Adrigole 0-12

Boherbue 0-11

MATTHEW HURLEY REPORTS

JOY and a sense of relief were the emotions from the Adrigole bench following a tense McCarthy Insurance Group Intermediate A FC clash against Boherbue in Dunmanway.

This one-point win means the Beara club top Group 3 and are guaranteed qualification for the knock-out stages, but they were lucky to come away with the victory considering they had no shot between the 37th and 52nd minute as their north Cork opponents piled on the pressure.

Once Adrigole regained a foothold in the final stages, Cian O’Shea stood tall with four points on the bounce, including the winner in the 63rd minute.

‘It meant an awful lot to us,’ a delighted Adrigole boss Tim O’Sullivan said.

‘We have a bit of history with Boherbue. They knocked us out of the championship in the semi-final a couple of years ago. As well as that, there is the importance of this win. We’re through to the knockout stage of the championship, which is important. After two rounds, it’s a fantastic position to be in.

‘We would have thought that we got a tough enough draw. Beating Bandon in the first round, with them down from premier intermediate, and Boherbue in the second round, who were in the county final two years ago. To be in this position is massive for us.’

O’Sullivan’s troops charged out of the blocks faster. The sides traded two-pointers with Adrigole’s Charlie O’Sullivan and John Corkery of Boherbue on target.

Adrigole recorded the next six points unanswered though, as Tom O’Connor, Cian O’Shea, Ben O’Sullivan and another two-point kick from Charlie O’Sullivan left it at 0-8 to 0-2 on 21 minutes.

Boherbue rallied towards the end of the opening period. Liam Moynihan fisted over their first score from play before David O’Connor left the score 0-8 to 0-4 at the short whistle.

Adrigole manager Tim O'Sullivan.

‘We were happy at half-time. Now, we did feel that we left a few scores after us in the first half, and we knew, the way Boherbue are, they’re a team that are going to have a purple patch,’ the Adrigole manager explained.

‘They were going to come at us. The first ten minutes in the second half were hairy. They brought it back to a draw. But I thought our lads showed fierce maturity in the last ten or 15 minutes, just to get those couple of scores.

‘Some great performances there – Seán O’Shea, Liam Harrington, Ger O’Shea, Cathal O’Sullivan, and Cian O’Shea.’

The momentum had shifted towards Boherbue early in the second half as David O’Connor reeled off the next three points before Gerry O’Sullivan made it all square on 40 minutes.

Two minutes later, O’Connor fell over in the parallelogram after Adrigole goalkeeper William O’Sullivan looked to have fouled the Boherbue forward. But no penalty given. An Adrigole sigh of relief.

The West Cork club finally registered their first second-half score through Cian O’Shea on 53 minutes and he was the key difference-maker despite the best efforts of Corkery and O’Connor down the other end.

‘Cian has been flying all year, and he always comes up with the goods,’ Tim O’Sullivan added.

‘We needed those scores towards the end of the game. He's a great man to kick points, gets into great positions. It's great that he’s flying at the moment.’

OUR STAR: Adrigole would not have won this match without the influence of Cian O’Shea, who scored 0-5 with all his shots converted. An outstanding display.

Scorers

Adrigole: Cian O’Shea 0-5 (1f); Charlie O’Sullivan 0-4 (2 2pt); Tom O’Connor 0-2; Ben O’Sullivan 0-1.

Boherbue: David O’Connor 0-5 (4f); John Corkery 0-4 (2 2ptf); Liam Moynihan, Gerry O’Sullivan 0-1 each.

Adrigole: William O’Sullivan; Daniel Harrington, Fergal Carey, Liam Harrington; Mark Downing, Seán O’Shea, Cathal O’Sullivan; Neil O’Sullivan, Tiernan Sullivan; Denis Collins, Tom O’Connor, Charlie O’Sullivan; Cian O’Shea, Gerard O’Shea, Ben O’Sullivan.

Subs: Diarmuid O’Sullivan for T Sullivan (44); Darragh O’Sullivan for D Collins (51); Connie O’Shea for Charlie O’Sullivan (56).

Boherbue: Daniel Murphy; Eoghan Moynihan, Daniel Buckley, Anthony O’Connor; Denis O’Sullivan, Kevin Cremin, CJ O’Sullivan; Liam Moynihan, Pa Daly; Darragh Moynihan, Gerry O’Sullivan, Cathal Ducey; Alan O’Connor, John Corkery, David O’Connor.

Subs: Jack Daly for Anthony O’Connor (ht); Dan Sheehan for D O’Sullivan (53); Diarmuid Murphy for CJ O’Sullivan (60).

Referee: Niall Hayes (Carbery Rangers).