O’Sullivan point wins it for Castletownbere

THERE were three opening round Cork Co IFC games played over the weekend with last year’s All Ireland junior champions Canovee suffering defeat at the hands of Castletownbere, 2-6 to 0-11, in their opening test in the new grade at Ballingeary.

The game appeared to be up for the Beara boys with 10 minutes to go. Canovee were dominant after Castletownbere failed to score in the second-half and trailed by three points. However, a clinically finished goal from captain and midfielder Andrew O’Sullivan with two minutes remaining inched them one in front.

The mid-Cork side levelled soon afterwards, but centre-back Donagh O’Sullivan kicked the winning score three minutes into injury time.

Scorers for Castletownbere: L Harrington 1-4 (0-4 frees), A O’Sullivan 1-0, D Murphy and D O’Sullivan 0-1 each.

Canovee: P Healy 0-3, D O’Sullivan and P Dunlea 0-2 (0-1 free) each, B Donoghue, E Lyons, B Ahern and D Cronin 0-1 each.

NEWMARKET came out tops in their derby clash with Kiskeam at Kanturk yesterday where they defeated their great rivals 1-13 to 1-10. This was the first county championship clash between these neighbouring clubs, but it failed to rise above mediocrity on a bitter cold afternoon and in front of a very poor attendance.

The winners deserved their victory but they made hard work of it. After storming into a 1-9 to 0-8 lead 18 minutes into the second-half playing into the strong wind, they were forced to live on their nerves after Kiskeam cut the deficit to the minimum with a superb John Angland goal.

Scorers for Newmarket: D. O’Brien 1-2; J. Lane, J. Ryan (0-2 frees) 0-3 each; D. O’Flynn, B. Daly (0-1 free) 0-2 each; T. O’Keeffe 0-1.

Kiskeam: J. Angland 1-0; N. Cronin 0-3 (frees); D. O’Leary (frees), D. Linehan, B. Dennehy 0-2 each; J. Ryan 0-1 (free).

COURCEY ROVERS won the bragging rights after their 1-5 to 0-5 first round derby win over Kinsale at Bandon on Saturday. However, there was little to boast about in a largely subdued match that yielded a total of 26 wides.

Courceys turned around in an unexpectedly comfortable position of being just a point in arrears, 0-3 to 0-2, and when the only major flag of the hour arrived eight minutes into the second-half from midfielder Seamus Hurley it pushed them two points clear, a lead they held to the end.

Scorers for Courcey Rovers: S Hurley 1-0, D Murray 0-3 (0-2 frees), S Moloney 0-2.

Kinsale: D Murphy 0-2 (0-1 free), C O’Brien, J Keohane and C Quigley (free) 0-1 each.

A COMPREHENSIVE 1-12 to 1-6 Cork City Division U21FC win for St Finbarr’s over arch-rivals Nemo Rangers at Ballinlough yesterday was copper-fastened by a gem of a goal from ace forward Colin O’Sullivan.

Although Nemo got off to a flying start with a point from wing-forward Ian Nolan, the Capwell hopefuls subsequently flattered to deceive as St. Finbarr’s took control.

Scorers for St. Finbarr’s: C. O’Sullivan 1-3; J. Sexton 0-4 (0-3 frees); D. Sweeney 0-2 (frees); C. Lougheed, D. O’Brien and I. Leahy (free) 0-1 each.

Nemo Rangers: B. O’Driscoll 1-2; I. Nolan 0-2; S. Martin and E. Hearne 0-1 each.