Macroom cutloose late on and relegate Mayfield

Macroom 2-15 Mayfield 1-4

In fairness to the city team, the 14-point beating does not do them justice as they fought tooth and nail only to be overrun in the final quarter. Macroom, on the other hand, had a nervous start, but once they opened up a six-point gap near the three-quarter mark, they never looked back.

Coach Noel Twomey, who is coming to the end of his three-year term, had mixed emotions. “We are a proud club with 10 senior counties. After coming up (from intermediate) a couple of years ago we didn’t want to go down again. We are disappointed still that we are in this position. But, there are a lot of young lads and we threw them in and they stood up.

Twomey added: “With 10 minutes to go Mayfield knew the game was up. But, fair play, our lads kept going to the very end. I think we were playing for our pride more than anything else, 2-15 is good scoring and a lot of it came from play which is pleasing.”

Macroom opened up a 1-2 to 0-1 lead when Ivan Casey reacted as Philip Corrigan’s effort came back off the post.

However, the Mayfield reply was instant when Terry Lotty shot low past James O’Connell. Shane Fitzgerald was prominent at midfield as Mayfield enjoyed their share of possession but their finishing let them down. In contrast, Macroom rattled off four unanswered points near the break to lead 1-6 to 1-1 at the changeover.

Mayfield restarted brilliantly with points from Paul Condon (2) and Lotty to close the margin to two points but when Olan Murphy slipped his marker on 42 minutes after fielding a long delivery from Corrigan, Macroom moved 2-7 to 1-4 in front.

With Cork senior Fintan Goold playing an influential role, the mid Cork side stretched their lead with a flurry of points, including flags from subs Patrick Lucey and David Horgan.

“The attitude of Fintan is fantastic,” said Twomey. “They all look up to him. When Fintan is playing well they all seem to play well. He is more than that. He comes out for training. He is a leader and he works hard for everyone which is what we are looking for.”

Scorers for Macroom: O Murphy 1-3, I Casey 1-1, F Goold 0-4 (0-3 frees), A Hegarty (0-1 free) and P Lucey (0-1 free) 0-3 each, D Horgan 0-1.

Scorers for Mayfield: T Lotty 1-1, P Condon 0-2 (0-1 45m), S O’Sullivan 0-1.

MACROOM: J O’Connell; P Lynch, R Buckley, M O’Donnell; E O’Mahony, S Kiely, C Murphy; F Goold, B Lynch; D Creed, P Corrigan, A Hegarty; C O’Sullivan, I Casey, O Murphy.

Subs: G Angland for D Creed (14 inj), P Lucey for C O’Sullivan (ht), D Horgan for B Lynch, T Dineen for A Hegarty (both 58), B Tiernan for P Corrigan (59).

MAYFIELD: R Quaine; P Fitzgerald, S Hackett, D O’Flaherty; S O’Donovan, K Brosnan, D Lucey; C Bond, S Fitzgerald; S O’Sullivan, N Kelly, D Grainger; R Scannell, P Condon, T Lotty.

Subs: A Lynskey for R Scannell (22 inj), R O’Sullivan for S Fitzgerald (40 inj), B O’Leary for D O’Flaherty, S Kelly for S O’Sullivan (both 44), G Lehane for D Lucey (52).

Referee: N Barrett (Carrigtwohill).