Match preview
Sport 51
Evening Echo, Tuesday, July 14, 2015
O’Neill’s have too much firepower MINOR FOOTBALL
■ Rory Noonan Fr O’Neill’s St Nicholas
4-10 0-4
FR O’NEILL’S proved too strong for St Nicholas in their Carrigaline Court Hotel Premier 2 MFC clash at Delanys last night. A goal before half time put them 3-4 to 0-4 up and from h e r e t h e y n e ve r l o o k e d back. Nick’s finishing letting them down at times, as playing with the slight wind in the first-half they hit eight in total, a lot of which were r e l a t i ve l y e a s y s c o r i n g chances. Cian Murphy, James Morrissey, Ryan Duggan and Dave Dunlea were the pick of their side. Fr O’Neill’s recovered from their first round loss to Ahan Gaels, with Billy Dunne, Cal Hegarty, Cillian Broderick and Colm Swayne in top form. Swayne, in particular, deserves special mention. He scored 2-1 and played despite having 15 stitches removed from his ear in the last few days — a souvenir of a hurling challenge game against their own intermediate side. It took Dunne just 20 seconds to open the scoring and he added a second, before Duggan pointed for Nicks. Dave Braham and Dara Nicel put Nick’s in front, but with 17 minutes gone Swayne got O’Neill’s first goal. Jamie Corkery pointed for Nick’s in the 18th minute, which proved to be their last score. Four minutes later Swayne got his, and his side’s second goal, with Conor Parker adding a point. Just before halftime Mark Motherway got O’Neill’s third goal, to make it 3-4 to 0-4, and with it went any realistic chance of a Nick’s comeback. Early second-half points from Ryan Kenneally, Dan Harrington and Dunne extended their lead and Swayne also pointed, to make it 3-8 to 0-4 with 44 minutes gone. Harrington got his second and with time running out Broderick got their fourth goal, to make it 4-9 to 0-4. Scorers for Fr O’Neill’s: C Swayne 2-1, C Broderick, M Motherway 1-0 each, B Dunne 0-4, D Harrington 0-2 (1f, 45), C Parker, E Dorgan, R Kennally 0-1 each. St Nicholas: R Duggan, D Braham, D Nicel, J Corkery 0-1 each. Fr O’NEILL’S: K Cullinane; O Murphy, C Hegarty, M Millerick; R Kenneally, S O’Connor, C O’Connor; D Harrington, C Broderick; E Dorgan, E Motherway, C Swayne; B Dunne, M Motherway, C Parker. Subs: O Steele for R Kenneally, D Barry for C Swayne, C Dunne for C O’Connor, A Leahy for E Dorgan, C Sloane for C Broderick, D Griffin for M Motherway. St NICHOLAS: C Murphy; C Cullinane, J O’Donovan, K Horgan; D Dunlea, J Morrissey, J Huggins; P White, S O’Sullivan; D Nicel, D Braham, J Corkery; D Kennefick, E McCarthy-Coade, R Duggan. Subs: S Kennefick for D Kennefick, D Morrissey for J Huggins, R Byrne for E McCarthy-Coade, D Kenefick for P White. Referee: John O’Leary, Mallow.
GAA ■ Barry O’Mahony
INNISCARRA forward Tomás O’Connor believes his side’s narrow defeats in the first and second rounds will stand to them going into Sunday’s PIHC clash with Valley Rovers. The Muskerry side face Valleys at Cloughduv at 3.30pm this weekend, and are hoping their harrowing defeats to Mallow and Cloyne have steeled them for the challenge. Despite leading for the majority of both games they failed to close the games out. O’Connor, who is in his third year with the side, believes they are battlehardened and are more than prepared for the crunch tie this weekend. “I do believe our last two championship games will stand to us because Valleys are one of the most physical sides in the championship a long with Mallow and Cloyne who we have already played. “We feel with two very tough and good games under our belt that if we play any bit like we did in both of them games we will win. “I believe we have learned from both games that if we punish teams in the final 15 minutes then we can beat anyone at this level.” Inniscarra can count themselves very unlucky to be in this round of the championship as they should have beaten Mallow in normal time before bowing out in extra time in round one, while in round two Cloyne scored a late goal which proved the difference. O’Connor feels it is his sides lack of a killer instinct that has hindered them so far. “I suppose we have only ourselves to blame for not closing out both games, especially when we have probably played our best hurling for the last couple of years. “It is hard to know where you stand when you have such little amount of league games played going into championship so that didn’t help us.
Inniscarra hoping for better luck
Unfortunate “We had the g ame vir tually won against Mallow until a last-minute free brought it to extra-time and when a team gets a run on you in extra-time it is hard to come back from that and unfortunately for us Mallow started extra time very well. “The Cloyne match was a bit different, anyone who was at the match could see we were the fitter, sharper team throughout the game, we wasted a few chances and took the wrong options and we were punished. “All in all I think we have been unlucky but have ourselves to blame for not closing out both games.” O’Connor feels it is his sides lack of focus for the full 60 mins that have put Inniscarra in the position they are in. “In the last couple of years when we lost it was mostly by the better team but this year has been different. We were the better team but lost and I suppose its easy to make excuses but we didn’t do ourselves justice. “At this level you have to keep concentrated and play for the full hour and unfortunately for us we played for 60 minutes against Mallow and lost concentration in extra-time and we played for 50 minutes against Cloyne.” Valleys Rovers, by their own high standards, have performed well under par so far going down to last year’s intermediate champions Fermoy before losing very tamely to neighbours Carraigaline. Whoever wins will progress to the fourth round and a showdown with Bandon, with the loser dropping into a relegation final. “We are a very young and fit team. We believe that if we can perform to our best we have better hurlers than Valleys. They are very strong physically up the middle and have a good target man in Kevin Canty in full-forward and Cork minor Chris O’Leary in midfield.”
Inniscarra’s Tomás O’Connor battles with Watergrasshill’s Kieran Coakley last season. Inniscarra have been in this very tense position before when they overcame fellow Mid-Cork side Ballincollig to send them into the relegation final in 2013 and with the majority of the team still around O’Connor believes the experience of that game two years ago will stand to them. “Since that game against Ballincollig we have only lost one player due to retirement and even though we are a young team we have very experienced players throughout. “We have all played in big matches before and have delivered on the big days also so I think that we have the
experience to get through this game against Valleys.” O’Connor made his debut at 16 and has been one of the key forwards since his breakthrough. At almost 19 he is a regular on the starting line-up and says it is all down to pure hard work. “I was 16 when I started my first championship match against Bandon, that was three years ago and I was corner-forward. “Last year I was moved out to the half-forward line where I was also playing with the Cork minors at the time. I think as a half-forward you have to be constantly moving and look-
Inniscarra can count themselves unlucky “ to be in this position as they have been playing a lot better hurling this year ”
Picture: David Keane. ing for the ball. I’m 18 now and will be 19 in September so I am still young and have a lot to learn.” “Ger (Manley) has got us a lot fitter and every player’s hurling has got sharper and faster. He has played at the highest level so he has a good knowledge of the game and he brings it to training and to matches. “He has helped me improved in the last couple of years. He pointed out parts of my game which needed to be improved and last year I was part of the Cork minor panel and a lot of that was down to the training we did with Ger. “Now as a team we need to keep improving under him and bring some silverware to the club.” Inniscarra can count themselves unlucky to be in this situation as they have been hurling better than in recent years
Evening Echo, Tuesday, July 14, 2015
O’Neill’s have too much firepower MINOR FOOTBALL
■ Rory Noonan Fr O’Neill’s St Nicholas
4-10 0-4
FR O’NEILL’S proved too strong for St Nicholas in their Carrigaline Court Hotel Premier 2 MFC clash at Delanys last night. A goal before half time put them 3-4 to 0-4 up and from h e r e t h e y n e ve r l o o k e d back. Nick’s finishing letting them down at times, as playing with the slight wind in the first-half they hit eight in total, a lot of which were r e l a t i ve l y e a s y s c o r i n g chances. Cian Murphy, James Morrissey, Ryan Duggan and Dave Dunlea were the pick of their side. Fr O’Neill’s recovered from their first round loss to Ahan Gaels, with Billy Dunne, Cal Hegarty, Cillian Broderick and Colm Swayne in top form. Swayne, in particular, deserves special mention. He scored 2-1 and played despite having 15 stitches removed from his ear in the last few days — a souvenir of a hurling challenge game against their own intermediate side. It took Dunne just 20 seconds to open the scoring and he added a second, before Duggan pointed for Nicks. Dave Braham and Dara Nicel put Nick’s in front, but with 17 minutes gone Swayne got O’Neill’s first goal. Jamie Corkery pointed for Nick’s in the 18th minute, which proved to be their last score. Four minutes later Swayne got his, and his side’s second goal, with Conor Parker adding a point. Just before halftime Mark Motherway got O’Neill’s third goal, to make it 3-4 to 0-4, and with it went any realistic chance of a Nick’s comeback. Early second-half points from Ryan Kenneally, Dan Harrington and Dunne extended their lead and Swayne also pointed, to make it 3-8 to 0-4 with 44 minutes gone. Harrington got his second and with time running out Broderick got their fourth goal, to make it 4-9 to 0-4. Scorers for Fr O’Neill’s: C Swayne 2-1, C Broderick, M Motherway 1-0 each, B Dunne 0-4, D Harrington 0-2 (1f, 45), C Parker, E Dorgan, R Kennally 0-1 each. St Nicholas: R Duggan, D Braham, D Nicel, J Corkery 0-1 each. Fr O’NEILL’S: K Cullinane; O Murphy, C Hegarty, M Millerick; R Kenneally, S O’Connor, C O’Connor; D Harrington, C Broderick; E Dorgan, E Motherway, C Swayne; B Dunne, M Motherway, C Parker. Subs: O Steele for R Kenneally, D Barry for C Swayne, C Dunne for C O’Connor, A Leahy for E Dorgan, C Sloane for C Broderick, D Griffin for M Motherway. St NICHOLAS: C Murphy; C Cullinane, J O’Donovan, K Horgan; D Dunlea, J Morrissey, J Huggins; P White, S O’Sullivan; D Nicel, D Braham, J Corkery; D Kennefick, E McCarthy-Coade, R Duggan. Subs: S Kennefick for D Kennefick, D Morrissey for J Huggins, R Byrne for E McCarthy-Coade, D Kenefick for P White. Referee: John O’Leary, Mallow.
GAA ■ Barry O’Mahony
INNISCARRA forward Tomás O’Connor believes his side’s narrow defeats in the first and second rounds will stand to them going into Sunday’s PIHC clash with Valley Rovers. The Muskerry side face Valleys at Cloughduv at 3.30pm this weekend, and are hoping their harrowing defeats to Mallow and Cloyne have steeled them for the challenge. Despite leading for the majority of both games they failed to close the games out. O’Connor, who is in his third year with the side, believes they are battlehardened and are more than prepared for the crunch tie this weekend. “I do believe our last two championship games will stand to us because Valleys are one of the most physical sides in the championship a long with Mallow and Cloyne who we have already played. “We feel with two very tough and good games under our belt that if we play any bit like we did in both of them games we will win. “I believe we have learned from both games that if we punish teams in the final 15 minutes then we can beat anyone at this level.” Inniscarra can count themselves very unlucky to be in this round of the championship as they should have beaten Mallow in normal time before bowing out in extra time in round one, while in round two Cloyne scored a late goal which proved the difference. O’Connor feels it is his sides lack of a killer instinct that has hindered them so far. “I suppose we have only ourselves to blame for not closing out both games, especially when we have probably played our best hurling for the last couple of years. “It is hard to know where you stand when you have such little amount of league games played going into championship so that didn’t help us.
Inniscarra hoping for better luck
Unfortunate “We had the g ame vir tually won against Mallow until a last-minute free brought it to extra-time and when a team gets a run on you in extra-time it is hard to come back from that and unfortunately for us Mallow started extra time very well. “The Cloyne match was a bit different, anyone who was at the match could see we were the fitter, sharper team throughout the game, we wasted a few chances and took the wrong options and we were punished. “All in all I think we have been unlucky but have ourselves to blame for not closing out both games.” O’Connor feels it is his sides lack of focus for the full 60 mins that have put Inniscarra in the position they are in. “In the last couple of years when we lost it was mostly by the better team but this year has been different. We were the better team but lost and I suppose its easy to make excuses but we didn’t do ourselves justice. “At this level you have to keep concentrated and play for the full hour and unfortunately for us we played for 60 minutes against Mallow and lost concentration in extra-time and we played for 50 minutes against Cloyne.” Valleys Rovers, by their own high standards, have performed well under par so far going down to last year’s intermediate champions Fermoy before losing very tamely to neighbours Carraigaline. Whoever wins will progress to the fourth round and a showdown with Bandon, with the loser dropping into a relegation final. “We are a very young and fit team. We believe that if we can perform to our best we have better hurlers than Valleys. They are very strong physically up the middle and have a good target man in Kevin Canty in full-forward and Cork minor Chris O’Leary in midfield.”
Inniscarra’s Tomás O’Connor battles with Watergrasshill’s Kieran Coakley last season. Inniscarra have been in this very tense position before when they overcame fellow Mid-Cork side Ballincollig to send them into the relegation final in 2013 and with the majority of the team still around O’Connor believes the experience of that game two years ago will stand to them. “Since that game against Ballincollig we have only lost one player due to retirement and even though we are a young team we have very experienced players throughout. “We have all played in big matches before and have delivered on the big days also so I think that we have the
experience to get through this game against Valleys.” O’Connor made his debut at 16 and has been one of the key forwards since his breakthrough. At almost 19 he is a regular on the starting line-up and says it is all down to pure hard work. “I was 16 when I started my first championship match against Bandon, that was three years ago and I was corner-forward. “Last year I was moved out to the half-forward line where I was also playing with the Cork minors at the time. I think as a half-forward you have to be constantly moving and look-
Inniscarra can count themselves unlucky “ to be in this position as they have been playing a lot better hurling this year ”
Picture: David Keane. ing for the ball. I’m 18 now and will be 19 in September so I am still young and have a lot to learn.” “Ger (Manley) has got us a lot fitter and every player’s hurling has got sharper and faster. He has played at the highest level so he has a good knowledge of the game and he brings it to training and to matches. “He has helped me improved in the last couple of years. He pointed out parts of my game which needed to be improved and last year I was part of the Cork minor panel and a lot of that was down to the training we did with Ger. “Now as a team we need to keep improving under him and bring some silverware to the club.” Inniscarra can count themselves unlucky to be in this situation as they have been hurling better than in recent years
