Pádraig Power caps sensational Blarney comeback to beat Ballincollig
Ballincollig's David Bowen gets away from Mark Coleman of Blarney at Páirc Uí Rinn. Picture: Jim Coughlan.
Pádraig Power was the toast of Blarney on Saturday evening as his late, late point stole victory at the death for his side against a shell-shocked Ballincollig in this absorbing Cork PIHC quarter-final played at Páirc Uí Rinn.
It was a victory that seemed incredibly unlikely for 55 minutes of this local derby. Blarney trailed by nine points at the break, ten points after 40 minutes, and by 1-18 to 1-9 with only seven minutes remaining as Ballincollig were doing all the hurling and putting ferocious pressure on their more favoured divisional rivals.
Even Declan Hannon’s second goal that reduced the margin to six had a hint of too little, too late about it. But it sparked something in Blarney and, eventually, their big guns began to come into the game.
Mark Coleman and Patrick Crowley shared four points between them to reduce the margin further but Cian Dorgan’s seventh seemed to be enough for Ballincollig as it gave them a three-point lead, 1-19 to 2-13, as the game spilled into added time.
It wasn’t, however, as Crowley cracked home a howitzer from 30-odd yards to level matters before Power gave his side the lead for the one and only time in the game.
Heroic tales often end in tragedy and so was it for Ballincollig. They were immense in the opening half as they dictated the terms of engagement totally, pressurising the Blarney puck-out, hunting in packs, and hurling brilliantly while Gearoid O’Donoghue was doing well in limiting Mark Coleman’s influence around the middle.
Robbie Bourke and Seán Walsh both scored three points in the first half, Conor O’Leary struck two from the edge of the square, Fenton Denny and Conor Sexton had one apiece, while three Cian Dorgan frees meant they were in complete control at the break with Liam Jennings and Barry Coleman shining in defence.
Blarney were in disarray, with their forward division not even registering a shot from play in the opening half. Their best performer was Alan McEvoy who was moved from corner-back to curb the influence of Bourke at midfield. In that he succeeded, shooting two points in the process while two frees from Coleman meant they trailed by 0-13 to 0-4 at the break.
They made three changes at the interval but made no real inroads into Ballincollig’s dominance on the resumption. Coleman (2) and McEvoy added to their tallies while Mark O’Leary also found the target but three points from Dorgan meant that the Village were still in control.
Hanlon then struck for his first goal after good work from Keith Costello to give Blarney the impetus as they broke for water with only five between them, 0-16 to 1-8.
Ballincollig’s answered with 1-2, the goal coming from Denny, to put themselves back in pole position, but Blarney eventually found their rhythm to book their spot in the semi-final against Carrigaline.
M Coleman (0-7, 6 frees), D Hanlon (2-0), P Crowley (1-1), A McEvoy (0-3), M O’Leary, S Barrett, and P Power (0-1 each).
C Dorgan (0-7, 4 frees), F Denny (1-1), S Walsh (0-4), R Bourke (0-3), C O’Leary (0-2), C Sexton and D Bowen (0-1 each).
P Hallissey; S Crowley (J Capt.), D Walsh, A McEvoy; J Jordan, P Philpott (J Capt), O Hegarty; M Coleman, B Ahern; P Power, D Hanlon, P Crowley; S Mulcahy, S Barrett, K Costello.
R Murphy for Ahern, M O’Leary for Mulcahy, C O’Mahony for Hearty (all h/t), C Murphy for Costello (51).
J Linehan; R O’Donovan, L Jennings, S Murphy; C Moore, B Coleman, C Sexton; R Bourke, G O’Donoghue; K Walsh, D Bowen, C O’Leary, S Walsh, C Dorgan, F Denny.
R Doherty for O’Leary (44), E Cooke for Bowen (58), P Cooney for Denny (60).
B Murphy (Carrigtwohill).
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