O’Sullivan sparkles in victory

Ballyhea 2-11, Mallow 2-6

The silken skills of Cork minor Maurice O’Sullivan was the main difference between the sides. He made light of the difficult underfoot conditions to score a goal and six points of his side’s tally.

In a full-blooded contest, where there wasn’t a foul blow struck, two evenly matched sides were level at the break 0-6 (Ballyhea) to 1-3. But when O’Sullivan finished a splendid three- man move to the net in the 37th minute followed by a succession of points the defending champions led 1-10 to 1-4 and the signs looked ominous for Mallow.