Clonakilty CC 1-16

St Flannan’s College 2-11

CLONAKILTY Community College opened their TUS Corn Uí Mhuirí season with a win, but manager Micheál O’Sullivan is looking for improvement.

The West Cork school led 1-16 to 0-10 in the closing stages against St Flannan’s College, Ennis in Banteer, despite losing Mike Collins to a black card on 43 minutes.

Clon were 0-15 to 0-10 ahead before a point from Howard O’Donovan and a goal from Cork minor star Tom Whooley put them in control.

But two late goals from Graham Ball and Colm Daly, along with a 45 from Cian McAllister, made things interesting.

Clon hung on to pick up an opening-day win, and will face St Brendan’s College Killarney next.

‘It was pleasing to get over the line, but probably not the way we’d have liked. We were well in control and left them back into it. They got soft goals towards the end – that made it a nervous final few minutes,’ O’Sullivan told The Southern Star.

‘The first win is absolutely key in any group stage. If we had got turned over, we’d be going against Killarney fighting for our lives. It’s always a big learning experience to play them, but you’re definitely in a happier place when you’ve two points on the board.

‘We started well but lost control on kick-outs for a while. Going in only 0-8 to 0-7 up, when we should have been more ahead. We got a black card midway through the second half, which we dealt with reasonably well. We only conceded 0-2 during that time, and pushed on then again,’ O’Sullivan added.

The West Cork school led 0-4 to nil in the early stages as Maguire and Riley O’Donovan pointed before a two-pointer from Fionn O’Donovan had them in a good position.

Three unanswered Flannan’s points reduced the margin, 0-4 to 0-3, after 15 minutes.

Whooley and Maguire kept Clon ahead before the latter and O’Donovan had O’Sullivan’s team 0-8 to 0-7 in front at the break.

A great start to the second period saw Joe Twomey score a two-pointer for Clon before Twohig and Eric Hicks' points meant Clon had a 0-13 to 0-7 advantage.

Twohig stepped up for a two-pointer to push Clon further ahead before the Collins black card.

O’Sullivan’s side coped with the setback well though but the late Flannan’s fightback means Clon have work to do before they play Kerry schools Brendan’s and Presentation Secondary School Milltown.

‘You obviously want to try and better what you did last year. We were very disappointed with what happened against High School Clonmel. We didn’t perform at all on the day. We’d like to improve on that if we possibly could,’ the Clon boss added.

Scorers 

Clonakilty CC: Tom Whooley 1-2; Rory Twohig (1 2pt f, 1f), James Maguire 0-3 each; Joe Twomey (2pt), Fionn O’Donovan (2pt), Riley O’Donovan 0-2 each; Howard O’Donovan, Eric Hicks 0-1 each.

St Flannan’s: C Daly 1-1; G Ball 1-0; L Keane (1f), C McAllister (1f, 1 45), D Mahon, E O’Connor (2pt), J Moloney 0-2 each.

Clonakilty CC: R Twohig (Kilmeen); P Haughney (St James), H O’Donovan (Kilmeen), E Minihan (Clonakilty); Conrad Murphy (Ibane Gaels), A McCarthy (Ballinascarthy), F O’Donovan (Clonakilty); M Collins (Ibane Gaels), É Déiseach (Clonakilty): J Byerley (Clonakilty), R O’Donovan (Ibane Gaels), J Twomey (Ballinascarthy); T Whooley (Clonakilty), J Maguire (Castlehaven), E Hicks (Carbery Rangers).

Subs: T O’Brien (Kilmeen) for E Hicks (45); F McCarthy (Ballinascarthy) for P Haughney (54); E Whelton (St James) for J Twomey, C Dooley (St James) for A McCarthy (both 59).

St Flannan’s College: C McAllister; D O’Donovan, M Kennedy, S Meere; D Fahy, J Moloney, C Price; C Daly, L Keane; T Hehir, G Ball, TJ Moore; S Kelly, D Mahon, E O’Connor.

Sub: S O’Neill for S Kelly (40).

Referee: J Kelleher (St John’s).