BRENDAN KENNEALLY brings us up to date on the Mid Cork junior hurling championship

Grenagh 2-21   

Donoughmore 0-22 (aet)

GRENAGH qualified for the MJK Oils Mid Cork Junior Hurling Championship final for the first time since 2022 after a hard-fought extra-time victory over Donoughmore in the semi-final at Blarney.

Grenagh quickly established a lead, scoring two similar goals within the opening 18 minutes, both expertly finished by Robert Coleman. Following the second goal, Grenagh added two points from Dan Twomey in reply to a single David O’Connell point for Donoughmore. In the closing minutes of the half, Donoughmore narrowed the gap with points from O’Connell and Shane O’Neill, but Dan Twomey responded with a free, bringing his personal tally to 0-4 and leaving Grenagh ahead at the break, 2-5 to 0-9.

Four points were shared evenly on the resumption before Grenagh opened up a two-point gap, only to be reined in by Donoughmore with scores from Adam Dinan and Seán O’Hanlon. The score stood at 2-9 to 0-13 at the three-quarter mark. Grenagh pulled clear again through corner-forwards Twomey and Coleman, but Donoughmore then hit a purple patch, surging into the lead, 0-19 to 2-11, by the 56th minute. Two careless frees conceded by Donoughmore allowed Dan Twomey to level the scores. In the 64th minute, Donoughmore looked to have snatched it with a Jack McCarthy point, but a levelling point from an Adam Dinan free two minutes later sent the game to extra time, 2-14 to 0-20.

The first half of extra time yielded only three scores: Seán Joyce and Dan Twomey for Grenagh, and Dinan for Donoughmore. Dinan levelled again one minute into the second period of extra time. That, however, was to be Donoughmore’s final score.

The gritty Grenagh side, leveraging their greater experience, fired over five points without reply – three from Twomey, and one each from Michael White and Seán Joyce – to earn their passage to the final. This sets up a clash with Ballinora, who recently defeated Grenagh 2-17 to 0-11 in the group stage in late September.

Scorers

Grenagh: D Twomey 0-14 (10f, 1 65); R Coleman 2-1; S Joyce 0-3; S Morley, D Warren, M White 0-1 each.

Donoughmore: A Dinan 0-9 (3f); K O’Connell 0-3; S Healy (2f), D O’Connell, J Crowley 0-2 each; S O’Hanlon, S Barrett, M Lucey, D McDonald 0-1 each.

Grenagh: James Walsh; Kevin O’Neill, Paul Barry-Murphy, Alex Kiely; Jason O’Keeffe, Kelvin Cummins, John Lehane; Danny Warren, Ted Twomey; Darragh Kenny, Sean Joyce, David Coleman; Robert Coleman, Shane Morley, Dan Twomey.

Subs: Ray McNamara (41), Paul Ahern (45), Jack Twomey (54), Dara O’Shea (62), Niall Coleman (62), Michael White (65), Brian Walsh (70).

Donoughmore: Shane Sexton; Stephen Golden, Mark Foley, Frankie Honohan; Shane Healy, Josh Crowley, Sean O’Hanlon; Kevin O’Connell, Rory Honohan; Colm O’Callaghan, Scott Barrett, David O’Connell; Daniel Holland, Mark Lucey, Adam Dinan.

Subs: Jack McCarthy (ht), David McDonald (ht), Liam O’Sullivan (41), Jack Murphy (64), Gavin O’Sullivan (65), Sean Broderick (67).

Referee: Niall Hayes (Blarney)

***

Ballinora 1-25     

Inniscarra 2-8

Ballinora are on course to make it five Mid Cork titles in a row when they meet Grenagh in what will be a repeat of the 2022 final pairing, a game that brought Ballinora their second crown.

Their meeting with Inniscarra at Cloughduv was predicted to be a good test, but the reigning champions were by far the better side.

Ballinora played with the wind in the opening half and made it tell with two early points from Darragh Holmes, but were slightly rocked when a Jerry Roche point for ‘Scarra in the sixth minute was followed by a goal from Jack Shine.

Shane Kingston, operating at centre back for the champions, had a point to quell any anxieties. Ben Mayer, a constant danger in the attack, added another to level the scores, as Ballinora began to control matters up to the interval.

With Neil Lordan, Shane Kingston and Tim Forde very determined in defence and Liam Lyons and Danny Dineen on form at midfield, the Ballinora attack got a regular supply of quality ball and used it to effect.

Points from Alan O’Shea and Sean Lyons had Ballinora in front at the end of the first quarter. They opened up a five-point gap by the 20th minute and another four points followed from Darragh Holmes, Seán Lyons and Danny Dineen to make it 0-13 to 1-1 by the 25th minute.

Inniscarra had their first score in almost 20 minutes when Jerry Roche sent over, and Ardal O’Connell then pointed a 65, but Ballinora were in command and led by 0-15 to 1-3 at the break.

Ballinora opened the second-half scoring with another two points to remain in control. When Shane and Michael Murphy answered with a brace for ‘Scarra, back came the winners in the 39th minute with a goal from Danny Dineen, set up by Darragh Corkery. Ballinora now led by 12 points and were never going to lose that lead.

Inniscarra battled on but Ballinora, who had an uncertain group stage, are now in a much more focussed mindset and never let their control slip. A second goal for Inniscarra from substitute Conor Geoghegan provoked a four-point reply before a late exchange of points brought proceedings to a predictable close.

Scorers

Ballinora: B Mayer 0-9 (6f, 1 65); D Dineen 1-4; D Holmes 0-4; A O’Shea, S Lyons, L Lyons 0-2 each; S Kingston, C Quirke 0-1 each.

Inniscarra: J Shine, C Geoghegan 1-1 each; J Roche, M Murphy (1f) 0-2 each; A O’Connell (65), S Buckley 0-1 each.

Ballinora: Barry Crowley; Tim Forde, Neil Lordan, James Byrne; Mark O’Brien, Shane Kingston, Colin O’Flynn; Liam Lyons, Danny Dineen; Seán Lyons, Darragh Corkery, Darragh Holmes; Alan O’Shea, James Keohane, Ben Mayer.

Subs: Ivan Quirke for J Keohane (inj, 12), Conor Quirke for D Corkery (40), Robert Quirke for A O’Shea and Michael Quirke for C O’Flynn (both 47), James Lordan for M O’Brien (50).

Inniscarra: Kieran Rice; Seán Ahern, Colm Herlihy, Trevor O’Reilly; Mark Linehan, Shane Buckley, Jack O’Dwyer; Michael O’Connell, Seán Quinlivan; Jack O’Mahony, Jerry Roche, David Enright; Jack Shine, Michael Murphy, Ardal O’Connell.

Subs: Liam Buckley for M O’Connell (ht), Conor O’Sullivan for T O’Reilly (38), Conor Geoghegan for S Quinlivan (46), Conrad Desmond for M Murphy (50), Donal Dineen (58).

Referee: Robert Whelan (Gleann na Laoi).