KILMURRY 2-10
St JAMES 2-7
MATTHEW HURLEY REPORTS
A LATE St James rally wasn’t enough as an impressive Kilmurry side won out in this Bon Secours Cork JAFC quarter final.
The Ardfield side have still had a great year in winning the south-west junior A championship and will take a lot of learnings.
‘They’re the games you want to be playing, high class games,’ said a disappointed James’ player/manager Alan O’Shea.
‘They were a good team and we had to give it to them. We didn’t take our scores, they took theirs, that was the bottom line. They were sharper than us.’
The stats don’t lie in that regard. James’ had a shot conversion rate of 40 percent.
Muskerry champions Kilmurry on the other hand had a 57 percent conversion rate.
That included one wide in the first half.
Kilmurry upped the tempo early on with scores from William Buckley and Tomas Collins inside three minutes.
James’ responded well though as key men in their Carbery triumph James O’Driscoll, Aaron Hayes (2) and Frank Hayes all scored to give them a two-point advantage.
It was Kilmurry corner forward Padraig Berhanu, who was a menace all afternoon, that gave the mid Cork side a lead they would never relinquish. He cut inside the James’ rear-guard before slotting the ball to the bottom corner, 1-2 to 0-4 with 13 minutes gone.
That goal changed the momentum completely. William Ronan and Rory Duggan pointed to extend the Kilmurry lead before another goal came.
Liam Wall gathered the ball and shot for a point, it dropped short and looked like a safe gather for Niall Evans.
However, Berhanu put just enough pressure on the James’ goalkeeper and the ball went all the way to the net. 2-4 to 0-4, an uphill task for St James now.
Frank Hayes pointed a free to round off the opening half’s scoring, 2-4 to 0-5 at the short whistle.
‘The goals probably killed the momentum in the first half but we rallied in the second half, but we had too much to climb really. We always finish strong,’ O’Shea added.
‘All year we won the second half and that’s a good sign of a team but they were just sharper than us.’
That Ardfield second half mentality was on show once more here.
After Berhanu got his first point of the game on 37 minutes, Aaron Hayes pierced through the Kilmurry defence but was brilliantly denied by Jason McDonnell.
Micheál McCarthy (Donnycove) still managed to salvage a score out of that attack, 2-5 to 0-6.
When the Muskerry side hit the next three scores through Collins and Ryan Leahy (2), the scoreboard read 2-8 to 0-6 and the game looked done.
With eight minutes of normal time left, Aaron Hayes again went on a mazy run, but this time found the net and the Ardfield men had hope.
With O’Shea coming on in the last few minutes, James’ threw everything into a comeback.
Frank Hayes then fisted to the net after a brilliant assist by his namesake Aaron for a grandstand finale, 2-8 to 2-6.
Kilmurry stayed calm though and went straight down the other end instantly after conceding. Padraig Hinchion finished off a quick attack and James needed another three pointer.
Leahy converted a free three minutes into additional time before O’Shea hit the last score.
‘Next year could go the other way. You could see today that there wasn’t much between us. There’s nothing to fear. It’ll take a good team to beat Kilmurry,’ O’Shea concluded.
Scorers –
Kilmurry: Padraig Berhanu 1-1; Liam Wall 1-0; Ryan Leahy 0-3 (2f); Tomás Collins 0-2; William Buckley, William Ronan, Rory Duggan, Padraig Hinchion 0-1 each.
St James: Aaron Hayes, Frank Hayes (1f) 1-2 each; James O’Driscoll, Micheál McCarthy (Donnycove), Alan O’Shea (f) 0-1 each.
Kilmurry: Jason McDonnell; Brian Hinchion, Fionn Warren, Gearoid O’Mahony; Tomás Collins, William Ronan, Padraig Hinchion; Daniel Cahalane, Kyle Kelleher; Rory Duggan, Lawrence Aisling, Liam Wall; Padraig Berhanu, David McCarthy, William Buckley.
Subs: Ryan Leahy for W Buckley (37); Sean Curzon for D McCarthy (47); Kevin Barrett for L Aisling (61).
St James: Niall Evans; Micheál McCarthy (Brittas), James O’Sullivan, Tadgh Feen; Peter Whelton, Cristoir Hayes, Micheál McCarthy (Donnycove); Kevin O’Leary, James O’Driscoll; Kevin O’Brien, Aaron Hayes, Joseph O’Sullivan; Frank Hayes, Conor Hayes, Denis White.
Subs: Ian Evans for D White (18); David Hayes for Cristoir Hayes (30); Paul O’Sullivan for M McCarthy (D) (50); Sean O’Connor for P Whelton (52); Alan O’Shea for J O’Sullivan (56).
Referee: Brian Coniry (Crosshaven).
