Draw means Ballyhea advance to quarters while Carrigtwohill are out
LOOKING FOR OPTIONS: Carrigtwohill's James Mulcahy looking goalwards past Ballyhea's Luke Hanley in the Co-Op Superstores Cork SAHC at Ballyanly. Pic: Denis Minihane.
Seldom has a draw evoked the primal emotions of victory and defeat as it did in Ballyanly on Saturday evening in this Group C encounter of the Co-op Superstores Cork SAHC. For Ballyhea it was jubilation as the result secured them a quarter-final tie with Courcey Rovers as they finished in second spot behind Bride Rovers.
Desolation was Carrigtwohill’s lot as the share of the spoils condemned them to the sidelines for the autumn, despite their late comeback that saw them draw level three times inside the last five minutes. Unfortunately for them, however, they were never able to edge in front.
As the dust settles during the week, the Imokilly side will reflect on their efficiency in front of the posts that saw them hit twelve wides to Ballyhea’s seven across the hour. The Avondhu side only hit two in a terrific opening half performance that saw them lead by 0-12 to 0-7 at the interval and manager John Mortell recognised the significance of their opening gambit.
“Our first half was the winning of the match for us really, we came out and played very well early on and had a good lead at half time, but we knew that Carrig would come at us and by God did they come at us, but thankfully, we got there in the end.”
The sides were level at 0-2 each after six minutes as Pa O’Callaghan and the influential Maurice O’Sullivan of Ballyhea pointed while Sean Walsh and Sean Rohan were on target for Carrig. The next seven minutes were then crucial, as the North Cork men hit five in-a-row through O’Callaghan (2), John Morrissey, Tiernan Hanley and Eugene O’Leary to take control of the game.
The sides then broke even across the rest of the half as O’Callaghan and Jack Morrissey had 0-2 each and Chris Hanley also scored while Liam Gosnell had three for Carrig and Rohan and James Mulcahy also pointed to make it 0-12 to 0-7.
The East Cork men slowly chipped away at their deficit on the resumption, with Sean Walsh showing his class up front as Ballyhea began to lean more on the significant talents of O’Callaghan for their scores.
Three points from Walsh, another free from Gosnell and two frees from ‘keeper Shane Devlin for Carrig were answered by three more O’Callaghan frees and O’Sullivan’s second for Ballyhea to make it 0-16 to 0-13 with eight to go and one got the feeling that the East Cork men needed a goal.
Enter Padraic Hogan who had been playing brilliantly at wing back. Two long range efforts from him sandwiched Walsh’s fifth to level the game for the second time with four to play. The effervescent talents of O’Callaghan and Walsh then traded scores before Dion Curtin put Ballyhea one clear with time running out. Hogan then levelled matters with his third of the evening as anything seemed possible. But Carrig never got the chance to hit the front to give them the victory they needed.
For Ballyhea it’s a return to knock-out hurling after a few lean years, and Mortell is happy to be looking up as the evenings close in.
“It’s massive for the club. It’s no secret that we are a small club, but we keep at it. We all row in around one another and it was vital for us to get through to the closing stages. The last couple of years we were looking at relegation battles, this year we’ve played three championship games and we haven’t lost any of them and we’ve progressed to the closing stages. And that’s where we want to be.”
P O’Callaghan (0-9, 0-6 frees), Jack Morrissey and M O’Sullivan (0-2 each), Tiernan Hanley, John Morrissey, D Curtin, E O’Leary and C Hanley (0-1 each).
S Walsh (0-6, 0-1 ’65), L Gosnell (0-4, all frees), P Hogan (0-3), S Devlin (frees) and S Rohan (0-2 each), J Mulcahy (0-1).
M Browne; A Barrett, M Morrissey, L Hanley; C Cox, Tom Hanley, Tiernan Hanley; J Copps, M O’Sullivan; John Morrissey, P O’Callaghan (c), D Curtin; Jack Morrissey, E O’Leary, C Hanley.
L Crowley for Jack Morrissey (46 mins), D Copps for C Hanley (59 mins).
S Devlin; S de Búrca, A Walsh Barry, P O’Sullivan; P Hogan, R Power, C O’Riordan; B Twomey, J McCarthy; L O’Sullivan, S Walsh, L Gosnell; J Mulcahy, S Rohan, T Hogan.
A Rooney for O’Riordan (22 mins), J Oke for Mulcahy (38 mins), S Roche for T Hogan (43 mins).
Alan O’Connor (Ballygarvan).
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