Glen Rovers gather momentum against Bride Rovers
In neither their first round defeat to Ballymartle nor their second round win over Carrigtwohill did they produce anything close to a 60-minute effort.
The victims of a smash and grab on the opening weekend, they then turned the tables next time out to sneak through to the fourth round.
Against Bride Rovers on Saturday evening, a similar pattern emerged — patches of brilliance intertwined with patches of the not so brilliant.
The Glen’s place in the quarter-final may be secured — last year’s defeated finalists await the winners of Blackrock and Newtownshandrum — but manager Richie Kelleher accepts there’s still a fair bit of work to do.
“We’ll take it, but we know we have a lot of things to work on,” he said.
“We made a great start against the wind, but didn’t build on it. I said to them at half-time that we were showboating and who are we to be showboating. We addressed that and in the second half there was none of that. We got a burst then again early in the second-half.
“We are happy enough where things are going. We have won our last seven or eight games. We are getting on a bit of a roll. We want to keep it going, but obviously we have a lot to work on.”
The inconsistent nature of Kelleher’s team was perfectly captured in a rather bizarre and lifeless opening period.
The Glen raced 1-3 ahead inside the opening quarter, shooting as many wides as scores and holding their opponents scoreless for 16 minutes. Patrick Horgan delivered a superb opening goal on 10 minutes, turning inside Fergus Collins and rattling the roof of the net from outside the 21-yard line.
Then, Glen Rovers simply fell away. They conceded five points on the hop and found themselves on the back foot by half-time — 1-7 to 1-6 they trailed.
Barry Johnson swatted four of Bride Rovers’ opening six scores and the lead changed hands when Glen Rovers failed to clear their lines after Cathal Hickey repelled the penalty strike of his opposite number, Frank Hogan.
Full-forward Michael Collins, who caused the Glen rearguard all sorts of bother throughout, rampaged through the heart of their defence before finishing low to the left corner.
Brian Moylan and Patrick Horgan landed two fine points approaching the interval, but it was the East Cork outfit who held the inside lane returning to the dressing room.
“We had eight or nine wides in the first half, but you can’t fault a lad for shooting. In the second-half, we were a lot more direct,” said Kelleher.
The second-half would prove a near carbon copy of the first — Glen Rovers terrorising the Bride Rovers defence, Joe Delaney’s side failing to add to their tally for 18 minutes. When Michael Collins eventually ended their scoring drought, the road back had been sealed off — they trailed 2-11 to 1-8.
Substitute Shane Kennefick provided the delivery for the Glen’s second goal, Jason Pratt was unable to get his stick to the sliotar allowing Conor Dorris pull to the net. David Cunningham, David Busteed, Horgan (two frees) and Kennefick all raised white flags in the posting of an unanswered 1-5.
As Kelleher mentioned above though, Bride Rovers are never beaten. So it proved.
A Cian O’Connor point was the appetiser to a well-worked goal on 50 minutes. Brian Murphy, Collins, Daniel Dooley and O’Connor were central to a sweeping passage of play that ended with sub James Murphy delivering the finish. 2-11 to 2-9 read the scoreline.
But Glen Rovers had one further gear.
Patrick Horgan sniped a pair of frees and the result was wrapped up when Glenn Kennefick, set-up by Dorris, beat Frank Hogan with a low strike on 58 minutes. Daniel Dooley posted a third Bride Rovers goal in stoppage time, but their championship exit had already been confirmed.
(1-7, 0-5 frees); C Dorris (1-1); G Kennefick (1-0); D Busteed, D Cunningham, S Kennefick (0-2 each); B Moylan, D Dooling (0-1 each).
D Dooley (0-1 free), M Collins (1-1 each); B Johnson (0-4, 0-4 frees); J Murphy (1-0); F Collins, C O’Connor, J Mannix, S Glasgow (0-1 each).
C Hickey; S McDonnell, B Murphy, G Moylan; D Noonan, B Moylan, G Callanan; D Dooling, D Brosnan; P Horgan, D Cunningham, D Busteed; C Dorris, B Phelan, E O’Connell
S Kennefick for O’Connell (25), G Kennefick for Phelan (53), A O’Donovan for Dooling (60).
F Hogan; S Kearney, D Carr, J Pratt; B Walsh, B Murphy, F Collins; M Kearney, C O’Connor; S Glasgow, S Ryan, B Johnson; J Mannix, M Collins, D Dooley.
J Murphy for Glasgow (40 mins), M Liddane for Pratt (45), S Walsh for Mannix (51).
C Lyons (Nemo Rangers).
