Clonakilty 0-19

Éire Óg 0-17

TOM LYONS REPORTS

CLONAKILTY won the battle but lost the war when they beat Éire Óg in the last round of Division 1 of the county football league in Ovens.

Clon’s win put them top of the table with Knocknagree and Castlehaven but they lost out on a final spot on scoring difference – by a single point to Castlehaven – with Knocknagree well ahead in first place.

The Ovens side had to get a result from to avoid relegation but finished level with St Finbarr’s and went down because of losing to the Barrs’ men in an earlier round.

Cill na Martra leap-frogged Éire Og in the table by beating the Barr’s on Sunday. Douglas, beaten by the Haven, also go down.

Strange to say, the three teams that finished level at the top are all in the same group in the championship, with Clon due to meet Knocknagree in the opening round. It’s truly the group of death.

‘Five weeks now to the big day and Knocknagree are going to be a tough opener,’ said Clon selector Eoin Ryan.

‘We were missing our Cork players today, Maurice Shanley and Conor Daly, as well as Dara Ó Sé, Mark White and Brian White. Liam O’Donovan is back from his travels but hurt his ankle while away, so there’s a few to come into it.

‘Last year, back in Division 1, we put a priority on reaching the league final, made a big thing of it, but then we couldn’t lift ourselves for the championship. We had a good league this year and now we can concentrate on Knocknagree and the first round.’

Playing with the breeze and the slope, Eire Óg were slow to get going in the first quarter and it was Clon who looked the livelier side, sharing six points. Ross Mannix, Seán White and Dylan Harrington found the target for Clon with Seán Hurley, Jerome Kelleher and Brian Thompson responding for the home side.

Wing back Thompson kicked three points in the second quarter, as Éire Óg got on top. Scores from Brian Hurley and goalkeeper Chris Kelly (two-point free) brought their total to nine by half time. Clon were limited to three from Dan Darragh, Chris Kenneally and Ross Mannix, but were guilty of some poor shooting, missing three clear goal chances. It was 0-9 to 0-6 at the break.

Clon, with the slope, adopted a more direct approach early in the second half. It brought rewards with six unanswered points in a row to lead by three. Dylan Harrington, Seán McEvoy, Darragh Gough (free) and Ben Ridgeway kicked points and Gough converted a two-point free. Ridgeway, Mannix, Gough, Niall Barrett, Jack O’Mahony, Thomas Clancy and Chris Kenneally were all to the fore at that stage for the winners, who lost Seán White to injury in the 35th minute.

Again, two clear-cut chances of goals were missed which would have put them in a very strong position.

Éire Óg did manage points from Mark Griffin and Seán Hurley in response but back came Clon with points from Mannix and McEvoy to lead by three, 0-14 to 0-11, at the end of the third quarter.

When Gough converted another two-point free to begin the last quarter, Clon were five to the good. However, realising their Division 1 status was slipping through their fingers, Éire Óg began to show more urgency. Points from Seán Hurley and Brian Hurley closed the gap to two before Ross Mannix and full back Michael Coakley swapped points.

It was all square in the 56th minute when Chris Kelly converted his second two-point free. It was Clon who wrestled back the initiative in the closing minutes, and points from Gough (free) and corner back Niall Barrett gave them the win by two points.

OUR STAR: Ross Mannix’s work rate in the Clon attack and four points from play were vital.

Scorers

Clonakilty: Darragh Gough 0-6 (2 2pf, 2f); Ross Mannix 0-4; Seán McEvoy, Dylan Harrington 0-2 each; Niall Barrett, Chris Kenneally, Ben Ridgeway, Dan Darragh, Seán White 0-1 each.

Éire Óg: Brian Thompson, Chris Kelly (2 2pf) 0-4 each; Seán Hurley, Brian Hurley (2f) 0-3 each; Michael Corkery, Mark Griffin, Jerome Kelleher 0-1 each.

Clonakilty: Jonathan Leahy; David Lowney, Dan Peet, Niall Barrett; Jack O’Mahony, Thomas Clancy, Chris Kenneally; Ben Ridgeway, Dan Darragh; Des Kenneally, Seán White, Dylan Harrington; Ross Mannix, Darragh Gough, Seán McEvoy.

Sub: Cian Ryan for S White (35).

Éire Óg: Chris Kelly; Cillian Murphy, Michael Corkery, John Mullins; Diarmuid Dineen, Mark Griffin, Brian Thompson; Mark Kelleher, Conor McGoldrick; Donncha Kelly, Oisín O’Shea, Jerome Kelleher; Seán Hurley, Brian Hurley, Cathal Kirwin.

Subs: Jack Murphy for M Kelleher (ht), Ronan O’Toole for C Kirwin (44), Colm Quigley for B Hurley (55).

Referee: John Ryan (Macroom).