Goleen will feel they left victory behind them in this round-robin Bandon Co-op junior B football championship tie against Randal Óg in Church Cross.
Goleen 0-8
Randal Óg 1-5
TOM LYONS REPORTS
GOLEEN will feel they left victory behind them in this round-robin Bandon Co-op junior B football championship tie against Randal Óg in Church Cross.
In the closing stages they kicked four wides in a row when looking for the winning point and Randals’ goal owed a good deal to sloppy defending.
A win here would almost certainly have seen the Mizen side into the final, with Randals being eliminated, but the Castle men have now been thrown a life-line which could yet seeing them pipping the Goleen men for a final position.
There wasn’t a kick of a ball between the sides all through the first half, with Goleen, first-round winners over Bantry, possibly looking the stronger side. In full forward Darren O’Donovan, they had a real ace who kicked all their scores in that opening half.
Randals, who lost heavily to Newcestown first time out, struggled to stay in contention in the opening stages, despite opening the scoring with a point from the lively Barry O’Driscoll. Midfielder Conor O’Neill and full forward Sam Kingston also scored for Randals in the opening half. At the break Goleen led 0-4 to 0-3.
Goleen restarted well and with the experienced John Cullinane and Jack O’Driscoll pulling the strings, they doubled their lead with an O’Donovan point.
Battling Randals replied through O’Neill and the same pair again swapped scores by the 37th minute. Then Randals struck for the only goal of the game in the 40th minute, Cathal Duggan finishing off a shot that came back off the post and should have been cleared. They now led 1-5 to 0-6.
A Shane O’Leary point closed the gap to the minimum by the end of the third quarter and Randals weren’t to score again following their goal. After squandering numerous chances, Goleen levelled when Michael O’Reilly pointed in the 50th minute. It looked at that stage as if the western side would go on to win.
Four times in the last six minutes Goleen had clear chances of kicking the lead point but each time they missed badly, from play and frees. Add in a marvellous save from Randals’ goalkeeper Denis Lynch and Goleen were clearly getting more frustrated by the minute.
They nearly paid a costly price when Randals got the last chance of a winning score but goalkeeper Ronan Kennedy bravely won possession at the edge of his square. It finished all square with both sides taking a point for their efforts.
Scorers
Goleen: Darren O’Donovan 0-6 (3f, 1 45), Shane O’Leary, Michael O’Reilly 0-1 each.
Randal Óg: Cathal Duggan 1-0, Conor O’Neill (3f) 0-3, Barry O’Driscoll, Sam Kingston 0-1 each.
Goleen: Ronan Kennedy; Padraig Reidy, Dan O’Callaghan, James Scully; Michael Sheehan, Jack O’Driscoll, Seán Sheehan; David O’Leary, Paul Collins; Shane O’Leary, Tadhg Cullinane, Paudie Scully; Patrick Scully, Darren O’Donovan, John Cullinane.
Subs: Michael O’Reilly for T Cullinane (10, black card), Andrew Murphy for P Reidy (ht), David Farrell for M O’Reilly (57).
Randal Óg: Denis Lynch; Conor O’Connell, Seamus Crowley, Barry Lynch; Cian O’Neill, Shane Patterson, Ian Crowley; Conor O’Neill, Seamus Crowley; Patrick Galvin, Eoin O’Sullivan, Patrick Lynch; Barry O’Driscoll, Sam Kingston, Cathal Duggan.
Sub: Tomás White for S Kingston (50).
Referee: Liam O’Shea (Carbery Rangers).
