Griffin spurs Clon to thrilling victory

Clonakilty 2-7, Imokilly 1-9

Griffin, who tormented the Imokilly defence all through with his uncanny control of the greasy ball, might have had a hat-trick but for a magnificent save by Imokilly keeper MJ Cremin midway through the second-half which denied the Clon full-forward, who finished with 2-2 to his credit.

In the most difficult of conditions for football, Griffin struck for his first goal after two minutes and it helped his side to stay in the game after the East Cork divisional team threatened to take complete control.

Midfield became the key area and here the divisional pair of Kieran Murphy and Timmy McCarthy lorded it over Clon’s Brendan Walsh and Tony Anglin, although to be fair to Walsh, he set up Griffin for the first goal and had a hand in the second.

Fielding five county senior hurlers, Imokilly wasted two great chances of early points when Diarmuid O’Sullivan kicked two close-in frees wide and those misses were to come back and haunt them. Moreover because Derek Barrett was far more successful after he took over the freetaking duties, pointing three from difficult angles.

The physical strength of Imokilly was a telling factor, particularly in the opening half. In defence, Barry Fitzgerald, Noel Furlong and Dónal Óg Cusack gave little away. But it was the powerful play of Sean Farrell at centre-forward, from where he landed two excellent points, that caused most problems for the Clon defence.

Imokilly settled well after Griffin’s opening goal and, playing some terrific football in the wretched conditions, they struck back strongly with Joe Deane doing a lot of excellent work up front. Points by Ger Holland and Derek Barrett had the deficit down to the minimum after 12 minutes before Imokilly’s persistent pressure earned them a goal a minute later.

It followed after Derek Barrett’s effort came back off the post to the unmarked Joe Deane and he coolly slotted home from five metres. Clon weathered the Imokilly pressure well and they were level at the end of the opening quarter after Brendan Walsh and Conrad Murphy kicked a point apiece.

The treacherous underfoot conditions made it impossible for players to hold their feet but Clon adapted better and following a marvellous move upfield, they were denied a goal by a wonderful save from Imokilly keeper MJ Cremin, who twisted his body in mid air to deflect Sean Quirke’s piledriver out for a fruitless 45.

That miss seemed to rattle the West Cork side as they faded for the rest of the half and Imokilly, with Farrell using his strength to great effect, landed those two excellent points and another by Deane had them 1-5 to 1-2 in front at the break.

Credit to Clon coach Owen O’Mahony and fellow selectors. They weren’t slow to ring the changes and the introduction of Timmy O’Sullivan who did a splendid marking job on Joe Deane, and Howard Kenny, had the desired effect. Minutes after the restart, Pádraig Griffin waltzed his way past a couple of defenders, but was again denied a certain goal by another truly magnificent save by goalkeeper Cremin.

While scores continued to be scarce due to the conditions which forced endless mistakes by both sets of forwards, Imokilly were still three points to the good by the end of the third quarter after the teams shared four points between them, an improving Conrad Murphy scoring Clon’s brace.

Clon’s pace was now becoming very evident and was illustrated by a brilliant goal by Griffin in the 50th minute which tied the game for the second time. Playing the ball superbly out of their own defence, Griffin took off on another of those exciting solo runs,of his, exchanged passes with substitute John Connolly before billowing the Imokilly net for a textbook score.

Clon were rampant as Griffin continued to weave his magic, knocking over two points to put his side 2-7 to 1-7 in front with seven minutes to go.

Credit to Imokilly, however. They refused to give it up and pounded the Clon defence in search of an equaliser, but the best they could manage were two points from frees by Derek Barrett before the referee’s final whistle three minutes into injury time, brought huge relief for the West Cork men.

Scorers for Clonakilty - P. Griffin 2-2, C. Murphy 0-3 (0-1 free), B. Walsh, H. Kenny 0-1 each.

Imokilly - D. Barrett 0-4 (0-3 frees), J. Deane 1-1, S. Farrell 0-3, G. Holland 0-1.

CLONAKILTY: E. Harte; C. O’Neill, D. O’Brien, L. Lyons; N. Hayes, D. Lyons, N. McCarthy; B. Walsh, Tony Anglin; K. Meade, C. Murphy, C. O’Donovan; Timmy Anglin, P. Griffin, S. Quirke. Subs: T. O’Sullivan for L. Lyons, H. Kenny for O’Donovan, J. Connolly for Timmy Anglin, C. Calnan for Quirke, M. Griffin for Meade.

IMOKILLY: MJ Cremin; E. O’Sullivan, B. Fitzgerald, N. Furlong; G. Holland, D. Óg Cusack, P. Fitzgerald; K. Murphy, T. McCarthy; D. Barrett, S. Farrell, V. O’Sullivan; P. Ryan, D. O’Sullivan, J. Deane. Sub: B. O’Callaghan for Ryan.

Referee: J. Kearney (Na Piarsaigh).