Impressive St Mary’s building momentum in Carbery JAFC

St Mary’s 2-15

Newcestown 0-10

DONAL O’SULLIVAN REPORTS

A JASON Collins goal 60 seconds after the restart finished this recent Bandon Co-op JAFC Round 3 tie as a contest in what was a comfortable victory for St Mary’s in Castletownkenneigh.

Collins’ goal stretched his side’s lead to nine points, 2-9 to 0-6, and from there to the full-time whistle, they never looked like being reeled in by a Newcestown outfit that battled bravely but lacked sufficient fire power to trouble the winners.

Following the goal, points from a Brian McCarthy free and a superb solo effort by midfielder Cillian McGillycuddy stretched Mary’s lead to 11.

A strong run and finish by Newcestown midfielder Mark Kelly, quickly followed by a point by sub Gavin Kelleher, reduced the deficit to nine with 20 minutes remaining. Another McCarthy free was cancelled out by an Eddie Kenneally free before another sweet McCarthy point from distance kept the scoreboard ticking over for the winners.

Two additional points from sub Aaron O'Driscoll sandwiched a Cian Healy effort for Newcestown to complete the scoring to allow the Ballineen/Enniskeane outfit run out comfortable winners, 2-15 to 0-10.

St Mary’s were fast out of the blocks and three points inside the opening four minutes helped them settle. A fisted Cathal Wilson effort for Newcestown provided brief respite before two more points for St Mary’s were quickly followed by their first goal in the 12th minute. A turnover by full back Peter Daly found its way to Steve Keohane. His run and flicked pass was quickly added to by Aaron O’Driscoll, giving full forward Michael O’Driscoll the easiest of tasks to palm to the net to leave it 1-5 to 0-1.

The water break interrupted the winner’s flow and they had three poor wides before McGillycuddy settled things down with his first point. Newcestown responded with a fisted Darragh Curran effort and an Eddie Kenneally free. From there to the short whistle, the sides shared six points to leave the scoreline 1-9 to 0-6 at half time.

Any hopes of a Newcestown revival was killed off by that Collins goal early in the second half. It enabled St Mary’s see out the remainder of the game where they outscored their opponents by six points to four to progress to the next stage of the competition.

Scorers –  St Mary’s: Brian McCarthy 0-5 (3f); Michael O’Driscoll 1-1; Jason Collins 1-0; Ryan Scannell, Rory O’Connor, Cillian McGillycuddy, Aaron O’Driscoll 0-2 each; Darren O’Donovan 0-1. Newcestown: Eddie Kenneally 0-5 (3f); Cathal Wilson, Darragh Curran, Mark Kelly, Gavin Kelleher, Cian Healy 0-1 each.

St Mary’s: Brian Corcoran; Jack Hurley, Peter Daly, David Curtain; Ryan Scannell, Billy O’Brien, Dylan Scannell; Rory O’Connor, Cillian McGillycuddy; Jason Collins, Brian McCarthy, Stephen Keohane; Niall Kelleher, Michael O’Driscoll, Darren O’Donovan.Subs: Brian Everard for B O’Brien (ht), Aaron O’Driscoll for J Collins (inj, 35), Mark O’Driscoll for N Kelleher (53), Rory Baggot for D Curtain (53).

Newcestown: Chris White; Mark Shorten, Mark Courtney, Gerard Murphy; Cathal Wilson, Trevor Horgan, Niall Murray; Mark Kelly, Podge Collins; Darragh Curran, Daniel Twomey, Olan Walsh; Rick Bradfield, Eddie Kenneally, Cian Healy.

Subs: Gavin Kelleher for M Shorten (ht), Murt Kennelly for T Horgan (39), Peter Curran for P Collins, Shane Scanlon for O Walsh, Darragh McSweeney for D Twomey (all 52).

Referee: Connie Murphy (Kilmeen).