Barry has the answer for Clon

BARRY O’MAHONY is currently in the throes of his Leaving Cert, but he took time off from study yesterday to help Clonakilty through the back door and get their Cork SFC challenge back on track in an entertaining game at Ballinspittle.

The Clon teenager scored three valuable points — one from a free — and while all were important on a day when scores were at a premium, his pinpoint effort under pressure was crucial.

Valley Rovers, who trailed 0-6 to 0-4 at half time, had drawn level for the only time in the game six minutes into the second half but O’Mahony’s point not onlyrestored the lead but gave Clon aa boost just as Rovers looked like taking control.

And it was fitting another of the younger members of the team, David Horan, was the one to set it up. The speedy wing-back, who only returned to the side this season, was on one of his many solo runs up the left wing when he had the ball knocked from his hands but he continued on — dribbling soccer style — sidestepping two defenders before he chipped the ball to O’Mahoney, who barely glanced up at the posts.

Valley Rovers, inspired by Cork player Fiachra Lynch, had just begun what looked like a promising rally. They brought Hugh O’Donovan on as a replacement after 22 minutes and he was immediately presented with the task of taking a 45, which was knocked out for another. In fact, it was on his third attempt that he drove it over.

Full-forward John Burke had cut the arrears to a single point four minutes after the restart and then O’Donovan was called upon again and he duly capitalised on an extravagant foul to level the game.

O’Mahony, however, put the 2009 champions back in front and, after fellow wing-forward Colin O’Donovan added a long-range point, O’Mahony was on the ball again, cutting through the defence and setting up O’Donovan for another point.

Without setting the game alight with his presence, Fiachra Lynch had shown flashes of brilliance. He had earlier scored a great point with his left foot and he switched to full-forward and scored another from his right to cut the arrears after Donal Lyons and David Horan had put Clonakilty five points clear.

After he switched to full-forward he was presented with the only real goal chance of the game with 10 minutes remaining. He won the ball slightly to the right, beat two defenders but, with just the keeper to beat, he blazed the ball narrowly to the right of the upright.

He scored a brilliant point after that but now Clonakilty were oozing confidence. They had played most of the first half out on the wings and now they reverted to that tactic as they played out the remaining seven minutes.

“We just failed at the first hurdle the first day — we had too many unfit players on the field,” Clonakilty manager Sean Cowhig said.

“But they reacted very positively to the loss. They came out, they trained very hard the Tuesday night after, they worked very hard for the next month and it showed there today.”

Scorers for Clonakilty: C O’Donovan 0-5 (3f); B O’Mahony 0-3 (1f); T Clancy, D Horan, D Lyons and M O’Brien 0-1 each.

Scorers for Valley Rovers: F Lynch 0-4; H O’Donovan 0-3 (3f), E Collins and J Burke 0-1 each.

CLONAKILTY: J O’Brien; M Sheehy, D O’Brien, T O’Sullivan; D Murphy, T Clancy, D Horan; F Coughlan, S Nagle; D Lyons, M O’Brien, D O’Regan; C O’Donovan, T Anglin, B O’Mahony.

Subs: Timmy Anglin for Tony Anglin (44); A Murphy for D O’Regan (50), L Cahill for M O’Brien (59).

VALLEY ROVERS: A Quirke; N O’Donovan, D Lynch, B Lehane; D Crowley, R Lehane, D Murphy; F Lynch, C O’Donovan; G Farrell, J Walsh, D Collins; E Collins, J Burke, G Rice.

Subs: H O’Donovan for D Collins (22), E Manning for G Farrell (h-t), R Butler for E Collins (47).

Referee: J Bermingham (Bride Rovers).