Goleen 2-14
Doneraile 0-6
TOM LYONS REPORTS
GOLEEN’S ambition to win a first-ever county junior B football title is still solidly on track following this comprehensive win over Doneraile in the confined county junior B quarter-final in Enniskeane on Sunday.
Four final defeats in five years has fuelled Goleen’s desire to win the big one and, despite a slow first quarter, backed by the breeze they were clear masters of this last-eight tie
Despite a great start with a point from Darren O’Donovan and a goal from Shane O’Leary in the opening two minutes, Goleen appeared nervous in the first quarter, adding only three more points to Doneraile’s single score. However, with Tadhg Cullinane beginning to orchestrate events at midfield, Darren O’Donovan directing the attack and Michael O’Reilly kicking some lovely points, the peninsula side pulled away in the second quarter to lead by 1-10 to 0-3 at the break.
Goleen's Michael O'Reilly fires the ball over the head of Doneraile's Sean Williams and over the bar for a point .
There was no holding Goleen against the breeze in the second half as they took complete control, spurred on by a goal from O’Donovan in the 40th minute. The biggest cheer of the day came when veteran John Cullinane was introduced in the 40th minute and, a few weeks short of his 53rd birthday, the experienced warrior more than played his part in controlling the game.
‘We find in most games that we’re not a great team to start but when they got the measure of the opposition, they really began to play,’ said a happy Goleen mentor Kieran O’Sullivan.
‘We were a little bit afraid coming into this game as they had beaten Lismire and we were expecting Lismire to come through, so we weren’t sure what we would be facing. We’re through to the semi-final now, taking one game at a time. There are no easy games from here on, you must turn up every day and take each game seriously.’
Following the early scores, Goleen struggled to get their game going, kicking three points from Michael O’Reilly (2) and Shane O’Leary, in response to a single point from Conor Curran. It was 1-4 to 0-1 at the end of the first quarter. Good goal chances went abegging as Paddy Scully fisted wide from point-blank range, Doneraile’s Ben Cronin saw his close-in shot deflected out for a 45 and Tadhg Cullinane had a shot blocked after a flowing Goleen move.
Goleen tightened up on their shooting in the second quarter. Cullinane kicked a pair of points, as did Michael O’Reilly (one free) with O’Donovan and Daniel Driscoll kicking one each. Doneraile were limited to two scores, from Charlie Sweeney and Ben Buckley (free). Impressive for Goleen were Jack Driscoll, Mike Sheehan, Jake Coughlan and Patrick Sheehan in defence, Tadhg Cullinane at midfield and O’Donovan, O’Reilly and O’Leary in attack.
Goleen's Darren O'Donovan goes past Doneraile's Ronan Jones during the McCarthy Insurance Confined JBFC quarter-final at Enniskeane on Sunday.
It was 1-10 to 0-3 at half time, with Goleen facing the breeze in the second half. When Doneraile’s Ben Cronin kicked an early free to restart the game and they began to exert pressure on the Goleen defence, it looked as if Goleen would have a battle on their hands. It was not to be as Darren O’Donovan took the game by the scruff of the neck, kicked a point and then followed with a goal in the 40th minute. A couple of minutes later his cheeky lob over the goalkeeper rolled just wide. Goleen were out of luck again when Paddy Scully saw his shot rebound off the crossbar.
There was just no holding Goleen as they piled on the pressure with points from Mícheál O’Donovan, Darren O’Donovan (free) and Michael O’Reilly. Doneraile died on their shields as they kicked the last two scores of the day, from Ben Buckley and Ben Cronin frees.
Scorers
Goleen: Darren O’Donovan 1-4 (1f); Michael O’Reilly 0-5 (1f); Shane O’Leary 1-1; Tadhg Cullinane 0-2; Daniel Driscoll, Mícheál O’Donovan 0-1 each.
Goleen: Ronan Kennedy; Paul Collins, Jack Driscoll, Mike Sheehan; Jake Coughlan, Padraig Reidy, Patrick Sheehan; Cian Bowen, Tadhg Cullinane; David Farrell, Daniel Driscoll, Patrick Scully; Darren O’Donovan, Shane O’Leary, Michael O’Reilly.
Subs: John Cullinane for S O’Leary (40), Mícheál O’Donovan for D Farrell (45), Páidí O’Regan for P Scully (45), Tadhg Reidy for P Sheehan (50), David O’Leary for T Cullinane (55).
Doneraile: Dean Reilly; Seán Williams, Dan Walker, Ronan James; Ryan Carlton, Fionn Woods, Keith Sweeney; Ben Buckley, Cian Donnelan; Charlie Sweeney, Jack O’Shea, Stephen Ryan; Conor Curran, James Buckley, Ben Cronin.
Subs: Caolan Jones for J Buckley (17), Odhran Vard for C Curran (40), Liam Hunter for R James (44), Fionn Kelly for J O’Shea (49).
Referee: Tadhg Sheehan (St Mary’s).
