Mayfield 1-21

Barryroe 1-18

JJ HURLEY REPORTS

BARRYROE were made to pay for not taking their chances against Mayfield in their final Co-op Superstores Cork Premier Junior Hurling Championship group game in Belgooly on Saturday.

With less than ten minutes remaining, Barryroe, already qualified before this game, trailed their city opponents by 1-19 to 0-12 before they launched a late rally that left only three points between the sides.

The goal arrived in the dying moments, but Barryroe had created three glorious chances during the contest only to see the Mayfield netminder, Darren Wyse, save brilliantly.

Following the game, Barryroe boss Kevin McCarthy pulled no punches as he looked forward to a clash with Cloughduv in the quarter-finals on September 19th in Enniskeane.

If Barryroe had finished as one of the top two group winners, they would have gone straight to the semi-finals and avoided a quarter-final.

‘We were off it, we were sluggish for a lot of it, second to a lot of balls. To be fair to Mayfield, they are a good team,’ he said.

‘It seemed some people thought we were simply going to turn up and roll over them.’

Of course, going into the contest without forward Olan O’Donovan, who was injured in Ibane Gaels’ recent victory in the Carbery U21A hurling final, was a huge loss. This was made worse on Saturday when they lost Brian O’Donovan to an injury.

With the scoreboard at 0-5 to 0-1 in favour of the Seandún side, Barryroe narrowed the gap to two points on 12 minutes, including their first point from play as Jack Murphy found the target.

Only on the field a couple of minutes, Donal Ó Buachalla had a golden chance to rattle the opposition net, but Wyse saved.

A brace of points from Mayfield veteran Nicky Kelly had been answered by a huge point from Tomas Ó Buachalla out the field, as the City men led by three on 17 minutes.

Registering a total of three white flags to Mayfield’s one, as Adam McSweeney, James Maloney and Ryan O’Donovan all found the target, the sides were separated by a single point.

However, the city men began to pull clear as Kelly claimed a goal and a point to give his side a 1-9 to 0-7 advantage coming up to the break.  As the short whistle approached, Barryroe added three points to a single Mayfield point to leave the score at the break, 1-10 to 0-10.

Ten minutes into the second period, Barryroe looked in all sorts of trouble as the opposition had reached 1-15 with a solitary point from Micheál Whelton all the Carbery man had offered in response.

O’Donovan added another on 41 minutes, but was denied a goal minutes later as Wyse looked unbeatable.

As Mayfield, who were fighting a potential relegation battle, pushed and added four more to their tally to stretch their lead to 1-19 to 0-12, it seemed to spark Barryroe into life.

Led by the Ó Buachallas, Donal and Tomás, the Carbery side finally cranked up their engine, but it was too late to bridge the deficit. Donal’s goal came all too late to rescue the situation, with Mayfield holding on for a three-point victory.

Scorers 

Mayfield: N Kelly 1-8 (5f); D O’Neill 0-5; D Lucey 0-4; D Malone 0-2; E Scanlon, Michael J Coffey 0-1 each.

Barryroe: D Ó Buachalla 1-3; L Murphy 0-4 (3f); R O’Donovan 0-3 (1f); T Ó Buachalla 0-2; J Maloney, M Whelton (f), A McSweeney, J Murphy, D McCarthy, S Holland 0-1 each.

Mayfield: D Wyse; S Keegan, D O’Donovan; L Malone, K Punch, S O’Donovan, G Lehane; D O’Neill, E O’Sullivan; M Coffey, D Malone, E Scanlon; D Lucey, N Kelly, T Horgan.

Subs: F McSweeney for S Keegan (ht), C O’Donovan for T Horgan (49).

Barryroe: M Whelton; D Maloney, J O’Brien, D O’Sullivan; K Sheedy, C Dineen, J Maloney; A McSweeney, D McCarthy; B O’Donovan, T Ó Buachalla, J Murphy; L Murphy, S Holland, R O’Donovan.

Subs: D Ó Buachalla for B O’Donovan (10, inj), S O’Riordan for K Sheedy (ht), C O’Regan for S Holland (40).

Referee: Tom Manley (Inniscarra).