Murphy scoring ace as Beara see off Youghal

By Ian Cusack Courtesy of The Irish Examiner.

Beara 0-14 Youghal 0-07
Beara enjoyed a comfortable passage through to the Cork U21AFC semi-final with a comprehensive victory over Youghal in Macroom on Saturday.
A clinical spell at the start of both halves effectively killed Youghal off, leaving them six points behind with twenty minutes remaining.

The East Cork outfit were far too dependent on individual brilliance from Dale O’Donoghue, James O’Mahony and David Scanlon while Beara possessed a deadly weapon in the shape of Dean Murphy who scored 0-8 from full-forward.

Beara selector Finbarr Harrington believes his team’s powerful opening was the crucial factor:

"We knew coming down here we couldn’t let Youghal get on top of us," he said.

"We saw Youghal playing in the East Cork final and they are a tough, tenacious team and we knew if they got on top of us that we would then struggle so we knew we had to get going from the start and luckily for us we had a good start.

Beara hit top gear from the throw-in with Brian Terry O’Sullivan and Connie Shea dominating in midfield while Seán Terry O’Sullivan and Dean Murphy proved their effectiveness in front of goal with an early brace each putting their side four points up inside six minutes.

Murphy knocked over another before Adrian Curtin finally opened Youghal’s account, converting a free on the ten minute mark.

Despite dictating proceedings, Beara’s scoring touch seemed to desert them and Youghal looked dangerous on their rare forays into Beara territory. O’Donoghue was unlucky not to net when he got on the end of an O’Mahony pass, his effort flying just over for a point.

Youghal had the final say when David O’Mahony kicked a late point to leave Beara just 0-7 to 0-4 ahead.

Just as they had done in the first half, Beara came flying out of the traps after the changeover and four points without reply settled the contest.

Youghal finally enjoyed something of a purple patch with 15 minutes remaining and points from Scanlon, O’Mahony and Curtin restored some respectability to the scoreboard before Murphy struck a hat-trick of late points to hammer home Beara’s superiority.

Scorers for Beara: D Murphy 0-8 (4fs), J Walsh 0-3 (f), ST O’Sullivan 0-2, D Harrington 0-1.

Scorers for Youghal: A Curtin 0-3fs, D O’Mahony, J O’Mahony, D Scanlon, D O’Donoghue 0-1 each.

BEARA: A Dunne (Urhan); D Cronin (Urhan); L Harrington (Adrigole); M O’Neill (Adrigole); E Murphy (Garnish); F Sheehan (Garnish); C O’Neill (Adrigole); BT O’Sullivan (Garnish); C Shea (Adrigole); ST O’Sullivan (Garnish); D Harrington (Adrigole); H Sullivan (Garnish); TJ O’Sullivan (Adrigole); D Murphy (Castletownbere); J Walsh (Castletownbere).

Subs: C McElhinney (Glengarrif) for Sheehan (ht), F Dwyer (Urhan) for M O’Neill (ht), D Murphy (Castletownbere) for D Harrington (49), L Daly (Urhan) for C O’Neill (59).

YOUGHAL: S O’Sullivan; D Power; A Kenny; A Curtin; R O’Sullivan; M Cronin; P O’Sullivan; D O’Mahony; A Daly; B Donoghue; J O’Mahony; D Scanlon; A O’Connor; D O’Donoghue; A Curtin.

Subs: K Coyne for A Curtin (12), C Keenaghan for Kenny (50).

Referee: D Murnane (Macroom).