Bandon 0-11

Kildorrery 1-8

JJ HURLEY REPORTS

MARK Sugrue kept Bandon’s championship hopes alive with a late two-point free to earn a draw against Kildorrery at Ballyanly on Sunday.

In a McCarthy Insurance Group Intermediate A Football Championship clash that was dominated by both sets of defenders, Bandon’s Peter Murphy emerged as the standout performer.

Ultimately, the contest ended in a fair result. It did come with some nail-biting drama as a late free from the Kildorrery goalkeeper Anthony Crowley looked to have stolen the show, but Sugrue kept his nerve to tie up the contest with the last kick of the game.

For Bandon manager, Robert O’Driscoll, it was an afternoon of what-ifs, having secured their first point of this championship.

‘Look, we turned over a lot of ball when it mattered, but we kicked a lot of wides coming down the home straight. However, there were a lot of positives out there – the lads will die with the jersey on their backs, and you’d have to praise them for that,’ O’Driscoll said.

It’s a result that leaves Bandon on one point at the bottom of Group 3, but a win against Boherbue in their final game will give them a chance of progressing to the knockout stage, even more so if Adrigole also beat Kildorrery.

Bandon began the brighter as Mark Sugrue opened their account following a Conor Calnan pass. A minute later, they had doubled their advantage through Calnan.

While the Carbery side were in the ascendancy, they couldn't take full advantage as they kicked a number of wides. Their opponents found the target for the first time on eight minutes from William Fouhy. Four minutes later, Cian Coughlan set up Kieran Hurley for a goal, before Peter O'Brien stretched the lead to 1-2 to 0-2.

The next score arrived on 23 minutes as Cian Coughlan sent over a sublime point, before Michael Cahalane scored a free for Bandon's first score in 21 minutes.

An injury to Brian Crowley delayed the game, and the resumption saw Bandon taking the contest to their opponents as frees from Cahalane and Mark Sugrue narrowed the margin. The latter should have goaled minutes later, but his effort went wide. Deep into injury time, a two-point effort from Jack Cullinane tied up the contest at 0-6 to 1-3.

The second half had the Kildorrery men hitting three unanswered points from Shane O’Neill (2) and William Fouhy, as Jack Cullinane saw his goal effort blocked.

With both sets of defences proving to be watertight, Bandon tied up the contest on 55 minutes at 0-9 to 1-6, thanks to a Jack Calnan score.

But the drama wasn’t quite finished, with a two-point free from either side late on to tie up the contest.

For O’Driscoll, it’s time to put today behind them and focus on the final outing of the group stage of the competition.

‘We have a point on the board, and we still have a chance of getting into a quarter-final if we beat Boherbue, so we will focus on that now for the next few weeks,’ O’Driscoll said.

Scorers 

Bandon: M Sugrue 0-5 (2f, 1 2ptf); J Cullinane 0-3 (2pt); M Cahalane (f), J Calnan, C Calnan 0-1 each.

Kildorrery: K Hurley 1-0; S O’Neill, W Fouhy, A Crowley (2ptf) 0-2 each; P O’Brien, C Coughlan 0-1 each.

Bandon: Ciarán McCarthy; Ciarán Twomey, Brian Crowley, Eolann Mac Suibhne; Cathal Lynch, Tim Twohig, Peter Murphy; Robert Long, Denis O'Mahony; Brendan Twohig, Jack Cullinane, Charlie Long; Michael Cahalane, Mark Sugrue, Conor Calnan.

Subs: Michael O’Donovan for E Mac Suibhne (ht), Jack Calnan and Peter Callanan for R Long and B Twohig (48).

Kildorrery: Anthony Crowley; Cathal O'Sullivan, Conor Kent, Jerry McCarthy; William Fouhy, Luke Keating, Shane O'Neill; Shane Fitzgerald, Dylan Kent; John Hunter, Peter O'Brien, Kieran Hurley; Tadgh Murphy, Pierce Pigott, Cian Coughlan.

Subs: David Hunter for J McCarthy, Finbarr Stapleton for W Fouhy (46, Inj), David Kelly for J Hunter (58).

Referee: Peter Finnegan (Douglas).