Kilmurry 0-11
Éire Óg 0-4
BRENDAN KENNEALLY REPORTS
KILMURRY weren’t forced to work too hard to book their spot in the semi-finals of the Ross Oil Mid Cork Junior Football Championship.
This quarter-final at Coachford was a disappointing affair. Kilmurry were on top from the start and dominated the first half, leading by 0-4 to 0-0 at half time, yet not happy as they had kicked nine wides in that half hour.
Éire Óg were fine in defence but their attack was very limited. The second half saw the Ovens men improve, sharing six points equally with Kilmurry in the third quarter, but Brian Hinchion’s fine point in the 52nd minute, followed by another from Pádraig Berhanu five minutes later presented Éire Óg with a challenging deficit they were unable to overcome.
Even the late introduction of former Cork great Ciarán Sheehan could not reverse their fortunes.
The first half was dreary with deficiencies in the Éire Óg attack becoming obvious from an early stage. The Kilmurry defence, with James O’Mullane and Tomás Collins prominent in the half-back line, was on top. With Kyle Kelleher strong at midfield, the flow of play was towards the Éire Óg goal. But Kilmurry managed only four points in that half, three from William Buckley frees, and some of their shooting left a lot to be desired.
A fourth-minute point from Buckley was the only score of the opening quarter. Buckley pointed his second free in the 18th minute and Ryan Leahy added one from play three minutes later, followed by another from Buckley who had to retire injured before the interval with his side four points clear against a scoreless Éire Óg side.
The third quarter saw the teams trade point for point. Tomas Collins kicked over a 45 for Kilmurry. Hugh Murphy replied with the first score for the Ovens men in the 33rd minute. James O’Mullane and Liam Wall for Kilmurry swapped points with Sam O’Driscoll (2) for Éire Óg. It was 0-7 to 0-3 after 50 uninspiring minutes, but Kilmurry were not far enough in front to relax.
In the 52nd minute, Pádraig Berhanu set up Brian Hinchion for a point. When Berhanu kicked another five minutes later, Kilmurry were in a much better place. Even though Liam Sheehan took a fine point for Éire Óg, Kilmurry finished with two points from injury-time frees to emerge clear winners.
Next up for Kilmurry are Canovee in the semi-finals in early September.
Scorers - Kilmurry: W Buckley 0-3 (f); T Collins 0-2 (1f, 1 45); R Leahy, J O’Mullane, L Wall, B Hinchion, P Berhanu, J Ryan (f) 0-1 each. Éire Óg: S O’Driscoll 0-2 (f); H Murphy; L Sheehan 0-1 each.
Kilmurry: Jason McDonnell; Brian Hinchion, Kevin Barrett, Gearóid O’Mahony; Tomás Collins, James O’Mullane, Padraig Hinchion; Kyle Kelleher, Lawrence Asling; Sean Curzon, Liam Wall, William Ronan; Ryan Leahy, Conor Kelleher, William Buckley. Subs: Joe Ryan for W Buckley (inj, 29), Padraig Berhanu for L Asling (38), Rory Duggan for S Curzon (40), Fionn Warren for R Leahy (50), Daniel Cahalane for K Barrett (inj, 58).
Éire Óg: Eoin Kelleher; Cathal Mullins, John Kelleher, Fiachra Landers; Denny Murphy, Adam McCarthy, Kevin Cooper; Hugh Murphy, Liam Sheehan; Oisín O’Shea, Jack Sheehan, Sam O’Driscoll; Keith O’Riordan, Liam Murphy, Diarmuid Dillon. Subs: David Casey for D Dillon (ht), Matt Brady for J Sheehan (ht), Graham Moynihan for L Murphy (40), Ciarán Sheehan for K O’Riordan, Colm Quigley for F Landers (both 55).
Referee: Dave Murnane (Macroom).
