Canovee 0-10

Cobh 0-9

NOEL HORGAN REPORTS

NOT a contest that will linger too long in the memory in terms of quality, but that won’t bother Canovee.

The Muskerry side lifted the county premier junior football championship title on Sunday at Páirc Uí Chaoimh where they were full value for a win over Cobh in the final.

While the teams were separated by the minimum of margins at the finish, Canovee’s victory would have been much more decisive had they not wasted so many opportunities over the hour.

The windy conditions could be put forward as a mitigating reason for their erratic shooting, but they failed to make the most of three goal chances as well in the second half.

The result was that, instead of being home and hosed long before the finish, they were forced to endure a share of anxiety as a gutsy Cobh outfit made a gallant bid to get back on terms in the closing stages.

‘I suppose when you win any game by just a point, it makes the victory a bit sweeter, but it was very tight there near the end. It was a great relief to get over the line,’ Canovee selector Brian Barrett said.

‘You couldn’t fault our fellas for workrate, they were prepared to die on the field for us, and I’d regard that as the most satisfying aspect of the performance.

‘We’ve a lot of good young players coming through, so it’s very important to move up a grade. We can drive on to the Munster club championship with the shackles off now,’ Barrett concluded.

Playing into a strong wind, Canovee were slow to settle, but Cobh failed to transfer their early dominance to the scoreboard.

The Imokilly side clocked up four wides before wing-back Timmy Wilk got them off the mark in the 11th minute, negating a pointed free by Canovee’s Jack Kelleher.

Kelleher, looking very lively at centre-forward, tacked on a point from play before combining with wing-back Eoghan Lehane in a move that saw Daire McMahon make it 0-3 to 0-1 midway through the first half.

Midfielder Conor O’Neill quickly stretched Canovee’s lead to three points. They had every reason to feel satisfied with the way things were shaping up at that juncture, especially since Cobh were favoured by the elements.

If Cobh had been profligate with their chances early on, Canovee were even more wasteful as the first half progressed. That they totalled up nine wides, two more than the losers, before the interval tells its own story.

Aided by a two-pointer from Timmy Wilk entering the second quarter, and another from Eoin Cullimore in stoppage time, Cobh finished the first half 0-6 to 0-5 to the good.

After Evan Cummins drew first blood for Cobh on the resumption, Canovee took a firm grip on the proceedings.

Aidan Murphy made his presence felt at midfield, while Eoghan Lehane, Liam Kelleher and Odhran O’Driscoll were particularly prominent in a defence that resisted stoutly as a unit.

But Canovee had five wides during the third quarter, as Evan Dodd, Eoghan Lehane and Daire McMahon went agonisingly close to finding the net.

For all that, a string of unanswered points shared by Daire McMahon, Jason Riordan, Evan Dodd, from a 45, corner-back Patrick Crowley and Odhran O’Driscoll enabled Canovee to go 0-10 to 0-7 up before Cobh lifted the siege inside the last ten minutes.

With their lead reduced to two points, Canovee had reason to be grateful to Aidan Murphy for breaking up a promising Cobh raid before corner-back Adam McCarthy completed the losers’ tally in a nail-biting finale.

That Canovee were worthy winners on the overall run of the play is beyond dispute, and they will now begin their quest for a Munster junior title, which the club previously collected in 2007. They went on to garner All-Ireland glory early in 2008.

OUR STAR: Daire McMahon was a constant threat up front for Canovee.

Scorers 

Canovee: D McMahon 0-2; J Kelleher 0-2 (1f); C O’Neill, E Lehane, J Riordan, E Dodd (45), P Buckley, O O’Driscoll 0-1 each.

Cobh: T Wilk 0-3 (2pt); E Cullimore 0-3 (2pt, 1f); A Doran, E Cummins, A McCarthy 0-1 each.

Canovee: F Condon; P Buckley, L Kelleher, W Aherne; O O’Driscoll, R Delaney, E Lehane; A Murphy, C O’Neill; C Dodd, J Kelleher, J Moynihan; J Riordan, D McMahon, E Dodd.

Subs: S O’Connor for O’Neill (34), G Coleman for Riordan (46), M Healy for C Dodd (52), E McNabola for Murphy (59), E Cunningham for Moynihan (59).

Cobh: E Walsh; A McCarthy; B Geary, J McCarthy; S Cummins G Keating, T Wilk; E Cullimore, C McLoughlin; A HastingS, M O’Rourke, E Hastings; A Doran, E Cummins, A Lynch.

Subs: D Kearney for Lynch (35), J Ronan for E Hastings (46), C Morrissey for A Hastings, (59), C Farrell for Cullimore (61).

Referee: N Hayes (Carbery Rangers).