Bride Rovers and Ballyhea cancel each other out as cracker ends in stalemate 

STALEMATE: Brian Roche, Bride Rovers, Tom Hanley, Ballyhea.

Co-Op Superstores Cork Senior A Hurling Championship 

Bride Rovers 1-17 Ballyhea 2-14 

A cracking Co-Op Superstores Cork Senior A Hurling Championship contest between Bride Rovers and Ballyhea ended ultimately in a draw on Sunday afternoon.

This was a captivating contest that made for enthralling viewing from the outset. There were twists and turns aplenty. Bride Rovers commenced like a stream train, then Ballyhea rallied to go in front.

Bride got off the mark through two lovely pointed scores by Adam Walsh. Then things got even better for them when Cillian Tobin buried the ball to the back of the net after a wonderful catch to tee himself up.

Ballyhea were reduced to 14 men after a sending-off for an off-the-ball incident for Gavin Morrissey on 8 minutes. But that seemed to only galvanise Ballyhea in the opening half.

Pa O’Callaghan responded by scoring a well-taken free. Then the same man found the back of the net when he applied a clinical finish from close range.

Things got even better for Ballyhea when they struck for a second goal in the 15th minute. It was that man O’Callaghan, who produced an outstanding individual performance, who buried the ball high to the corner of the net, with the score at this stage 2-5 to Bride Rovers 1-3.

Bride knew they needed to muster a reaction before the interval. William Finnegan was proving a reliable scoring weapon through his well taken frees.

While Cillian Tobin pointed on the half-hour mark for Bride after fine work from Brian Roche in the build-up.

Ballyhea held the four-point lead at the halftime break, with late first-half points for them coming through O’Callaghan and Jack Morrissey.

Bride Rovers responded in determined fashion early in the second half.

Paddy O’Flynn got a monster of a point from long range, with Kieran Kearney and Cian O’Connor also scoring from distance.

Ballyhea were ensuring they maintained their advantage with further scores from O’Callaghan.

Maurice O’Sullivan got a lovely point for Ballyhea midway through the second half.

Heading into the closing stages this game was still very much up for grabs, with Bride putting the ball over the bar through Finnegan and Walsh.

Bride though ensured that the spoils were shared, with a pair of Adam Walsh frees splitting the posts to conclude a cracking contest.

Scorers for Bride Rovers: A Walsh 0-7 (0-4 f), C Tobin 1-2, W Finnegan 0-5 (0-5f), C O’Connor, K Kearney, P O’Flynn 0-1 each.

Ballyhea: P O’Callaghan 2-10 (0-9 frees), M O’Sullivan 0-2, D Curtin, J Morrissey 0-1 each.

Bride Rovers: C Hogan; T O’Sullivan, S Walsh, J Mannix; P O’Flynn, E Roche, S O’Connor; K Kearney, C O’Connor; W Finnegan, R O’Connell, A Walsh; C Tobin, J Ahern, B Roche.

Subs: M Collins for Mannix (42), C Ryan for Finnegan (53).

Ballyhea: M Browne; A Barrett, M Morrissey, L Hanley; C Cox, Tom Hanley, Tiernan Hanley; J Copps, M O’Sullivan; John Morrissey, P O’Callaghan, G Morrissey; Jack Morrissey, E O’Leary, D Curtin.

Sub: A Buckley for O’Connor (60).

Referee: Nathan Wall.