Éire Óg 2-19
Kilmichael 0-7
BRENDAN KENNEALLY REPORTS
ÉIRE Óg junior footballers showed no ill effects after the defeat of their seniors the previous evening when they faced Kilmichael at Cloughduv in Group 2 of the Ross Oil Mid Cork Junior Football Championship.
The Ovens club fielded a fairly young team and their fitness levels and football skills were too much for a Kilmichael side that will be very disappointed at the manner and scale of this defeat.
There was a strong, cold northerly wind blowing from goal to goal and although facing into it Éire Óg quickly let it be seen that their young side was up for the contest. They were simply buzzing from the throw-in and centre forward Michael Murphy put them in front with his opening point.
Kilmichael equalised with a Tom Browne free in the fifth minute and when Éire Óg added two points, from Darragh Clifford and a Murphy free, Alan McCarthy had a fine point in reply for Kilmichael; it was 0-3 to 0-2 after ten minutes. Éire Óg were beginning to assume dominance and points from Michael Murphy, David Kirwin and Sam O’Driscoll were followed by a goal from Keith O’Riordan, the corner forward running on to a through ball from Adam McCarthy to billow the net in the 23rd minute.
Kilmichael, in their best period of the game, had points from Brendan Cotter, a Tom Browne free and another from Brendan Cotter, but Éire Óg finished the first-half scoring with a point from Jerome Kelleher on the stroke of half time. Leading by 1-7 to 0-5 and with the wind to favour them in the second half, Éire Óg looked to be on the road to victory.
Three more points within three minutes of the restart, two from Darragh Clifford and the other from David Casey, confirmed the Éire Óg superiority. Clifford added another before Tom Browne pointed a free for Kilmichael in the 40th minute.
Before the three-quarter mark Adam McCarthy had kicked two more Éire Óg points and the game was over as a contest. The final quarter brought no let up in the Éire Óg efforts as they introduced substitutes to maintain the pressure. A string of points were followed by a late goal from Colm Quigley before the final whistle brought an end to the one-sided proceedings.
Scorers - Éire Óg: D Clifford, M Murphy 0-5 each; K O’Riordan, C Quigley 1-0 each; D Casey, A McCarthy 0-2 each; D Kirwin, S O’Driscoll, J Kelleher, J Galvin, L Sheehan 0-1 each. Kilmichael: T Browne 0-4 (4f); B Cotter 0-2; A McCarthy 0-1.
Éire Óg: Eoin Kelleher; Kevin Cooper, Matt Brady, John Kelleher; Adam McCarthy, Mark Kelleher, Eoin O’Shea; Darragh Clifford, Denny Murphy; David Kirwin, Michael Murphy, Jerome Kelleher; Keith O’Riordan, Sam O’Driscoll, David Casey. Subs: Colm Quigley for J Kelleher (ht), Óisín O’Shea for E O’Shea (45), Johnny Galvin for K O’Riordan (46), Hugh Murphy for D Kirwin (52), Liam Sheehan for D Casey (53).
Kilmichael: Ronan O’Callaghan; Ger Murphy, Finbarr Buckley, Eoghan Murphy; Danny Horgan, Cathal Foley, Michael Downey; Brendan Cotter, Brian Horgan; Alan McCarthy, Kevin Murphy, Shane Foley; Tom Browne, Conor Cotter, Andrew Kelleher. Subs: Chris O’Connell for S Foley (40), Danny Twomey for AKelleher (40), Ronan Murphy for A McCarthy (45).
Referee: Peter O’Leary (Cloughduv).
