Ilen Rovers escape as Newmarket face relegation play-off
Ilen Rovers' Dan McEoin takes on Newmarket's Mikey Browne during the Bon Secours Cork SAFC at Cloughduv.
Ilen Rovers joint-manager Diarmuid Duggan hailed his players for ‘stopping the slide’ after their one-point Bon Secours Cork SAFC victory at Cloughduv on Saturday.
The men from Baltimore dallied with the drop in recent seasons - relegated from Premier SFC last year - and having lost their opening two championship matches, their backs were to the wall.
Clyda Rovers and O’Donovan Rossa would qualify for the knockout stage from Group A, so this fixture was all about survival.
“Relief is a big word for us because we had been on a bad run of games obviously. It is sheer relief, really, We needed to stop the slide. Massive credit to them. We are thrilled.
“We have lost so many players. I know we have said this very often, we have lost probably 10 or 11 players in the last two years.
“Half of our squad are based in Cork so we train in Ballineen every Wednesday. It is to help the lads, it is a half-way point. We have to do it, it is too far otherwise.”
The result was largely built on will-to-win. Behind by two points at the break, they eventually broke the Newmarket resilience. The Duhallow side - Premier IFC champions in 2021 - must beat Bandon in a relegation battle to retain their senior A status.
Ilen’s five points to one in a ten-minutes spell after the interval helped find their way. They wouldn’t be overtaken again. Substitute Alan Holland hugely influential along with Dan McEoin, they shared eight points from frees and open play.
“Alan Holland was an inspired substitution. In one way it was enforced because Sean O’Donovan was sick last night. Alan has been a great servant. He has been in Australia for a couple of years. The maturity and professionalism he brings when he comes back is fantastic.
“We lost Sean Minihane as well in the first half, he is an outstanding player. He has played colleges level. He was a big man gone for us. We also have long term injuries, there are loads of them.”
It was a whole-hearted effort in which Michael Sheehy played his part, as did Peadar O’Driscoll at midfield.
Newmarket rallied, the highlight was Conor O’Keeffe’s point-taking. His goal-shot ricochet off the crossbar to leave the score 0-10 to 0-9 at the end of the third quarter.
Ilen dug deep. Sean O’Donovan, who came back on, his third point in the 64th minute left two between them, 0-14 to 0-12.
It was hectic when Ilen were reduced to 14 men after Adrian O’Driscoll was black-carded and substitute Ryan O’Keeffe scored in the 67th minute to reduce the deficit to one.
With the finishing line in sight, Ilen Rovers held firm.
Newmarket, who were forced to line out minus their injured captain TJ Brosnan and Daniel Culloty (introduced second-half) led 0-7 to 0-5 at the change of ends, having come from four points to two down.
With goals prevented at either end, Duggan acknowledged the back-and-forth nature.
“The game could have gone either way. They were two up at half-time, and we ended up winning by a point.”
A Holland (2 frees) and D McEoin (frees) (0-4 each), S O’Donovan (0-3, 0-1 free), M Sheehy (0-2), D Hegarty (0-1).
C O’Keeffe (0-8, 0-7 frees), B O’Connor (0-2), A Browne, B Daly and R O’Keeffe (0-1 each).
: D O’Sullivan; P Minehane, S Minehane, S Carey; D Coakley, D Collins, C O’Driscoll; P O’Driscoll, D Hegarty; A O’Driscoll, D McEoin, M Sheehy; J Collins (Capt), S O’Donovan, B Collins.
: A Holland for S O’Donovan (22), C Harrington for S Minehane (26 inj), S O’Donovan for D Hegarty (48).
J O’Keeffe; M Browne, A Ryan, P Allen; D Norton, G Forde, B Daly; M Cottrell, C Browne; D Cottrell, K O’Sullivan, A Browne; D O’Keeffe, C O’Keeffe, B O’Connor (Capt).
: C Buttimer for D Cottrell (41), D Culloty for K O’Sullivan (41), R O’Keeffe for D O’Keeffe (45), P Browne for B O’Connor (52 inj).
: Peter O’Leary (Cloughduv).
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