Drom outgun Caseys in battle of the West

Dromcollogher-Broadford 1-10 Fr. Caseys 0-9

Ray Lynch’s goal five minutes after the break proved the decisive moment in this semi-final as the young Abbeyfeale side never reproduced the form that gave them five wins out of five in the qualifying phase.

The winners were seldom under pressure as they closed off the Caseys forwards and struck quickly on the break.

Although Derry McCarthy and Micheál Brosnan gave them an early lead, Drom should have squeezed more from their early dominance before Derry O’Connor, Seanie Connell, and Robert Browne’s free put Fr. Caseys in front. The Fealesiders led again when O’Connor replied to Pat Donnelly but were overhauled by efforts from Donnelly and two from Reidy to trail 0-6 to 0-4 at the break.

McCarthy widened the gap on the restart before Lynch shattered the Abbeyfeale dream by running onto Brosnan’s pass for the game’s only goal. Caseys took time to find a response before Pádraig McEnery’s ‘45’, two from O’Connor and McEnery shaved the deficit from six to two. However, the rally ended when Reidy struck on the break and McCarthy then sent the resulting kick out back between the posts before McCarthy fourth score was met by McEnery’s free with the last kick of the game.

Scorers for Dromcollogher-Broadford: D McCarthy 0-4, M Reidy 0-3 (2f), R Lynch 1-0, P Donnelly 0-2 (1f), M Brosnan 0-1 Scorers for Father Caseys: D O’Connor 0-4, P McEnery 0-3 (1f, 1 ‘45’), S Connell, R Browne (1f) 0-1 each.

DROMCOLLOGHER-BROADFORD: K Noonan; D O’Leary, T McLoughlin, M Boyce; G Noonan, E Barry, B Noonan; S Buckley, J Stokes; M Brosnan, P Donnelly, D McCarthy; R Lynch, G Egan, M Reidy.

Subs: K Noonan for B Noonan (51m), C Fahy for R Lynch (65m), M O’Sullivan for P Donnelly (65m).

FR. CASEYS: S Scannell; S Lenihan, P Browne, S Connell; J Kelliher, É Flaherty, T Gleeson; John Riordan, K O’Connor; R Browne, D O’Connor, E McEnery; P McEnery, James Riordan, J Lane.

Subs: T Cahill for É Flaherty (35m), D Kelly for J Lane (40m), S O’Connor for S Connell (42m), D Daly for D O’Connor (54m).

Referee: D Enright (Dromin-Athlacca).