WE got some great football action last Friday and Saturday until the good weather finally broke and Sunday became a washout for all the day’s scheduled games, meaning another week of teetering on the brink in Ross and Ovens as the premier senior relegation final was deferred.
All the remaining relegation games were played though, with disappointing results for the Carbery clubs involved, and we will get to those shortly.
Firstly, to Páirc Uí Rinn on Friday night and to what was a cracking start to the knockout stage of the premier senior championship. Ballincollig faced up to St Finbarr’s with all guns blazing and more than matched their favoured opponents right up until a late black card for Darragh O’Mahony preceded a late scoring spurt for the 2021 champions. Brian Hayes intercepted an ill-advised short kick-out shortly after the black card and cooly finished over the head of ‘Collig goalkeeper Darragh Newman to give the blues an unassailable lead with only a few minutes left.
The game had swung back and forth before the late Barrs burst, with an early goal from Johnathan Wiggington Barrett followed by the departure of Ballincollig lynchpin Luke Fahy to injury in the opening quarter meaning my prediction of a Barrs win was looking safe. Credit to Ballincollig – already without Liam O’Connell, Cian Kiely and last year’s Cork U20 Harry Ahearne – they refused to surrender. Cian Dorgan landed some outstanding scores, and Sean Dore picked a sublime pass to Cian’s brother Darragh for a goal before half-time. When Sean Kiely found the net in the second half, the upset looked likely. The Barrs are superbly conditioned, though, and as they have so often before they kept grinding and fighting and the late salvo from the city side saw them through.
The Barrs now proceed to meet familiar foes Castlehaven and again improvement will be needed if they are to prevail. They have serious defensive concerns at this stage. Their injury list at the back contains Sam Ryan, Billy Hennessy and now Fionn Crowley and Dylan Quinn. They will need to devise a plan to tighten up in this area and hope that the inside threat of Sherlock, Hayes and Wiggington Barrett can provide enough scores to overturn last year’s result. We await that contest with much anticipation and hope that it can be as good as what we saw last Friday night. The two teams have form for producing the goods.
On the same night, Dohenys provided the only positive result for a West Cork team above the junior A grade as they overcame a fancied Cill na Martra with goals from Adam O’Donovan and a rare Gaelic Football own goal proving the difference. Dohenys are back in another semi-final now where they will face Knocknagree who they overcame last year by seven points. It is the second of two super semi-finals to look forward to as Carrigaline beat Bishopstown without showing their best form. Kanturk await as the remaining member of this final four and it is all to play for in what is the most exciting and interesting grade in Cork football at the moment.
Bantry Blues' Shane Keevers and Uibh Laoire's Aaron O'Donovan compete for a high ball during the McCarthy Insurance PIFC quarter-final at Kealkill. (Photo: Paddy Feen)
Saturday was a most disappointing day for the Carbery sides operating at premier junior and higher. Bantry won’t make it three PIFC finals in a row as Uibh Laoire finally got one over on them after two successive reversals, while there was even greater disappointment in the Baltimore/Church Cross and Ardfield regions as Ilen Rovers and St James suffered narrow defeats in relegation finals at premier intermediate and premier junior respectively. Both clubs will be devastated, however for Ilen Rovers, it is a third relegation in four years and that is a record no one would want on their CV. Considering how close the great Rovers team of the noughties came to senior glory in 2007, and what the club achieved during those heady days, the drop down the ranks will hurt the people who brought the club to near the top of Cork football keenly. Both they and St James must now regroup and rebuild to reverse the trend and start looking upwards again soon.
Saturday also saw junior championship action in Carbery as Castlehaven’s second string side overcame Argideen Rangers on penalties in Aughaville after a low-scoring game went to extra time. Unfortunately for us in Ross, Diarmuid Ó Mathúnas had no trouble finding their range in Ballinacarriga earlier that evening, as a first-half blitz yielded 2-8 before an early second-half goal gave them a 14-point lead that was never going to be reeled in despite an improved second-half showing from our lads. The Mathúnas men played some great football and more than deserved their victory. Still going in the hurling as well, the season is shaping up nicely for the men from the Castletownkennigh area.
I did drag my weary bones off the bench for some 15 or so minutes towards the end of this and even contrived to have a penalty saved in the dying embers of stoppage time, which might have made the scoreline a little better from our point of view. It’s been a strange year on a personal level being my first year not involved with the senior team in Ross, and for once in my life having absolutely no training to go to in the late summer/early autumn evenings.
I don’t really believe in retirements in the GAA as there are no contracts and we don’t get paid for our efforts, most of us just drift away slowly bit by bit, hanging on too long for our own good at times. On the flip side, we all know players who have said repeatedly that they won’t be back only to reappear again when championship comes into view the following season! I don’t know if I’ll dust the boots off to play any level of football next year again or if I will finally get some sense and chuck them into a bonfire, time will tell. For now, my only concern is supporting Seamus and the lads for the rearranged fixture this Saturday. I sincerely hope Ross can buck the trend for the Carbery sides in the relegation games, my fingers and toes will be crossed. Good luck, lads.
