CLONAKILTY CC 0-5

HS CLONMEL 1-6

CLONAKILTY Community College manager Micheál ‘Haulie’ O’Sullivan feels they left themselves down in their Corn Uí Mhuirí quarter-final defeat to High School Clonmel.

Trailing 1-4 to 0-1 at half time, the Clon school gave themselves too much to do in the second period at Páirc Uí Rinn.

It was a disappointing end to what was a progressive season after they won their first Simcox Cup title in December, but this latest game is full of regrets.

‘Look, it was very disappointing from our side of it. Everybody feels that we left ourselves down. We were very flat on the day and when you start flat, from my experience, it’s very difficult to get it back. It’s very difficult to up your game again,’ O’Sullivan told The Southern Star.

‘We started slow but we just didn’t bring the level of aggression or the level of attention to the gameplan we wanted to play.

‘Defensively, we only conceded 1-6 but we weren’t aggressive enough in defence to recover the ball in the first half. We gave them early chances and they got the goal that separated the teams in the end.’

Clon’s county win and three victories in the group stage in Munster – especially the win against St Brendan’s College, Killarney – had raised hopes ahead of this last-eight tie. But there was no fairy-tale ending here.

‘The quarter-final loss dampened the season but winning the Simcox Cup was huge for us because we never won it before. Getting out of the group and winning three games probably put a tag on us as such. We drew a lot of attention doing that,’ O’Sullivan explained.

‘We knew going into the game that High School Clonmel were a serious outfit and they proved to be a serious outfit. We knew if we didn’t match their battling capabilities we’d be in trouble. We just didn’t match them.’

It was Clonmel that took the initiative right from the throw-in. Aaron McAndrew rattled the Clonakilty net inside just 90 seconds as good build-up play resulted in him burying it into the bottom corner. Points from Luke Foley and Mikey McGuire increased Clonmel’s lead to five.

Clon only took five shot attempts in the opening half. Three of those were from Tom Whooley and his score was the West Cork side’s only one in the opening half. Scores by McAndrew and McGuire pushed the Tipp school into a six-point lead at the break.

Jack Byerley came on in the second half to add spark to the West Cork school’s attack and got a score, along with Oisín Harrington to make it 1-5 to 0-3 after 44 minutes.

Clonakilty wing-back Jerry O’Leary had a big opportunity for a goal with five minutes left but his shot was brilliantly tipped over the bar by James O’Brien in the Clonmel goal. Conor Freaney put the seal on Clonmel’s passage to the last four with a late score.

Clonakilty did push St Brendan’s close in the Frewen Cup (Munster U17) this season too, only losing the final by a point (3-7 to 0-15). It highlights there is potential for Clon to kick on for the next school year.

‘A lot of them were on the panel this year learning the ropes and learning the level. That’s very important. There is a lot of quality coming through but to win anything or get to the latter stages of the competition, you need to have everything going for you and be at the level every day you go out. If you don’t, you are going to suffer,’ O’Sullivan added.

‘This season was positive but school football is different to club football. Your team changes every year. You lose your Leaving Certs every year. It depends what kind of attitude we will have and the level of player quality we have to replace what’s gone next year. It’s a completely new kettle of fish but we’ll be approaching it very positively.’

Scorers

Clonakilty CC: Oisín Harrington 0-2; Tom Whooley, Jack Byerley, Jerry O’Leary 0-1 each.

HS Clonmel: Aaron McAndrew 1-1; Mikey McGuire 0-2; Luke Foley (f), Dylan McCormack (f), Conor Freaney 0-1 each.

Clonakilty CC: Rory Twohig (Kilmeen); Oisín Harrington (do), Olan Murphy (do), Tim Bailey (do); Howard O’Donovan (do), Dylan Harrington (Clonakilty), Jerry O’Leary (Ballinascarthy); Mike Collins (Ibane Gaels), Éanna Deiseach (Clonakilty); David Harte (do), Seán Whelton (St James), Jason Murray (Kilmeen); Tom Whooley (Clonakilty), James Maguire (Castlehaven), Eric Hicks (Carbery Rangers)

Subs: Jack Byerley (Clonakilty) for E Hicks, Callum Collins (Ibane Gaels) for D Harrington (both ht); Conrad Murphy (Ibane Gaels) for D Harte (35); Riley O’Donovan (Ibane Gaels) for É Deiseach (54); Andrew McCarthy (Ballinascarthy) for J O’Leary (59).

HS Clonmel: James O’Brien; John Lyons, Rian Galko, Harry Lawlor; Luke Hannigan, Andrew Ryan, Paddy Spelman; Mikey McGuire, Luke Foley; Aaron McAndrew, Killian Smith, Briain Morrisson; Conor Freaney, Finn Napier, Dylan McCormack.

Subs: Jamal Yousif for D McCormack (45); Conall Morrisson for F Napier (59).

Referee: Canice Walsh (Nemo Rangers).