Castletownbere knew their fate very early on in the county junior ‘B' inter-divisional football final at Pairc Ui Rinn.
RUSSELL ROVERS 3-15
CASTLETOWNBERE 1-10
NOEL HORGAN REPORTS
CASTLETOWNBERE knew their fate very early on in the county junior ‘B’ inter-divisional football final at Pairc Ui Rinn.
They were on the back foot from the outset, and Russell Rovers wasted little time in transferring their superiority to the scoreboard, bagging six points before Dean Murphy got CTB off the mark in the 15th minute.
As if to punish the West-Cork men for their audacity, Josh Beausang fired in a goal for Russell Rovers two minutes later, and they continued to pile on the punishment before the break.
Brian Hartnett claimed their second goal at the second attempt virtually ón the stroke of half time, having initially been denied by a superb save from CTB custodian David Kelly.
Kelly, who had earlier deflected a cracking drive from Josh Beausang over the bar, certainly did his bit to try and keep CTB’s ship afloat in the first half, but it was a hopeless task, such was the enormity of their problems outfield.
Turning over 2-9 to 0-3 in arrears, Castletownbere shaped up better after the interval when they were unlucky not to grab an early goal, with Sean O’Regan’s fisted effort on a Dean Murphy ‘45’ going over via the crossbar.
With Donagh O’Sullivan and Cormac Whelan chipping in with excellent scores from play, they cut the gap to nine points, 2-10 to 0-7, inside 38 minutes before Russell Rovers raised the tempo again to rule out any remote chance of a
recovery by the losers.
CTB’s next two points came in quick succession from Jason Walsh, making it 2-14 to 0-10, but Russell Rovers added a third goal in the 54th minute, courtesy of Brian Hartnett, who expertly converted a penalty won by substitute James McGrath.
To their credit, Castletownbere never gave up the fight, and their pluck and perseverance was fittingly rewarded with a consolation goal, which came from Cormac Whelan, who deftly fisted a Liam Hanley delivery to the net near the end.
Hanley, Jason Walsh and Dean Murphy up front, Donagh O’Sullivan at midfield, and Fiachra Murphy, Sean Bán O’Sullivan and Sean Walsh at the back did most to keep the Castletownbere flag flying over the hour, not to mention netminder David Kelly, who capped his five-star contribution with another splendid save in the dying seconds.
Brian Hartnett, Josh Beausang, Chris Ruddy, Kieran Walsh, John Paul Ivers and Eoghan O’Sullivan were numbered among the leading lights in a rampant Russell Rovers side that hadn’t a weak link.
Scorers
Russell Rovers: B Hartnett 2-1 (1-0 penalty), C Ruddy 0-7 (4f), J Beausang 1-3, F Murray, E O’Sullivan, L Duggan-Murray, JP Ivers 0-1 each. Castletownbere: C Whelan 1-1, D Murphy 0-3 (1f), J Walsh 0-2, A Hurley (f), S O’Regan, DO’Sullivan, F Murphy 0-1 each.
Russell Rovers: D Ruddy; A Beausang, JP Ivers, K O’Brien; P Lane, E O’Sullivan, D O’Brien; J Kennefick, K Walsh; E McGrath, C Ruddy, F Murray; J Beausang, B Hartnett, B Whelehan.
Subs: L Duggan-Murray for Lane, 26, K Moynihan for Murray, ht, D Moynihan for O’Sullivan, 42, D Whelehan for D O’Brien, 45, J McGrath for C Ruddy, 51, A Archer for B Whelehan, 55.
Castletownbere: D Kelly; C O’Sullivan, SB O’Sullivan, S Walsh; J O’Neill, C Murphy, F Murphy; D O’Sullivan, L Hanley; C Whelan, J Walsh, M Murphy; A Hurley, D Murphy, S O’Regan.
Subs: D Nolan for M Murphy, ht, C Power for O’Neill, ht, G Hurley for O’Regan, 47, J Musgrove for D Murphy, 52, D Wiseman for C O’Sullivan, 55, C Murphy for Hurley, 61.
Referee: E Walsh (Freemount)
