Monday, August 27, 2012
Bandon 1-16 Youghal 0-6

Twelve months ago they fulfilled a dream to win the Cork IHC, now Bandon are in the Premier final.
It was a fiercely determined west Cork side that came to Páirc Uí Rinn for the second semi-final on Saturday. It mattered little they were up against an in-form Youghal who had contested last season’s final. Bandon won by 13 points, restricting the sea-siders to one point from play. The fairytale continues.

Pádraig Crowley has seen it all both as a hurler and selector and said this is big achievement for the club.

"This is a big win for us. It is the first time in 38 years to be in this e final. We won it in 1974. when we beat Midleton. It is great for the town.

"I don’t think we were outstanding. We played well enough and were quietly confident. We have a good forward line, our backs played well too but I’m sure Ballinhassig will have something to say about that as well. Overall we are very pleased.

"In the end we were very comfortable winners. We have a good blend. We worked very hard for this game. We were very convincing winners against Carrigaline last week. I partly guessed coming up here tonight we were in with a big shout. The fact we had the game last week was a big help to us."

One of the contrasting features was the free-taking. Brendan Ring had a rare off night for Youghal whereas Ronan Crowley converted with more ease.

Youghal started out with the wind, but it was Bandon’s Mark Sugrue, Ronan Crowley and Michael Cahalane who were moving better, pushing Bandon 0-5 to 0-2 to the front.

Bandon could have had two goals. The first effort skimmed over the bar from Sugrue and the second was a brilliant point blank save by Ritchie Cunningham from Ronan Crowley. Yet, Bandon finished out the half 0-9 to 0-5 ahead.

The second 30 minutes was one-way traffic as Bandon didn’t let up. All six backs and midfield brought their A game.

They hurled with incredible passion and pace and their lively forward line will take some stopping. Ronan Crowley notched five more points. Then, came the defining moment when Payne’s perseverance paid dividends.

Cahalane sent in a long delivery and Payne did well to win possession before finding the net. Game over, 1-15 to 0-6 and it was a Payne point that brought the curtain down on a memorable evening for Bandon and their coach Teddy McCarthy.

Crowley added: "We have a great manager. Teddy is after doing a mighty job. The first year he came on board [2011] it took the lads a while to get used to Teddy’s style of coaching. We bought into him big time. He is a great motivator," added Crowley.

Their attention will turn to local football championship next weekend. Then, it will be full steam ahead for the county hurling final.

Amazingly, the Bandon line out was not listed on the official match programme on Saturday. It was the Glen Rovers senior hurling team instead!

Scorers for Bandon: R Crowley 0-8 (6fs), R Payne 1-2, M Sugrue 0-4, M Cahalane 0-2.

Scorers for Youghal: B Ring 0-5fs, J O’Mahony 0-1.

BANDON: J McSweeney; J O’Donovan, J Burke, P Crowley; E O’Donovan, D Lucey, J Walsh; J Harrington, C Dullea; N O’Rourke, M Sugrue, D Crowley; M Cahalane, R Payne, R Crowley.

Subs: J McCarthy for N O’Rourke (42), K Hurley for J Harrington, J Hickey for R Payne (both 57), A Johnson for M Sugrue (60).

YOUGHAL: R Cunningham; Barry Ring, J Grace, S Twomey; B Goggin, C Spillane, D Ring; N Roche, J O’Mahony; A Curtin, B Coleman, B Maloney; J Ormonde, A Frahill O’Connor, Brendan Ring.

Subs: M O Croinin for J Ormonde (44).

Referee: K Murphy (Nemo Rangers). 

Bandon 1-16, Youghal 0-06
YOUGHAL would have been slight favourites for this one ahead of Saturday nights throw in at Pairc Ui Rinn against the newly promoted Bandon who have been turning heads all year in the Cork County Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship.
Youghal finished their last two games against Tracton and Blarney by half time, so their confidence was extremely high going in to this one, but sadly on a night when Youghal did not play even close to their potential, the favourites tag was well and truly torn up as Bandon played impeccable hurling from start to finish to book their place in the 2012 Cork County Championship Final after a dominant second half performance where they restricted Youghal to just on solitary pointed free.
Youghal started brightly with two quick scores from Brendan Ring and James O'Mahony but back came Bandon with five scores without reply from Cahalane, Sugru and Crowley and the warning signs were loud and clear, even at this early stage of the match that Bandon were a very good side indeed.
Ring replied for Youghal, but in return Bandon struck over three points to further extend their lead to five points. The sides exchanged scores and Brendan Ring pointed on the stroke of half time to leave four points between the sides at the break and still plenty there for Youghal to play for.
Youghal started the second half well with a couple of chances going close, but Bandon scored first. Eventually on the 36th minute Brendan Ring pointed to leave just four points between the sides, but this is where Bandon just took off and left everyone for dead, with score after score.
Teddy McCarthy's side had a fluency to their play finding passes out wide, left and right, Youghal just didn't fire and nothing went right for them in pocession, whereas Bandon were very accurate with their shooting and played a blemish free second half.
Ronan Crowley sent of four second half points and Roy Payne struck the net on the 50th minute, plus he added two pointed scores from play to complete his sides second half tally of 1-07 off these two players.
Bandon were worthy winners on the night, nobody could argue with that and now they face the challenge of Ballinhassig in the final.
On a final note from a Youghal perspective, in my opinion a lot of teams could implode or fall asunder after losing a County Final, but the Youghal players rallied this year and Peter Queally, his selectors, back room staff should be praised and compliments to put themselves to within just 60 minutes of making it back to the final again this year.
Peter and the boys have worked hard all year to bring joy and pride to the club and when you consider that just seven days prior to this game ten of our hurlers had to play an extremely tough Cork County Football Championship quarter final against Adrigole in Carrigadrohid, it tells you the commitment of our players.
It must be remembered and sometimes in these strange commercial days of sport it gets forgotten, that the players, the manager and his selectors and back room staff are the most important people in the club at any age level or any grade.
I hope that as many people who travel for hurling will travel to support the lads in their bid to beat Adrigole in the County quarter final, after all its more or less the same players in our club isn't it?
Scorers for Bandon: R Crowley 0-8 (5f) R Payne 1-2, R Sugru 0-4, M Cahalane 0-2.
Scorers for Youghal: Brendan Ring 0-5f, J Omahony 0-1.

BANDON: J McSweeney; P Crowley, J Burke, J O'Donovan (Cpt); E O'Donovan, D Lucey, J Walsh; I Harrington, D Crowley; N O'Rourke, M Sugru, C Dullea; M Cahalane, R Payne, R Crowley.
Subs: J McCarthy for N O'Rourke (50) A Johnston for M Sugru (56)

YOUGHAL: R Cunningham; Barry Ring, J Grace, S Twomey; B Goggin, C Spillane, D Ring; N Roche, J O'Mahony; A Curtin, B Coleman, B Moloney; J Ormonde, Brendan Ring, A Frahill-O'Connor.
Subs: M Ó Croinin for J Ormonde (52) K Walsh for S Twomey (54)
Referee: Kevin Murphy (Nemo Rangers)

Cork County Intermediate
Football Championship
Quarter Final
Youghal 2-08,Adrigole 1-11
YOUGHAL and Adrigole will have to meet for the third time in the 2012 Intermediate Football Championship, following a dramatic draw in Carrigadrohid last Saturday afternoon, when Youghal’s James O’Mahony became the hero with two late strikes, raising a green and a white flag to break West Cork hearts.
Youghal had to suffer a flying start from the men from Beara who had a six points to no score lead after 11 minutes following a goal from Thomas O’Sullivan and three points without reply.
Youghal registered their first score on the 19th minute when Alan Frahill-O’Connor pointed a free and that was the spark that ignited a rallying run from Youghal. James O’Mahony pointed from play four minutes later from a tough angle, seconds later and Jonathan Ormonde put one over from a placed ball and the sides were level on the 26th minute when a long ball in was pounced upon by wing forward Paul Kelly who headed for the goal, took one look and put the Adrigole keeper the wrong way, slotting the ball home into the bottom right hand corner.
The game was now in the boiling pot and Youghal were beginning to play some powerful football, but Adrigole had other ideas, fouling at will and picking up no less than five first half yellow cards along the way.
One would have to question how the Beara based club got away with so much, I will leave that one up to your imagination, but from my view it was clinical fouling and most of the football when played was by the men from Eochaill.
Just before half time Adrigole regained the lead off a pointed score from Kevin Goggin, but back came Youghal with Jonathan Ormonde pointing beautifully from play.
Adrigole had the last score of the first half and led by the narrowest of margins at the short whistle.
Youghal had to play into the stiff breeze in the second half and after just two minutes the sides were level again when Alan Frahill-O’Connor pointed, but then Adrigole put over five points without reply and the doubters may have thought the game was slipping away, but with ten minutes to go, Peter Queally’s men showed pride, guts and determination and fought their hearts out to get back into this one.
Jonathan Ormonde was on target on the 50th minute with his third point of the match after a well worked move.
Barry Goggin showed the way forward with a great point on the 53rd minute, but back came Adrigole with a point on the 54th minute to leave four points between the sides.
Commeth the hour commeth the man and on the 55th minute James O’Mahony picked the ball up on the Adrigole ‘45’.
The Youghal centre fielder drove towards the goal on to the ‘30’ and broke a tackle, forward to the ‘21’ and cut to the left leaving the men in red and white in his wake. He decided to shoot in around the ‘13’ meter mark and his shot whizzed past the Adrigole keeper and sent the travelling Youghal faithful wild as the ball rattled the Adrigole net.
With just one point between the sides Youghal had two nerve wracking wides and the clock was ticking.
On the 62nd minute a low ball from Adrian Curtin somehow found James O’Mahony who held his nerve and slotted the ball over to level this championship game and from the resulting kick out the Referee blew the final whistle to send this Cork County Intermediate Football Championship Quarter Final to a replay.
Youghal didn’t play to their full potential, but still got the deserved result and it is a good sign of a side that didn’t play their best are still undefeated in this year’s championship.
Scorers for Youghal: James O’Mahony 1-02, Jonathan Ormonde 0-03, Paul Kelly 1-00, Alan Frahill-O’Connor 0-02, Barry Goggin 0-02.
Scorers for Adrigole: T O’Sullivan 1-01, K O’Sullivan 0-03, K Goggin and D Harrington 0-02 each, B O’Sullivan, S O’Shea and K O’Sullivan 0-1 each.
YOUGHAL TEAM: Pat Mackey; Aaron Kenny, Paul O’Driscoll (Cpt) Alan Fox; Barry Ring, John Grace, Damien Ring; James O’Mahony, Connor Spillane; Nigel Roche, Barry Goggin, Paul Kelly; Alan Frahill-O’Connor, Brendan Ring, Jonathan Ormonde.
Subs used: Micheal Ó Croinin for Alan Fox (40) David O’Mahony for Connor Spillane (46) Adrian Curtin for Paul Kelly (50)
ADRIGOLE: W O’Sullivan; P O’Sullivan, T O’Shea, C O’Shea; L Harrington, D Carey, K O’Sullivan; B Goggin, S O’Shea; K Goggin, B O’Sullivan, K O’Sullivan; G Green, T O’Sullivan, D Harrington.
Referee: Daithi Ó Murnain (Macroom)

Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship Quarter Final
Youghal 3-17, Blarney 1-09
YOUGHAL will fly the East Cork flag again this year in the Cork County Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship after crushing Blarney in Páirc Uí Rinn last Saturday evening.
Up until the 10th minute the sides were level at 0-3 each after points from Youghal's Nigel Roche, Brendan Ring and Andrew Curtin all from play, in reply Blarney had three from play also, but Youghal went into full drive on the 14th minute when a long ball in found the excellent James O'Mahony who met the ball brilliantly and rattled the Blarney net with the games opening goal.
From here on in it was immaculate hurling from Youghal who carried on the high speed demolition job on Blarney just like they did against Tracton.
Blarney scored a point on the 15th minute and it was to be their last score for 25 minutes as Youghal swept up any sign of an attack and punished the Blarney side at will throughout the remainder of the first half.
Points started to fly over as Brendan Ring pointed from play on the 17th minute, followed by a superb point over the shoulder from Brendan Coleman seconds later.
Ring pointed on the 19th minute, Youghal first score from a placed ball in the game, then Nigel Roche who worked his socks off throughout the match had his second point on the 24th minute.
Jonathan Ormonde got in on the act on the 27th minute with a point from play, then as half time approached Brendan Ring sent over two scores from play as the Youghal Captain showed what a classy hurler he is.
The first half finished with a superb point from way out in the right corner where Alan Frahill-O'Connor sent one over from an almost impossible angle, to leave Youghal ten points clear at the short whistle and just like the Tracton match, Youghal had the game sewn up at half time.
The second half started brilliantly for Youghal.
Looking at the Youghal boys they started the second half like they were the side in arrears, driving in to the Blarney defence and just three minutes in the ball fell to Brett Moloney who slammed the ball into the Blarney net with a great goal.
Seconds later Brendan Coleman pointed beautifully which was followed by a Brendan Ring free and Youghal led by a massive 15 points.
Blarney scored from their only threat corner forward Mark Cremin, but this point was the first for the opposition since the 15th minute of the first half in this very one sided Quarter Final.
Immediately Youghal replied through Brett Moloney with a fantastic point, blocked on the left shoulder the wing forward calmly picked the ball back up and struck the sliotar over off the right shoulder to send yet another white flag up in favour of Youghal.
Cremin pointed three in a row for Blarney, but a gigantic free from deep inside the Youghal half from Damien Ring went flying over the bar to send the travelling Youghal faithful in to rapturous applause for such a well taken score.
Moloney added to that score with one of his own on the 51st minute to leave Youghal leading by 16 points, Blarney through Cremin had one back for them, but then on the 55th minute a long free in found the stick of Brett Moloney who deflected the ball goal ward, Andrew Curtin read the situation beautifully and got in behind the entire Blarney defence and scored Youghal's third goal, leaving 18 points between the sides.
Blarney did get a very late consolation gaol, but the final score of the match fell to Andrew Curtin and when Referee David Copps blew the final whistle Youghal had very comfortably booked their place in the Cork County Premier Intermediate Hurling Semi Final for the second year in a row, where the opposition will be Inniscarra.
Scorers for Youghal: Brendan Ring 0-6 (2f) Brett Moloney 1-02, Andrew Curtin 1-02, James O'Mahony 1-0, Nigel Roche 0-2, Brendan Coleman 0-2, Jonathan Ormonde 0-1, Damien Ring 0-1, Alan Frahill-O'Connor 0-1.
Scorers for Blarney: M Cremin 0-5,D McSweeney 1-0, B Hurley, O O'Connor, P O'Sullivan and P O'Driscoll 0-1 each.
YOUGHAL: Ritchie Cunningham; Barry Ring, John Grace, Stephen Twomey; Barry Goggin, Conor Spillane, Damien Ring; Nigel Roche, James O'Mahony; Andrew Curtin, Brendan Coleman, Brett Moloney; Jonathan Ormonde, Brendan Ring (Captain) Alan Frahill-O'Connor.
Substitute: Ken Dempsey for Jonathan Ormonde (56)
BLARNEY: P Hallissey; J Barrett, D McSweeney, P O'Leary; J Jordan, J Hughes, M O'Leary; D Cronin, B O'Connell; E McCarthy (Cpt) B Hurley, O O'Connor; P O'Driscoll, P O'Sullivan, M Cremin.
Subs: S Mulcahy for E McCarthy (HT) J Hurley for O O'Connor (35) D Walsh for M Cremin (57)
Referee: David Copps (Ballyhea)