O’Connor seals dramatic Duhallow win

A 25-METRE free from Donncha O’Connor sealed a dramatic victory for Duhallow over Carrigdhoun in the Evening Echo Cork County SFC quarter-final, at Ballyclough yesterday.

Despite being reduced to 14 men — after midfielder Eamon O’Mahony was red-carded for a striking offence — Duhallow appeared to be coasting. Carrigdhoun, however, staged a remarkable comeback from six points down, and came within a whisker of a draw.

Duhallow’s short game was tailored to perfection, while Carrigdhoun looked a pale shadow of themselves.

A superlative save from Carrigdhoun goalkeeper Alan Quirke denied his inter-county colleague, Donncha O’Connor, in the seventh minute. John Buckley, however, kicked over three points as Duhallow opened up a two point lead prior to O’Mahony’s dismissal, for a moment of madness, midway through the first half.

Carrigdhoun made some inroads after the switch of Fiachra Lynch to full-forward. Points from Lynch and impressive wingback Wesley O’Brien brought them into contention, but Buckley, with his fourth point from play, had steered his side into a 0-5 to 0-3 lead by the break.

With the rain cascading, a rampant Duhallow excelled in attack, on the greasy surface, after the restart. O’Connor teased and tortured the Carrigdhoun defence, and kicked some fantastic points in spite of the dreadful conditions.

David O’Flynn worked his socks off at wing forward, and even wing back Gerry Healy came forward to score, as Duhallow clocked up a 0-10 to 0-4 lead by the closing quarter.

It looked curtains for Carrigdhoun, but outstanding centre-back Ger Spillane sparked a great revival by kicking two inspirational points.

Another from Nicholas Murphy left just four points between the sides coming down the home straight.

It was now Duhallow’s turn to soak up the pressure as Carrigdhoun strove valiantly to salvage something from the wreckage.

With six minutes remaining, Murphy was taken down going through, and, from the resultant penalty, substitute Gary White stroked the ball home.

A stunned Duhallow found themselves on even terms at the end of normal time, when White kicked over a glorious equaliser.

By then, it was anyone’s game, but the issue was decided with O’Connor’s truly magnificent match-winner in injury time.

Duhallow who now meet Nemo Rangers in the semi-final next Saturday.

Scorers: Duhallow: J Buckley 0-4; D O’Connor 0-4 (0-1 free); D O’Flynn 0-2, J Healy 0-1. Carrigdhoun: G White 1-1; G Spillane 0-2; W O’Brien, N Murphy, F Lynch, K O’Keeffe (free) 0-1 each.

DUHALLOW: K Murphy (Boherbue); B Daly (Newmarket); C Murphy (Dromtarriffe); P Geyer (Castlemagner); J Healy (Ballydesmond), D O’Brien (Newmarket), P O’Leary (Kiskeam), E O’Mahony (do.), S O’Sullivan (Dromtarriffe), D O’Flynn (Newmarket), N O’Sullivan (Dromtarriffe), D Gayer (Castlemagner), D O’Connor (Ballydesmond), N Cronin (Kiskeam), J Buckley (Knocknagree).

Subs: C Hickey (Boherbue) for N O’Sullivan (inj); D O’Riordan (Kanturk) for Daly.

CARRIGDHOUN: A Quirke (Valley Rvs.); K Blake (Carrigaline); M O’Sullivan (Kinsale); M Prout (Shamrocks), W O’Brien (Carrigaline), G Spillane (Ballygarvan), C O’Neill (Shamrocks), N Murphy (Carrigaline), R O’Sullivan (Kinsale), K O’Keeffe (Carrigaline), F Lynch (Valley Rvs.), J Murphy (Courcey Rvs.), J Kingston (Tracton), K Canty (Valley Rvs) J Shanahan (Shamrock).

Subs: G White (Ballygarvan) for Shanahan; E Murphy (Carrigaline) for J Murphy; C O’Connor (Ballygarvan) for O’Keeffe; M O’Donovan (Courcey Rvs.) for Kingston; B O’Keeffe (Carrigaline) for Lynch.

Referee: G Sweeney (Glenville).