BRENDAN KENNEALLY rounds up the latest action in the Mid Cork junior hurling championship

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Inniscarra 2-15

Uibh Laoire 1-12

Inniscarra, having suffered a narrow defeat to Grenagh in round one, got their first win in the MJK Oils Mid Cork Junior Hurling Championship at a sunny Kilmichael on Friday evening. 

Uibh Laoire matched their opponents in every facet of the game in the first half except one – the ability to create goal-scoring opportunities.

Two first-half goals had Inniscarra ahead by 2-7 to 1-8 at the break and they consolidated their position in the third quarter. They built on their half-time advantage but they could never relax as Uibh Laoire battled well all the way.

Uibh Laoire sharpshooter Jamie Maguire opened the scoring with a third minute point. James O’Donovan added another a minute later. Mark Linehan pointed for ‘Scarra but Maguire from a free made it 0-3 to 0-1 in favour of the western side after eight minutes.  

Colin O’Leary had a point in response. In the tenth minute, Inniscarra full forward Jerry Roche got clear and tapped the ball to the net from close range to give his side a lead they scarcely deserved. 

Shane and Niall Buckley added a point apiece, 1-4 to 0-3. There was still a four-point gap after an exchange of scores, Seán O’Riordan for Uibh Laoire, Colin O’Leary for the winners.

Uibh Laoire continued to hurl well and were rewarded with three points in a row, all from Jamie Maguire frees, before Jerry Roche took a fine score for ‘Scarra, 1-6 to 0-7 in the 27th minute.  

The half ended with a flurry of scores. Niall Buckley’s point for Inniscarra was matched by Sam Pickering. Another ‘tap home’ goal for Inniscarra from Cathal Lyons was quickly followed by an Uibh Laoire goal from Liam Kearney. At the break it was 2-7 to 1-8 in favour of Inniscarra with Uibh Laoire very much in contention but possibly slightly unnerved by the concession of the goals.

On the resumption Inniscarra got on top and three points in a row gave them a five-point lead by the 38th minute. They were hurling with renewed confidence. A Maguire point from another free cut the deficit but back came Inniscarra with points from Mark Nagle and James O’Mahony to lead by 2-12 to 1-9 with ten minutes remaining.  

The winners were in control now and a Liam Kearney point for Uibh Laoire was answered by three in a row for Inniscarra, but Uibh Laoire were still battling on and finished with fine scores from Josh Pickering and Brian O’Riordan.

Scorers - Inniscarra: N Buckley 0-5 (3f); J Roche 1-1; C Lyons 1-0; C O’Leary, J O’Mahony 0-2 each; M Linehan, M Nagle, J Shine, S Buckley, M O’Connell 0-1 each.  Uibh Laoire: J Maguire 0-6 (5f); L Kearney 1-1; J O’Donovan, S O’Riordan, S Pickering, J Pickering, B O’Riordan 0-1 each.

Inniscarra: Eoin O’Neill; Seán Ahern, Jack O’Sullivan, Conor O’Sullivan; Jack Harrington, Mark Linehan, Alan Heelan; Shane Buckley, Adam Doyle; Niall Buckley, Shane O’Mahony, Colin O’Leary; Cathal Lyons, Jerry Roche, Michael O’Connell.  Subs: Mark Nagle, Senan Brislane, Jack Shine, James O’Mahony.

Uibh Laoire: David Dineen; David Murphy, Daniel O’Donovan, Barry Murphy; Josh Pickering, Kevin Manning, Brian O’Riordan; James O’Donovan, Seán O’Riordan; Tim Sweeney, Liam Kearney, Shane Hodman; Jack McSweeney, Sam Pickering, Jamie Maguire. Subs: Adrian O’Dea, Darragh Hodman.

Referee: Peter Cotter (Gleann na Laoi).

***

Grenagh   2-16     

Aghabullogue 2-6

Grenagh top Group 1 along with Ballinora after recording their second win. Aghabullogue are at the other end of the group having suffered a second defeat at Donoughmore.  

This Grenagh victory was clear-cut. After two early Aghabullogue points from David Thompson and Seán O’Sullivan, Grenagh struck for an eighth-minute goal from Seamus Cronin and rattled off a string of points before Aghabullogue scored a third point in the 31st minute. 

Just before half time, Seamus Cronin had a second goal for Grenagh and they led by 2-6 to 0-3. 

Aghabullogue scored a goal from Seán O’Sullivan in the 37th minute after a penalty had been saved but Grenagh continued to shoot points. The second Aghabullogue goal from David Thompson came in the 61st minute to improve the final scoreline.

Scorers - Grenagh: Seamus Cronin 2-3; Dan Twomey 0-8; Sean Bourke, Cathal Cronin, Sean Joyce, Brian Walsh, Shane Morley 0-1 each.  Aghabullogue: David Thompson 1-2; Sean O’Sullivan 1-2; Joe Cooney, John Buckley 0-1 each.

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Ballinora 2-17

Kilmichael 3-13

Champions Ballinora started well with three points in a row but after 15 minutes Kilmichael were back in touch in this Group 1 tie, 0-6 to 0-5 to the champions.  

From there to half time, Ballinora dominated and piled on the scores to lead 2-11 to 0-6 at half time, the goals coming from Shane Kingston and Alan O’Shea. Andrew Kelleher, who finished with 2-10, had 0-5 of the Kilmichael tally from frees.

Kilmichael started the second half well with four of the first six points. When Andrew Kelleher scored a goal from a 20-metre free in the 41st minute, the half time gap between the teams was halved.  

Two further goals for Kilmichael, in the 52nd and 59th minutes, from Andrew Kelleher and Cian McCarthy respectively had the Ballinora lead reduced to a single point.

Kilmichael had one last chance to level from a very long range free which just trailed wide and allowed Ballinora to remain unbeaten but shaken. Shane Kingston was outstanding for the winners. 

***

Éire Óg 0-21    

Ballincollig 1-15

Éire Óg got the better of their neighbours at sunny Coachford on Saturday and brought themselves back into contention for a qualifying spot in Group 2.

The first half was evenly contested and the sides were level at the end of the first quarter and again at half time, 0-11 each. 

After this trend continued early in the second half, Éire Óg then began to get on top and hit over seven points to one in reply to lead by 0-20 to 0-14 with six minutes remaining. 

After an exchange of points, Tadhg Murphy then had a goal from a long-range free to give Ballincollig a lifeline but they could not get an equalising goal.

Two major factors stood out in this win for Éire Óg. At half time, they introduced Darragh Clifford and Dan Healy, both unavailable earlier this summer. Between them they added five points to the winner’s tally and their general contribution to the second-half performance was excellent.  

The second major standout reason why Ballincollig lost was their own inability to convert golden goal chances into scores. Three times in the final quarter they had the Éire Óg goal at their mercy but failed from very close range each time to get the sliotar across the line and inevitably paid the penalty.

***

Dripsey  2-19

Blarney  3-15

This Group 2 game at Ballinora was decided by an added-time goal from a free for Dripsey which Ronan Canavan belted to the Blarney net and thus maintain the 100 percent record for his side.

Blarney had got off to a great start with 2-2 on the board after four minutes, goals from Darragh Rowley and Luke Kendellan.  

Dripsey settled and after 15 minutes it was 2-5 to 0-6 and Dripsey continued to contest strongly and aided by a 25th minute goal from Charlie O’Callaghan they were only a goal adrift at half time, 2-8 to 1-8.  

Blarney regrouped for the second half and stretched their lead with a 32nd-minute goal from full forward Kevin Cremen.  

Blarney led by 3-12 to 1-14 at the three-quarter stage, Ronan Canavan having cut two sideline balls over the bar for Dripsey. Going into added time, Dripsey were still two points adrift when they were awarded a 20-metre free that Canavan lashed to the net for victory.