CORK PREMIER SENIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
BALLINCOLLIG 4-11
CARBERY 1-15
NOEL HORGAN REPORTS
CARBERY’S five-game winning run in the Bon Secours PSFC was brought to an end by Ballincollig in their quarter-final clash at Páirc Uí Chaoimh last Sunday.
While their hopes of advancing to the last four were very much alive when they trailed by just a point with 40 minutes gone, they were well beaten in the end by the mid-Cork men, who possessed the weaponry up front to inflict the vital damage.
Four goals shared by Cian Dorgan and Darren Murphy is testimony to Ballincollig’s firepower, and on a day when Liam O’Connell and Darragh O’Mahony were others to sparkle in a cohesive attack, it has to be acknowledged the Carbery rearguard was ruthlessly exposed.
Carbery manager Tim Buckley agreed their defence struggled to cope with the ‘very pacey’ Ballincollig forwards, and that he had no complaints about the outcome.
‘The scoreboard tells its own story, although we started well after half-time, but I suppose we were bound to have a purple-patch at some stage.
‘Maybe Ballincollig sat back a bit in the first ten minutes of the second-half, but then they hit us for two goals around the three-quarter mark, which killed off the game,’ he said.
Needless to say, Buckley was disappointed that they didn’t progress a step further, but he was satisfied with Carbery’s campaign overall, making the point that 28 players had been used from a lot of different clubs.
‘I’m happy to park it up now, and I’d like to think I’m leaving Carbery football in a healthy state for next year,’ he concluded.
The game began in exhilarating fashion, with free-flowing, end-to-end football abounding during an opening quarter in which fortunes fluctuated dramatically.
Ballincollig were 1-1 to the good after Cian Dorgan converted a penalty won by Liam O’Connell in the 3rd minute, but Carbery hit the front for the first time four minutes later.
Aaron Hayes did the spadework for a well-taken goal by Ruairi Deane, which made it 1-2 to 1-1 at that stage, but the lead changed hands again when Dorgan drilled home another penalty in the 12th minute.
It left Ballincollig leading by 2-2 to 1-3, and, as things transpired, they weren’t to fall behind again in the first-half.
It was 2-6 to 1-6 at the interval, with Paddy O’Driscoll and wing-back Ger O’Callaghan, fed by a precision cross from Ruairi Deane, contributing good points from play to Carbery’s tally before the break.
With Brian O’Driscoll thundering into the picture at midfield, and Ruairi Deane also to the fore at centre-forward, Carbery began the second-half on a more encouraging note.
O’Driscoll won a couple of frees which he pointed himself, and Deane chipped in with another score from play, allowing the south-west divisional side to cut Ballincollig’s advantage to the minimum, 2-7 to 1-9, inside 39 minutes.
Carbery’s problems at the back were soon highlighted again when Darren Murphy was on hand to claim Ballincollig’s third goal, pouncing to score after Liam O’Connell had initially brought the best out of the losers’ netminder Cian Ryan.
That was the signal for Ballincollig to make the decisive push, as they effectively put paid to Carbery’s aspirations when Murphy, put clean through by Cian Dorgan, bagged another goal in the 47th minute.
Darragh O’Mahony added a point to give Ballincollig a commanding 4-10 to 1-9 lead, and it was clearly a case of battling for respectability on Carbery’s part during the last ten minutes.
Thanks primarily to the efforts of the lion-hearted Brian O’Driscoll, they managed to achieve that, but, in the final analysis, Ballincollig, having had Darren Murphy black-carded with ten minutes of regulation time remaining, weren’t flattered by their five-point winning margin.
Scorers – Ballincollig: C Dorgan 2-4, (1f, 2-0 penalties), D Murphy 2-3, D O’Mahony 0-2, L Fahy and L O’Connell 0-1 each.
Carbery: R Deane 1-4 (3f), B O’Driscoll 0-7 (4f, 1’45), P O’Driscoll 0-2, G O’Callaghan, Keith O’Driscoll 0-1 each.
Ballincollig: C Walsh; G O’Donoghue, N Galvin, L Fahy; H Aherne, L Jennings, C Kiely; S Kiely, E Cooke; D O’Mahony, L O’Connell, S Dore; D Dorgan, C Dorgan, D Murphy. Subs; P O’Neill for Cooke, 36, J O’Connor for Dore, 51, S Wills for D Dorgan, 51, Dore for O’Neill (injured), 56, P Kelly for Jennings, 57.
Carbery: C Ryan (Ballinascarthy); R O’Connor (St Mary’s), B Murphy (St Colum’s), D Twomey (Ballinascarthy); K O’Brien (Gabriel Rangers), B Everard (St Mary’s), G O’Callaghan (Gabriel Rangers); S Ryan (Ballinascarthy), B O’Driscoll (Tadgh MacCarthaigh); P O’Driscoll (Gabriel Rangers), R Deane (Bantry Blues), C O’Driscoll (Tadgh MacCarthaigh); Keith O’Driscoll (Gabriel Rangers), Kevin O’Driscoll (Tadgh MacCarthaigh), A Hayes (St James). Subs, R Hourihane (Kilmacabea) for Murphy, 33, J O’Regan (Gabriel Rangers) for S Ryan, 45, K Keohane (Kilmeen) for O’Callaghan, 45, S Thornton (Bantry Blues) for O’Brien, 45, S Daly (Randal Og) for C O’Driscoll, 52.
Referee – C Dineen (Douglas)
