignan, R Harty, L Stack; C Harty, C O’Callaghan, F Nelligan.

Sub: C Clancy for C Harty (35).

Referee: C McAllister (Aghada).