Carrigaline 1-26
Ballinhassig 1-19
JJ HURLEY REPORTS
CARRIGALINE proved to be far too strong for Ballinhassig in the Co-Op Superstores Premier Intermediate Championship quarter-final at Riverstick on Saturday.
In what was a local derby for the Carrigdhoun sides this game was decided over the hour by Carrigaline’s ability to find the target, Ballinhassig to rue scoring chances and a Carrig side that seemed determined not to lose the tie.
For team coach, Eddie Murphy, speaking to The Southern Star following the game, agreed with the assessment
‘We were really up for this game, we had lost two games coming into this and we weren’t happy with that, we were determined not to go out of the competition by not losing three games and we had our homework done on Ballinhassig,’ he said.
Carrigaline laid out their intentions as early as the third minute as Ciaran Kearney made no mistake in finishing to the Ballinhassig net, following a David Drake pass.
While Ballinhassig’s Adam and Darragh O’Sullivan had registered the game’s first two scores, it was Carrigaline, who were in front after six minutes by 1-2 to 0-3, thanks to David Drake.
For the next ten minutes, Ballinhassig reeled off four points to a single Rhys McCarthy effort as they drew level on 14 minutes.
However, it was notable all afternoon that any effort to take control of the game by Ballinhassig, Carrig simply upped their work rate as Brian Kelleher hit two points to put daylight between the sides.
Guilty of some wayward shooting in the first half, Ballinhassig were level on 19 minutes thanks to points from Fintan O’Leary and Brian Lynch.
From there to the break Carrig out scored Ballinhassig by six points to three.
Ballinhassig were dependent on the two O’Sullivans and one from Jack Grainger but Carrigaline had the luxury of Kelleher, Eanna Desmond, Rob O’Shea, Kearney and Kevin Kavanagh to call on for a score as they led 1-11 to 0-11 at the break.
The opening nine minutes of the second half had Ballinhassig reducing the arrears by only a single point as they landed four points to Carrig’s three.
Not willing to give the initiative to their opponents, David Griffin landed his second and third monster points of the half as four scores had Carrig extending their lead to 1-18 to 0-15.
Struggling to make any inroads, Carrigaline had reached a tally of 1-25 to 0-18 on 56 minutes as Kelleher continued to impress.
A free by Patrick Collins was saved on the line as was his second bite of the cherry, but Darragh O’Sullivan did have the sliotar in the net from a free late on, but it was all academic as Kelleher claimed the last score.
Scorers
Carrigaline: B Kelleher 0-9 (5f), C Kearney 1-1, D Drake 0-4, R McCarthy, D Griffin 0-3 each, E Desmond, R O’Shea 0-2 each, K Kavanagh, R Kelleher 0-1 each.
Ballinhassig: D O’Sullivan 1-7 (1-3f, 1 65), A O’Sullivan, F O’Leary 0-4 each, E Cullinane 0-2, B Lynch, J Grainger 0-1 each.
Carrigaline: R Foster; D King, S Williamson, D Stack; K Kavanagh, D Griffin, C Vaughan; R Kelleher, C Barry; R McCarthy, E Desmond, R O’Shea, C Kearney, D Drake, B Kelleher. Sub: F O’Connell for C Vaughan (41).
Ballinhassig: P Collin; M Desmond, K Maguire, P O’Leary; J O’Callaghan, M Collins, C Desmond; D O’Sullivan, E Lombard; C Grainger, A O’Sullivan B Lynch; F O’Leary, J Grainger, E Cullinane. Subs: D O’Donovan for J Grainger (41), S Lombard for B Lynch (48), S O’Neill for C Grainger (53).
Referee M Maher (St Finbarr’s).
