East Cork JAFC 3rd Round
Sat 25th April – Rathcormac
Erins Own 3-07 Carraig na bhFear 1-08
Carraig extied the East Cork Junior A Football Championship for 2015 with a disappointing 5 point defeat to a strong Erins Own team in Rathcormac. Three first half goals gave the Caherlag side a commanding lead which they never relinquished despite a strong Carraig fightback in the second half.
Carraig started well with an early point from the boot of Paul O’Keeffe, but Erins Own soon took a grip in the middle third and struck for a goal after 5 minutes from Kieran Murphy. The pressure on the Carraig goal was relentless in the opening quarter, with two further points and a second goal from a penalty on 10 minutes, leaving us trailing 2-02 to 0-01 early on. Carraig replied with two points from James Forde and Colm O’Reilly as the lads fought hard to get back into the game. A third Erins Own goal on 20 minutes was a real blow however as it came after a period of good possession for Carraig. Paul O’Keeffe did reply with a good point from play but Erins Own had the last score of the half, a point, to leave us trailing 3-03 to 0-04 at the short whistle and a big task ahead.
Carraig set about the task at hand well, an early point from a Colm O’Reilly free reduced the gap to 7, but Erins Own replied with the next two points to extend it again. In the 41st minute, our best move of the game lead to a well taken goal from Paul O’Keeffe, who found the corner of the net after a trademark slalom run through the defence. That reduced the margin to 6 and it was Carraigs turn to pile the pressure on. A few good chances went abegging as the sides traded points, before the Erins Own keeper produced a great save from Aidan Hegarty with just over 5 minutes remaining. A goal at that point and it was certainly game on again. Late points from Martin Hickey and Colm O’Reilly were not enough and in the end, we lost out by 5 points.
Commiserations to the team and their management, Teddy, Pat, William, David and Mick, who put in a lot of hard work over the last 4 months for this competition. In the end it was not to be and there was no doubt the better side on the night progressed. Well done to Erins Own,we wish them all the best for the remainder of the championship.
The club would like to extend its best wishes and a speedy recovery to Shane Horgan, who would have lined out at centre back but for an unfortunate injury picked up at work on Friday on the eve of the game.
Team:
R. Galvin
T. Sheehan, S. Casey, D. Coleman
J. Meehan, A. Dorgan, P. Geaney
T. Geaney, W. Spillane
A. Hegarty, M. Hickey, John Forde
C. O’Reilly, P. O’Keeffe, James Forde
Subs:
O. Crowley for W. Spillane
C. Burns for P. Geaney
S. O’Sullivan for D. Coleman
P. O’Sullivan for C. Burns
Scores:P. O’Keeffe 1-02, C. O’Reilly 0-03, James Forde, M. Hickey 0-01 each