By Declan Barron ​

After eighty minutes of non stop hurling it was Ballincollig who emerged victorious at Riverstown on last Saturday evening in the first round of the Evening Echo premier intermediate hurling championship. Referee Michael O’Mahony could well have blown up after Bill Cooper’s tremendous equalising point for Youghal in the final minute of extra time but in time added on in extra time, corner back Liam Jennings became the hero for Ballincollig as he landed the winning point to break the hearts of the Youghal boys who had fought tooth and nail throughout a great contest.
Both of these sides are expected to figure in the closing stages of this championship and while Youghal will now have to go the long way round, I expect them to recover from this defeat and feature again later on. There were some tremendous displays on both sides with Brendan Ring, unerring all night, Brett Moloney 0-5 from play, Nigel Roche, Bill Cooper, Conor Spillane and Brendan O’Sullivan all catching the eye for Youghal, while Rory Doherty, Conor Sexton, Ciáran O’Sullivan, Colin Harris, Stephen O’Donoghue and Liam Jennings were all top class for the winners.
There was little to choose between the sides throughout with the wind favouring Youghal in the first half and they used it to good effect with Brendan Ring from free’s and Brett Moloney showing to good effect. Bill Cooper too came up with a smashing goal on eight minutes and followed it up with a point to help Youghal to a 1-7 to 0-2 lead after a good first quarter. By half time the Youghal advantage was still seven points as Ballincollig had a good second quarter matching Youghal score for score with Conor Sexton, Niall Allen and Rory Doherty on target as Youghal led by 1-10 to 0-6 at the interval. It took a great save from Eoin Coleman to deny David Bowen a goal, but with the strength of the breeze the half time Youghal lead was far from secure.
On the resumption Ballincollig with two subs on began to make inroads into the Youghal lead as Rory Doherty and Conor Sexton shot four points between them while Emmett Ryle lost a good chance of a goal as Ballincollig were right back in the contest. The lead was back to a point at the three quarter stage as Rory Doherty edged Ballincollig closer with Brett Moloney eventually getting Youghal off the mark in the 47th minute with his 4th point from play. With ten minutes remaining the sides were level at 1-12 each after Ronan O’Driscoll shot to the net as the Youghal defence were under pressure, with goalkeeper Eoin Coleman having to hurry a clearance which went to O’Driscoll, who shot to the net for Ballincollig who then hit the front for the second time in the contest with Conor Sexton putting them ahead with a point from play.
Youghal had to dig deep with Brett Moloney coming up trumps again before Colin Harris looked to have won it for Ballincollig in normal time. Nigel Roche won a free for Youghal and the unerring Brendan Ring slotted over to send the game into extra time.
Youghal were now wind assisted again in the opening period and four Ring points added to another from Bill Cooper to just two from David Bowen and Doherty, left Youghal ahead by 1-20 to 1-17 after the first ten minutes of extra time.
On the turnover Brendan Ring put Youghal four to the good with a great point from play but back came Ballincollig with Rory Doherty breaking through to score a second goal for the Muskerry outfit. Emmett Ryle brought the sides level again before Rory Doherty converted from a 65 conceded under pressure by Coleman. Time was now almost up as Youghal chased an equaliser with Bill Cooper striking over from an acute angle to tie the scores once more. Extra time was up but referee Michael O’Mahony allowed play to continue with Youghal holding out until a clearance fell around midfield was picked up by Liam Jennings who slotted over the winning point for Ballincollig, much to the delight of their fans. It was heartbreak for Youghal as the final whistle sounded on the puck out to bring this tremendous contest to a finish.
Youghal will now await the loser from the Watergrasshill / Tracton contest in the second round in a few weeks time.
Youghal: B Ring 0-11, B Moloney 0-5, B Cooper 1-3, A Curtin 0-2 and Barry Ring 0-1.
Ballincollig: R Doherty 1-10, R O’Driscoll 1-0, C Sexton 0-4, C O’Sullivan, D Bowen, C Harris, N Allen, E Ryle and L Jennings 0-1 each.
Youghal: E Coleman, M Cronin, J Grace, B O’Sullivan, K Walsh, C Spillane, B Coleman, N Roche, B Ring, B Moloney, B Cooper, J Ormonde, A Curtin, B Ring and L Desmond. Subs used R Cunningham, J O’Mahony, C O’Mahony and S Twomey.
Ballincollig: F Kelly, L Jennings, N Galvin, JP Murphy, C Harris, S O’Donoghue, C O’Connor, C O’Sullivan, J O’Brien, N Allen, R Doherty, D Bowen, F Hickey, R O’Driscoll and C Sexton. Subs used A O’Donovan, E Ryle and K Kelleher.
Referee: Michael O’Mahony, Kilbrittain.
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The Evening Echo Intermediate Football Championship 1st Round
Youghal 1-11
Glanworth 1-10
Youghal deservedly progressed through to the next round of the Evening Echo Intermediate Football Championship by the narrowest of margins on Saturday night with a one point victory over Glanworth in a game with a touch of controversy late on.
There is no doubt, but Youghal deserved to win this one and got off to a tremendous start with three points scored after only two minutes of play and could have had a goal as well only for a top drawer save by the Glanworth keeper Thomas Fitzgibbon.
The first white flag was raised after just 41 seconds when Youghal wing forward Nigel Roche sent the ball over from a tight angle.
Immediately Youghal who were playing into the stiff breeze in the first half scored again straight from the kick out, this time the very impressive Conor O’Sullivan pointed to double the margin.
Again Youghal swarmed the Glanworth kick out and a ball to the left corner was met by Paul Moylan who slotted over the ball and Youghal couldn’t have asked for a better start.
Glanworth then had two scores from play from Michael Pierce, but back came Youghal again and Conor O’Sullivan was yet again on target with a superb point from play to re-establish the two point lead.
Glanworth’s best player by a mile, full forward Pierre O’Driscoll scored from a free, but in reply Paul Moylan sent a point over with a free after ten minutes of play.
O’Driscoll was on target again seconds later for Glanworth, but the excellent Ken Dempsey was on target himself minutes later for Youghal who were managing at this stage to keep the two point lead intact.
The next four minutes saw Glanworth score three unanswered points, a free and a point from O’Driscoll and on the 21st minute Michael Sheehan gave Glanworth the lead for the one and only time.
Youghal responded well and the defence was superb, dispelling wave after wave of attacks, forcing six wides out of the Glanworth forwards and when Youghal were awarded a free on the Glanworth ‘45’ few would have given Conor O’Sullivan a chance of getting the ball over, but a super strike saw the ball fly over and a white flag raised as the game was level and remained that way at the short whistle.
Youghal came out fired up and within seconds Paul Moylan had Youghal back in front with a well taken free.
O’Driscoll levelled with a pointed free of his own some ten minutes later as neither side could capitalise on some scoreable chances.
Conor O’Sullivan slotted two free’s for Youghal on the 45th and 47th minutes respectively and it took another O’Driscoll free to narrow the margin to one point with nine minutes remaining.
Youghal got a free on the Glanworth ‘21’ seconds later for an off the ball incident, spotted by the Banteer referee Conor Lane and rather than just settle for the point, Youghal took a quick free into full forward David O’Mahony.
O’Mahony turned brilliantly and drilled the ball into the goal to the delight of the large travelling support from Youghal, but it wasn’t quite over yet.
Paul Moylan then pointed a beautiful and crucial score for Youghal with seven minutes remaining, but then two moments of extremely poor refereeing, which could have had spelled disaster for Youghal.
Incident one concerned David Pyne of Glanworth falling untouched to the ground and a free was awarded and was duly slotted over by O’Driscoll.
Then a goal was awarded for Glanworth when it was clear to everyone in Castlelyons that the player who in the square scooped the ball off the ground into the net.
The referee consulted with his umpires for a minute, but despite the appeals of the Youghal players the green flag was waved and the goal stood.
With two minutes to go O’Driscoll made it a one point game with a pointed free, but despite late pressure Youghal held out for the win and Peter Queally’s men go marching into the next round.
Youghal’s Premier Intermediate Hurlers are in action in two weeks time ar Riverstown the home of Sarsfields where they take on Ballincollig, where Peter Queally is again the man in charge and this win in the Intermediate Football Championship will give the Youghal lads a much needed break from football and time to concentrate on Hurling.
Scorers for Youghal: Conor O’Sullivan 0-5 (3f) Paul Moylan 0-4 (3f) David O’Mahony 1-0, Ken Dempsey and Nigel Roche 0-2 each.
EOCHAILL: Pat Mackey; Brendan O’Sullivan, Paul O’Driscoll, Stephen Twomey; Michael Cronin, John Grace, Barry Ring (Cpt); Conor O’Sullivan, Damien Ring; James O’Mahony, Ken Dempsey, Paul Kelly; Nigel Roche, Paul Moylan, David O'Mahony.
GLANWORTH: Thomas Fitzgibbon; William Blackburn, Denis Gallagher (Cpt) Shane Kiely; Tommy Pierce, Brian Gallagher, Sean O’Keefe; David Pyne, Robert O’Driscoll; Chris Quirke, Ger O’Neill, Liam Cotter; Michael Pierce, Pierre O’Driscoll, Michael Sheehan.
Referee: Ger Lane (Banteer)
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