O’Donovan Rossa 5-10
Tadhg MacCárthaigh 1-6
DAN McCARTHY REPORTS
FIVE-GOAL O’Donovan Rossa emerged as comfortable victors over Tadhg MacCárthaigh in the Carbery U21B football final in Goleen on Sunday.
Playing with the aid of a strong breeze, the Skibbereen men opened the better of the two sides. A booming Isaac Harte point from distance came before a well-taken score from Cian O’Brien.
The first goal of the game quickly followed when captain Ciarán Coombes, who was impressive throughout, embarked on a slaloming run through the Caheragh defense before laying off to Jack O’Brien, who finished neatly low past Shane Kingston in the Caheragh goal.
Despite the slow start Tadhg MacCárthaigh slowly grew into the game and dominated possession and territory for the next ten minutes but failed to capitalise on the scoreboard; they will rue the seven wides that were kicked during this period. A well-taken Adam O’Donovan point and a Luke Shorten free were all they had to show for their purple patch.
The O'Donovan Rossa team that defeated Tadhg MacCarthaigh in the Clona Milk U21 B FC final at Goleen.
O’Donovan Rossa reasserted their dominance in the ten minutes before half time as their greater physicality around the middle third began to pay dividends. A Niall Daly free was followed by a well-taken point by centre back Jason Nott whose strong running Caheragh struggled to deal with all afternoon. On 22 minutes, a speculative diagonal ball from Harte found its way into the hands of the opportunistic O’Brien, who slotted home his second major of the afternoon.
The lively Nott added a second point soon after, before further points from Harte and a long-range effort from Brian O’Driscoll rounded out the first-half scoring for the Rossas. Caheragh could only muster a single Shorten free in response, leaving the Skibbereen men ten points to the good at the break, 2-7 to 0-3.
The early part of the second half was a more even contest. Skibbereen added two early points from a Niall Daly free and another well-taken score by Cian O’Brien. Caheragh responded with three of their own, all from the boot of Shorten, two from play and one from a placed ball. Fionn Coombes followed for Skibbereen with arguably the score of the afternoon with a barnstorming run down the wing before a sweet left legged finish from a tight angle.
O'Donovan Rossa's Ciaran Coombes is pursued by Tadhg MacCarthaigh's Adam O'Donovan.
Caheragh were given a glimmer of hope on 48 minutes when Liam Murray, who was sprung from the bench at half time, fisted a Shorten forty-five to the net. However, this was to be Caheragh’s last score of the game and from here it was all one-way traffic. As the game petered out to its inevitable conclusion Skibbereen added a further three goals, first from captain Coombes, then Harte before O’Brien capped off a fine victory with his hat-trick goal in injury time.
Top performers for O’Donovan Rossa included the Coombes brothers Ciarán and Fionn, Jason Nott and Niall Daly. For Caheragh, Cormac O’Shanahan and Luke Shorten were most prominent in what was a tough day at the office.
Scorers - O’Donovan Rossa: Jack O’Brien 3-0; Isaac Harte 1-2; Ciarán Coombes 1-0; Jason Nott, Cian O’Brien, Niall Daly (2f) 0-2 each; Fionn Coombes, Brian O’Driscoll 0-1 each. Tadhg MacCárthaigh: Luke Shorten 0-5 (3f); Luke Murray 1-0; Adam O’Donovan 0-1.
O’Donovan Rossa: Dylan Heaton Jones; James Goulding, Frank Hurley, Alan Daly; Dylan Hourihane, Jason Nott, Olan Hurley; Brian O’Driscoll, Ciarán Coombes; Fionn Coombes, Niall Daly, Jack Grace, Isaac Harte, Jack O’Brien, Cian O’Brien. Subs: Sean Hodnett for O Hurley (39), Luke O’Sullivan for C O’Brien (53), Brian O’Sullivan for I Harte (55), Sean McCarthy for J Grace (58), Aaron Dempsey for J O’Brien (62).
Tadhg MacCárthaigh: Shane Kingston; Conor Crowley, Tim Farrell, Brian McCarthy; Denis Collins, Cathal Hegarty, Colm McCarthy, Jack Crowley, Rory Kingston, Cormac O’Shanahan, Luke Shorten, James McCarthy, Luke Gilman Burke, Oisin Daly, Adam O’Donovan. Subs: Liam Murray for L Gilman Burke (ht), Jonathan O’Neill for A O’Donovan (35, inj), Stephen Delaney for J Crowley (39), Cathal Kingston for D Collins (57).
Referee: C McCarthy (Carbery Rangers).
