In-form Gould brothers inspire Macroom win

Macroom 2-14 Fermoy 1-7

Brothers John, Fintan and David, played starring roles for Macroom as they defeated Fermoy in the opening round of the Evening Echo IFC.

Fintan and David scored 1-9 of their side’s tally, the latter scoring 1-5, as Macroom secured their place in round three.

However, Fintan looked to be troubled by a hamstring injury at the final whistle and it remains to be seen if he will be fit to line out with the county seniors against Monaghan tomorrow.

A youthful Macroom side got off to a lively start when David Gould kicked two points inside the opening five minutes.

Macroom took a firm grip on the game when he crashed home a splendid goal after a great pass from Olan Murphy, and when the same player added another point to give his side a 1-3 to nil lead after 10 minutes, it looked very much a case of how much the mid-Cork side would win by.

Fermoy struggled to get out of their own half and Fintan Gould stretched Macroom’s lead to 1-5 to nil by the end of the first quarter with two excellent long-range points from frees.

Fermoy scored a badly needed goal in the 17th minute when Richard Kelleher drove the ball across the face of the Macroom goal for Alan O’Connor to touch home.

That goal gave Fermoy a huge lift and when O’Connor added a point, they were just a kick of a ball in arrears after 20 minutes.

However Macroom’s football was excellent and in a great last 10 minutes the Gould brothers kicked over five points, Fintan claiming three, to go in at the break 1-10 to 1-3 in front.

Despite wind advantage in the second half, Fermoy could make no impression on a solid Macroom defence in which Eoin O’Mahony and John Angland were excellent.

David Gould and Olan Murphy continued to dominate and four points in-a-row, two by Murphy, had the mid-Cork side 1-14 to 1-4 in front at the end of the third quarter.

Substitute Mark O’Sullivan finished a great passing movement to the net in the 55th minute as Macroom ran out comfortable winners.

Scorers: Macroom: D. Gould 1-5 (0-2 frees); F. Gould 0-4 (0-2 frees); M. O’Sullivan 1-0; G. Morris, O. Murphy 0-2 each; S. Dunne 0-1. Fermoy; A. O’Connor 1-1; D. Galvin 0-5 (0-3 frees); A. O’Callaghan 0-1.

MACROOM: J. O’Connell; C. Murray, E. O’Mahony, P. Lynch; J. Angland, C. Murphy, M. Cahill; J. Gould, F. Gould; D. Deasy, G. Morris, S. Dunne; D. Gould, O. Murphy, S. Kiely.

Subs: A. O’Shea for Dunne; M. O’Sullivan for Deasy.

FERMOY: R. O’Sullivan; B. Kiernan, B. O’Callaghan, C. O’Kane; M. Hennessy, T. Gumbridge, N. Crowley; P. Hickey, R. Kelleher; D. Galvin; T. Higgins, N. Lardner; A. O’Connor, A. O’Callaghan, I. O’Callaghan. Subs: S. Kelleher for Kiernan; P. Lonergan for Lardner.

Referee: N. Barrett (Carrigtwohill).