This 3rd game was hugely important to both teams as the loser faced a relegation play off and the winner looked to a place in the 4th round draw. Happily Youghal came out on top.
Early points from J. O'Mahony and Nigel Roche had Youghal leading by two when Ormond accepted a long pass from Nigel Roche, operating far from his original position. He found himself in a one in one situation with Ballydesmond goalkeeper, Fergal O'Sullivan, and he cooly slotted the ball to the left corner of the net.
It may have been just 17 minutes in the game, but O'Mahony's goal - the first of two - represented a real killer blow to Ballydesmond who fielded without Cork inter-county forward, Donnacha o'Connor. This goal, too, was a real gem. Corner forward, Paul Moylan set it up with his pin point pass to James O'Mahony, who found the Ballydesmond defence too slow to react and he weaved his way through for a brillant score.
Ken Dempsey field some high balls brillantly at midfield and Ballydesmond, who were slow and deliberate in their build up, found it difficult to get the ball into an attacking position. When they did, a disciplined Youghal defence gave their forwards very little leeway. The dominence of Ken Dempsey at midfield was reinforcred by Nigel Roche dropping back and provided the Youghal forwards with an abundance possession.
Nigel Roche and Johnathan Ormonde were turning up everywhere for Youghal and their clever distribution had the Ballydesmond defence in array. The goal that finally put the game to bed came in the 54th minute when Jas O'Mahony got possession 30 metres out and left the defence flat footed once again.
Team: Pat Mackey, Andrew Sheehan, Paul O'Driscoll (Capt), Stephen Twomey, Paul Kelly, John Grace, Ken Dempsey, Damien Ring, Shea Lyons, Jonathan Ordmonde, Brendan Coleman, Brendan O'Sullivan, Paul Moylan, Nigel Roche, James O'Mahony