Chris Óg Jones shows Ilen no mercy on forgettable PIFC debut

UIBH LAOIRE 4-15

ILEN ROVERS 0-5

MATTHEW HURLEY REPORTS

THE fall of Ilen Rovers has continued into the 2024 championship season.

They were outplayed, outscored and outclassed in their McCarthy Insurance Premier IFC Group 1 bout with Uibh Laoire on a calm Sunday evening in Dunmanway.

After two relegations in three years, Rovers find themselves in the third tier of Cork football and, to be honest, they were beaten long before the referee’s full-time whistle.

Uibh Laoire's Barry O'Leary is challenged by Jack Collins of Ilen Rovers.

Between 2020 and 2023, Ilen only recorded two championship wins.

From being in the last eight in tier one of the championship in 2019 to losing by 22 points in tier three in 2024, their fall in five years has been dramatic .

Eight minutes into this game and Ilen were hanging in there with the score at 0-3 to 0-1 in the Muskerry side’s favour.

Kevin O’Driscoll then received a black card, Uibh Laoire scored 2-1 without reply and the complexion of the game completely changed.

Chris Óg Jones opened the scoring for Uibh Laoire from a free before Micheal Sheehy, who was Ilen’s standout player in this game, responded.

Chris Óg and Ian Jones put Uibh Laoire back in front and then the black card came. After a classy bit of play from the Mid Cork side, Brian Cronin and Barry O’Leary exchanged passes before the latter finished it to the net.

Chris Óg Jones pointed another free before more disaster came for the boys from Baltimore.

Aaron O’Sullivan fouled an oncoming Conor O’Leary in the area, giving referee John Enright no option but to award the penalty.

Cork star Óg Jones, stepped up and buried it past the despairing Emmett Hourihane, 2-4 to 0-1 after the first quarter.

Peadar O’Driscoll, to his credit, hit one of the scores of the evening from long range, Ilen’s second and final score of the half.

The final three scores of the half were shared between Chris Óg (two frees) and Ian Jones to leave it 2-7 to 0-2 at the break.

Ilen needed a good start to the second spell, but unfortunately for them, Uibh Laoire cranked up the gears to finish the job.

Uibh Laoire's Chris Óg Jones under pressure from Ilen Rovers' Daniel Coakley during the McCarthy Insurance PIFC round one game at Dunmanway on Sunday evening.

Chris Óg Jones finished off a swift move to the net to make it a 14-point game before a lost Ilen kickout led to goal number four, courtesy of Aaron O’Donovan.

Two goals inside 30 seconds, goodnight.

Ilen got the next score through Sheehy but Uibh Laoire went down the other end and hit the next six.

Chris Óg Jones (three frees), Cronin, substitute Liam Kearney and cornerback Timmy Roberts with the pick of the bunch all added to their impressive tally.

Ilen full back Adrian O’Driscoll received a black card to rub more salt into the wounds.

Sheehy hit another one over for Ilen before Chris Óg Jones added to his eventful evening by receiving a second yellow card with six minutes to go; the two yellows were just five minutes apart. O’Donovan and Kearney scores for Uibh Laoire were sandwiched by a Dan Mac Eoin effort in a conclusion to a game where the energy was sucked out of it.

Scorers

Uibh Laoire: C Óg Jones 2-8 (1-0 pen, 7f); A O’Donovan 1-1; B O’Leary 1-0; I Jones, L Kearney 0-2 each; B Cronin, T Roberts 0-1 each.

Ilen Rovers: M Sheehy 0-3; P O’Driscoll, D Mac Eoin 0-1 each.

Uibh Laoire: J Creedon; B Murphy, D O’Donovan, T Roberts; K Manning, D O’Riordan, K Jones; B O’Leary, C O’Leary; A O’Donovan, C Óg Jones, S O’Riordan; B Cronin, S Pickering, I Jones.

Sub: L Kearney for S Pickering (42).

Ilen Rovers: E Hourihane; D Coakley, A O’Driscoll, T McCarthy; K O’Driscoll, B Collins, J Collins; C O’Driscoll, P O’Driscoll; C Harrington, D Hegarty, S O’Shea; D Mac Eoin, M Sheehy, A O’Sullivan.

Subs: S Minihane for T McCarthy (23), J Hickey for S O’Shea (ht), C Dwyer for C Harrington (50).

Referee: J Enright (Glengarriff).