IBANE GAELS 5-12
CLONAKILTY 0-7
MATTHEW HURLEY REPORTS
AN ELECTRIC opening from Ibane Gaels meant this Clona Milk Carbery U21A Football Championship quarter-final was over at half-time.
The Barryroe-Argideen Rangers amalgamation led 4-6 to 0-1 at the break in Ballinascarthy, where marksman Luke Murphy was running the show. In fact, Clonakilty’s first score came after 26 minutes.
It was total dominance from Ibane and a performance that pleased coach Donal Holland.
‘I would have been rating us down the line coming into today (in terms of the championship). I wouldn’t have believed we’d win by this much. We exceeded our expectations. Delighted with the win,’ Holland told The Southern Star.
Impressive Ibane only missed two shots in the entire 60 minutes. Everything seemed to go right on the day.
‘The players were well up for it. We had psyched up fairly well for it and they performed. Clon probably didn’t play to their ability.’
Following the early exchanges, the game opened up after Dara Walsh netted for Gaels. After wriggling past the Clon defence, the Ibane centre-forward found space to fire into the bottom corner. Points from Walsh, Jack Twomey and Tomas Ó Buachalla had Ibane leading 1-3 to nil after 12 minutes.
Murphy then began to show his class as a quick 1-1 from frees put Clon on the back foot. His goal came directly from the new rules. After Clon failed to keep three forwards up, the ball was moved up in front of the posts. The corner-forward took the free quickly and found the bottom corner.
‘Luke is a good talent – he played with the Cork minors last year. He’s a good footballer and hurler,’ Donal Holland said.
James Crowley joined in on the scoring act before Murphy was on the goal hunt again when Mike Collins played a great ball into his path. Ibane were confident and in the mood for more and Murphy grabbed another 1-1 to make it 4-6 to nil after 25 minutes.
Darragh Gough finally got the Brewery Town on the scoreboard from a free but they trailed by 17 at the break.
Clon kept trying in the second half, but Ibane always kept them at arm’s length. Walsh and Murphy (2) extended the Gaels lead before Gough and substitute Jack Byreley made it 4-9 to 0-3 going into the last quarter.
Murphy and Ó Buachalla kept the scoring going for the victors but Clon’s Fergal Murphy scored three nice points near the end. The scoring from Gaels side was rounded off by Donagh Flynn who looked lively coming on and hit 1-1.
A comfortable win for Ibane but a meeting with O’Donovan Rossa in Sunday’s semi-final is their next focus.
‘That will be a big test. We’re a young team, played Premier 2 up along the grades. They are improving, the attitude is good and you couldn’t ask for anymore of what they did today,’ Holland said.
Our Star: Who else could it have been other than Luke Murphy. He ripped Clon apart and scored 3-5.
Scorers
Ibane Gaels: Luke Murphy 3-5 (1-4f); Dara Walsh 1-2; Donagh Flynn 1-1; Tomás Ó Buachalla 0-2; Jack Twomey, James Crowley 0-1 each.
Clonakilty: Fergal Murphy 0-3; Darragh Gough (1f), Jack Byreley 0-2 each.
Ibane Gaels: Ross O’Donovan; Aidan Walsh, Joe Crowley, Kevin Hennessy; Daniel Moloney, Diarmuid McCarthy, Mike Collins; Dermot Dineen, Tomás Ó Buachalla; Sean Ryan, Dara Walsh, Jack Twomey; Luke Murphy, James Crowley, Charlie Twomey.
Subs: Jamie Collins for S Ryan (35); Donagh Flynn for J Twomey (39); Ben O’Dwyer for A Walsh (47); Danny Lawton for D Walsh (53); Robert Hennessy for J Crowley (56).
Clonakilty: Cillian White; Oran Blackburn, Sean Coffey, Shane O’Regan; Des Kenneally, Fionn McCarthy, Fergal Murphy; Matt Murphy, Aaron Cullinane; Dylan Harrington, Darragh Gough, Cian Ryan; Ciarán Coakley, Gearoid Coleman, James Murnane.
Subs: Emmett Curtin for G Coleman (20); John Deegan for J Murnane (28); Ben Coffey for F McCarthy (ht); Jack Byreley for C Coakley (40).
Referee: Kevin Crowley (Ballinascarthy).
