Youghal by a point in Castlelyons

By Derek Kiely

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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