Ballymartle rue misses as Geary rescues Milford

A POINT by Ronan Geary a minute into injury time earned Milford a draw in this thrilling Evening Echo County IHC tie at Ballyhooley yesterday.

It was no more than the North Cork side deserved. With limited resources, they showed tremendous heart and commitment to come from five points down late in the first half, then to go two in front midway through the second half, before falling behind to a succession of Ballymartle points before Geary came to their rescue with the equalising score in the 62nd minute.

Ballymartle will forever wonder how they lost this game. Inspired by the brilliance of Rory Dwyer at midfield, they hit Milford with five points in a row to take a commanding lead at the end of the opening quarter, but conceded two goals and began to struggle in the face of the Blues onslaught.

Milford won the toss, elected to play into the strong wind and made the better start. With county Under-21 player Eoin Dillon outstanding at centre back and Jerry O’Brien equally good at midfield, they were level with their more fancied opponents twice in the opening 10 minutes.

Ballymartle’s hurling was magnificent, particularly that of Rory Dwyer, Barry Dwyer and county minor Brian Corry, and they hit over five points in a row to lead 0-11 to 0-5 coming up to the interval before Milford struck a huge physiological blow.

Patrick O’Regan cut the deficit with a point from a free and was expected to repeat that feat from another free, but he showed outrageous audacity by opting to go for a goal from 30 metres out and his shot found the net off the Ballymartle goalkeeper’s head and, with the wind in their favour in the second half, the two-point half-time deficit looked easy for Milford.

The second half developed into a marvellous contest as Milford, aided by the elements, peppered the Ballymartle defence and amid incredible excitement, they struck the front for the first time since the third minute when Michael O’Connell’s long delivery was touched home by Niall Geary, and the Carrigdhoun side must have begun to regret those 11 first half wides.

However Ballymartle’s fitness levels were outstanding and they were back for the equalising point from the outstanding Rory Dwyer with 15 minutes to play. It was anyone’s game at this juncture and the sides were level after swapping points before Dwyer and the vastly experienced Ger Cummins edged their side in front with three points, with two from Cummins.

Surprisingly Ballymartle weren’t to score for the last 12 minutes of the game and Milford, inspired by the brilliance of Mike Morrissey in goal, Jerry O’Brien and Denis O’Leary in defence and Eoin Dillon, now operating in attack, swarmed the Ballymartle defence, and in those hectic last few minutes earned themselves a well-deserved draw with three points in a row, two by Ronan Geary.

Valley Rovers will have to wait to find out their semi-final opponents.

Scorers: Milford: P. O’Regan 1-3 (1-2 frees); N. Geary 1-0; R. Geary 0-3; J. O’Brien, M. O’Connell, E. Dillon (0-1 free, 0-1 65) 0-2 each; M. Cremin 0-1. Ballymartle: R. Dwyer 0-5 (0-3 frees, 0-1 65); G. Cummins 0-4; B. Dwyer 0-3; B. Corry, P. Coughlan 0-2 each; D. Dwyer, K. Lordan, C. Sheehan 0-1 each.

MILFORD: M. Morrissey; N. Brosnan, P. O’Brien, D. O’Leary; J. Leonard, E. Dillon, W. O’Leary; J. O’Brien, M. O’Connell; M. Cremin, M. Savage, R. Geary; P. O’Regan, N. Geary, J. Cremin. Subs: J. O’Connor for O’Leary; S. O’Connell for J. Cremin; B. Sexton for Savage.

BALLYMARTLE: D. McCarthy; S. O’Connell, K. Coleman, G. Webb; D. Dwyer, P. Dwyer, N. Sheehan; R. Dwyer, C. O’Brien; B. Dwyer, C. Sheehan, B. Corry; K. Lordan, A. McCarthy; G. Cummins. Subs: P. Coughlan for C. Sheehan; M. O’Mahony for C. O’Brien; S. Coleman for A. McCarthy.

Referee: C. Lane (Lyre).