Rory Noonan
Minor Championship
St Finbarr’s 2-15
Ballincollig 1-5
THE champions are gone as the Barrs defeated Ballincollig in the Rebel Og Premier 1 MFC at CIT last night.
Defending champions, Ballincollig, were always going to be up against it, with the Barrs having an added incentive to win. Last week their minor secretary, John Gildea, passed away.
A minutes silence was held in his memory before the game and this added incentive to win in his memory was a factor last night. From the start the Barrs were on fire as they were dominating all over the pitch. Inside 10 minutes they were 1-6 to 0-1 in front and from here on there was only going to be one winner.
Credit to these young players they can be very proud of the way they honoured John’s memory. There were many pleasing aspects to the Barrs performance, their movement was superb and add in the fact they had 11 different scorers will be pleasing to their management.
Throw in some outstanding displays from the likes of Sam Ryan, Enda Dennehy, Ian Maguire and Kevin Hodgins and it couldn’t have gone much better for them on the night.
Ballincollig can’t be faulted for their efforts but with a relatively young squad they were always going to be up against it. For them Stephen Coughlan, Peter O’Neill and Morgan O’Mahony were the pick of their side.
The Barrs were off the mark after just 22 seconds when Hodgins pointed and with the likes of Maguire and Hines pointing they led by 0-6 to 0-1, Prendergast scoring for Ballincollig, after just eight minutes.
When Hodgins got their first goal in the tenth minute it was going to be an uphill battle even from this early stage for Ballincollig. Goulding, Hill and Dennehy all added points before O’Donovan gave Ballincollig some hope.
He first to re-act to a long ball in from Coughlan to punch the ball to the net to see his side trail 1-2 to 1-10 at the break.
O’Neill and O’Mahony pointed early in the second-half to reduce the deficit, but when Hill got the Barrs second goal any chance of a comeback was dashed.
Comyns, Goulding and Scannell added points as the Barrs led 2-13 to 1-4 after 44 minutes.
O’Donoghue was on target for Ballincollig with Ramsey getting two late points for the Barrs as they move on to face Michael’s in the quarter-final on this Thursday night at 6.45pm at CIT.
Scorers for St Finbarr’s: K Hodgins 1-2, E Hill 1-1, R Haines, J Goulding, B Ramsey 0-2 each, I Maguire, A Lyne, C O’Sullivan, E Dennehy, D Comyns (1f), D Scannell 0-1 each.
Ballincollig: B O’Donovan 1-0, M O’Mahony (2f) 0-2, M Prendergast, E O’Donoghue, P O’Neill 0-1 each.
St FINBARR’S: C Keane; D Quinn, S Ryan, C Walsh; A Lyne, P Kelleher, E Dennehy; I Maguire, D Scannell; J Goulding, D Comyns, R Haines; K Hodgins, E Hill, C O’Sullivan. Subs: E Comyns for R Haines, B Ramsey for E Hill, GMcCann for K Hodgins, L Arslan for C Walsh, M Russell for P Kelleher.
BALLINCOLLIG: S Hogan; C O’Donovan, D McDonnell, K O’Sullivan; D Kerstein, B O’Halloran, S Murphy; B O’Donovan, P O’Neill; R Noonan, C Dorgan, M Prendergast; M O’Mahony, S Coughlan, D O’Connor. Subs: S Bunnion for B O’Donovan, E O’Donoghue for D McDonnell, S O’Donoghue for M O’Mahony.
Ref: Kieran O’Regan, Ballyhea.
