Diarmuid Ó Mathúna 2-16

Ballinascarthy 1-14

TOM LYONS REPORTS

THE champions are gone, long live the champions.

Ballinascarthy, looking for back-to-back titles, bit the dust to a fired-up Mathúnas in this tough-as-teak RCM Tarmacadam junior A hurling semi-final in perfect conditions in Ballinacarriga on Sunday.

A blistering start by the Castletown men, with the breeze, saw them 2-4 to nil in front at the end of the opening quarter, as Bal misfired badly in front of goal, hitting six wides before registering the first score in the 16th minute.

The second quarter belonged to a rejuvenated Bal, outscoring Mathúnas by 1-5 to 0-4 and dominating the exchanges with some superb hurling. Was a six-point cushion enough for Mathúnas as they turned to face the strengthening breeze in the second half?

It was then we saw the real battling quality of this Mathúna side as they dug deep to confine Bal to three points in that vital third quarter, two from frees.

With only two points separating the sides early in the last quarter and momentum with the champions, it was looking ominous for Mathúnas, but that last quarter turned on two issues.

First, the breeze began to die but more importantly, when the going got tough, the tough got going and so it was with Mathúna ace forward Caolán O’Donovan.

Quiet in the first half as a roving full forward, Mathúnas playing with two up, hitting four points from frees, and scoreless in the third quarter, O’Donovan roared into the game in the last quarter in the middle third of the field.

Diarmuid Ó Mathúna's Conor O'Sullivan is tackled by Ballinascarthy's Timmy Cullinane and Andrew McCarthy. (Photo: Paddy Feen)

Winning breaks, tearing into rucks and breaking Bal’s grip in the middle, he was a colossus in action. More importantly, having missed a couple of long-distance frees against the breeze in the third quarter, he found his range to rifle over five superb points from frees, the decisive scores of the hour.

Not that this was a one-man show for the winners as they tore fearlessly into every tackle and every ruck and Bal just had no answer to their ferocious aggression in that final quarter.

‘It was an outstanding first quarter, we seemed to trouble them every time we got the ball into the forwards,’ said a delighted Mathúna manager Pat Lucey.

‘We drew a man further out and went with a two-man full-forward line. We seemed to score whenever we got the ball in. We knew Bal were going to come into it but we battled hard.

‘I wasn’t worried at half time as we were playing well enough and we finished savagely. When the pressure came on we brought a rake of balls out there at the end. When they were on top, the good thing was that when we broke forward, we won our frees and Caolán nailed them.

‘He was outstanding when we needed him in the last quarter, came out of rucks with the ball, players hopping off him.

‘It’s massive for us as we were written off after losing the first round to Bandon. Massive now to get back to the final.’

Diarmuid Ó Mathúna's Cathal Mangan defending against Ballinascarthy's Cian Ryan. (Photo: Paddy Feen)

The opening quarter belonged to Mathúnas on the scoreboard as they rattled over points from Caolán O’Donovan and flying corner forward Jamie Lucey, causing Bal all kinds of problems in the two-man full forward line, and veteran Ted Lordan.

More importantly, they struck for two goals, the first in the sixth minute when strong midfielder Kevin O’Donovan cut through the middle and passed to Conor O’Sullivan, who billowed the Bal net.

The second arrived in the 12th minute, direct from a long puck from outstanding goalkeeper Mícheál O’Driscoll which Lucey collected to finish to the net.

Ten points in arrears despite as much possession as Mathúnas, Bal were guilty of six wides before finally opening their account with a Timmy Cullinane point in the 16th minute.

That score steadied them and with Daniel and Ciarán Nyhan closing off the defence, they finally found their scoring sights. They had points from Brian O’Donovan, Jeremy Ryan and Connall Cullinane, with two from Mathúnas’ Ted Lordan and O’Donovan.

Bal were back in the game in the 26th minute when Connall Cullinane scored a great individual goal. Points from Caolán O’Donovan (free) and Gearóid O’Donovan sandwiched a Brian O’Donovan effort for Bal. It was Mathúna’s in front, 2-8 to 1-5 at the break.

Ballinascarthy's Donagh O'Driscoll cuts inside Diarmuid Ó Mathúna's Matt Daly. (Photo: Paddy Feen)

The third quarter produced only four points, three from Bal with the breeze and one from Mathúnas. Despite dominating possession, Bal were relying mostly on Jeremy Ryan for scores from frees against a tight Mathúna defence well marshalled by Seán Crowley, Cathal Mangan and Conor O’Sullivan.

The last quarter saw most of the drama, hard tackles and lots of rucking, with Mathúnas winning the battle of the breaking ball, inspired by Caolán O’Donovan.

It was also the battle of the free-takers, O’Donovan converting five for the winners and Ryan four for Bal.

Bal did cut the lead to two by the 50th minute but Mathúnas’ response was to up the intensity in the closing stages with Gearóid O’Donovan and sub Matthew Draper scoring from play. Timmy and Connall Cullinane did likewise for Bal but it was Mathúna’s who sealed the deal with two superb frees from O’Donovan.

On a score of 2-16 to 1-14, Mathúnas advanced to the final against near-neighbours, St Mary’s, a local derby to be relished, with the clubs playing together at underage under the banner of Ahán Gaels.

‘No excuses, beaten by a very good Mathúna side on the day,’ admitted Bal mentor Fergal Keohane.

‘We just didn’t play in the first quarter, conceded too much and missed too much. It was hard to get to the pace of the game as we didn’t have any real hard games in our group. Maybe it’s something the board should look into, reducing the number of junior A teams to eight, making all the games competitive.’

OUR STAR: Jeremy Ryan, Ballinascarthy, and Jamie Lucey, Mathúnas, impressed but the standout figure was again Caolán O’Donovan with his last-quarter heroics for the winners.

Scorers

Diarmuid Ó Mathúna: Caolán O’Donovan 0-9 (9f); Jamie Lucey 1-1; Conor O’Sullivan 1-0; Ted Lordan 0-3; Gearóid O’Donovan 0-2; Matthew Draper 0-1.

Ballinascarthy: Jeremy Ryan 0-7 (6f); Connall Cullinane 1-2; Brian O’Donovan, Timmy Cullinane 0-2 each; Cillian Cullinane 0-1.

Diarmuid Ó Mathúna: Mícheál O’Driscoll; Matt Daly, Seán Crowley, Eoghan Mangan; Jack O’Callaghan, Cathal Mangan, Jeremiah Hurley; Robbie Lucey, Kevin O’Donovan; Conor O’Sullivan, Gearóid O’Donovan, Michael O’Sullivan; Jamie Lucey, Caolán O’Donovan, Ted Lordan.

Subs: Patrick Crowley for J. Hurley (45), Matthew Draper for R. Lucey (55), James Fleming for T. Lordan (56).

Ballinascarthy: Darragh Hennessy; James O’Brien, Daniel Nyhan, Padraic Cullinane; Eoin O’Brien, Ciarán Nyhan, Jeremy Ryan; Luke Murray, Andrew McCarthy; Cian Ryan, Brian O’Donovan, Ciarán O’Neill; Timmy Cullinane, Donagh O’Driscoll, Connall Cullinane.

Subs: Cillian Cullinane for D O’Driscoll (ht), Eoin O’Driscoll for C Ryan (ht), Colm O’Brien for E O'Brien (50).

Referee: Jimmy O’Sullivan (St Colum’s).