St James 2-15
Clonakilty 0-18
TOM LYONS REPORTS
ONE week after the reigning junior A football champions, Barryroe, were knocked out of the championship, the reigning champions, Clonakilty, also bit the dust in the junior A hurling championship.
It was sweet revenge for St James in perfect conditions in Timoleague on Sunday when they put in a storming last quarter to avenge their defeat in last year’s final at the hands of the Clonakilty men.
St James had to survive a late onslaught as Clon, three points down, went in search of an equalising goal. First, Fergal Murphy’s strike was brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Diarmuid O’Donovan. Seconds later a schemozzle developed on the goal-line with Clon trying to force the ball over the line but with bodies falling on the ball, a Clon player was penalized for a dangerous pull and the free out finished the game.
St James' Cristoir Hayes on a solo run from James Campbell of Clonakilty.
‘It was a tough battle, just as we knew it would be. We’re delighted with the win, we know Clon were depleted today but we were down five potential forwards through injury and being away. Hopefully, we’ll have them all back for us the next day,’ said St James’ mentor Damian Dooley.
‘That said, while we won, I thought we didn’t play particularly well. That performance certainly won’t do in the semi-final against Ballinascarthy.’
St James started in a blaze with three points on the board, two from man-of-the-match James O’Driscoll and the third from the impressive Joseph O’Sullivan, to a single Brian White point for Clonakilty before O’Driscoll availed of a defensive error to billow the Clon net in the seventh minute.
The alarm bells were ringing for Clon and they responded like champions, hitting nine of the next ten points to take control. Brian White was the main architect as he landed four points, Cian O’Donovan added a pair and Matt Murphy, Mark White and Fergal Murphy made it nine, St James confined to a single point from an O’Driscoll free.
Trailing by three points, 0-10 to 1-4, St James had gone 13 minutes without a score but rallied before the break with two frees from O’Driscoll and one from play by Ian Evans to level the scores. Fergal Murphy, working hard at full forward, landed his second point and Clon were in front by 0-11 to 1-7 at the break.
The third quarter, with Clon slightly the better side, saw the White brothers dominating the scoring for the green and red, with Brian hitting another four points (three frees) and Mark hitting his second. Corner back Jack McLoughlin added his name to the Clon scorers and St. James also had three marksmen in that quarter with James O’Driscoll (two frees), Peter Whelton and Cathal Hennessy finding the target. It was 0-17 to 1-11 as the last quarter dawned.
St James' James O'Driscoll gets to grips with Thomas Palmer of Clonakilty during the RCM Tarmacadam JAHC quarter-final at Timoleague on Sunday.
The game changed in the 46th minute when Joseph O’Sullivan set up Mark O’Driscoll for his second goal to level the scores and there was just no holding a rampant St James subsequently. With the two-man full forward line of O’Sullivan and O’Driscoll causing havoc and subs Conor Whelton, Séamus McCarthy and Andrew Whelton making a major contribution, the Saints hit four points in a row to get a firm grip on the game. O’Driscoll pointed a 65 and then added two more, with Peter Whelton also splitting the posts.
Then came the hectic finish as Clon tried to save their crown but all they could manage was Brian White’s pointed free, their only score in the last quarter, to leave three points between the sides at the finish, 2-15 to 0-18.
Our Star: Special mention for Brian White for Clonakilty with ten points but James O’Driscoll was a one-man wrecking ball for St James on this occasion, hitting 2-10 of their total 2-15.
Scorers
St James: James O’Driscoll 2-10 (7f, 1 65); Peter Whelton 0-2; Ian Evans, Cathal Hennessy, Joseph O’Sullivan 0-1 each.
Clonakilty: Brian White 0-10 (5f, 1 sideline); Cian O’Donovan, Mark White, Fergal Murphy 0-2 each; Jack McLoughlin, Matt Murphy 0-1 each.
St James: Diarmuid O’Donovan; Peter Whelton, Mícheál McCarthy (D), David Hayes; Ian Evans, James O’Sullivan, Donncha McCarthy; Kevin O’Leary, Cathal Hennessy; Paul O’Sullivan, Cristóir Hayes, Mícheál McCarthy (D); Joseph O’Sullivan, Kevin O’Brien, James O’Driscoll.
Subs: Séamus McCarthy for P O’Sullivan (43), Conor Whelton for K O’Brien (44), Andrew Whelton for C Hayes (55).
Clonakilty: Shane Collins; Tom Palmer, Ciarán Crowley, Jack Loughlin; James Campbell, Tim McCarthy, Eoin Ryan; Niall Barrett, Aaron Cullinane; Brian White, Kevin Cormican, Mark White; Matt Murphy, Fergal Murphy, Cian O’Donovan.
Subs: Liam Knowles for N Barrett (ht), Ciarán Coakley for C O’Donovan (50).
Referee: Shane Scanlon (Newcestown).
