Clifford shines as Bishopstown ease past Ilen 

Brian Clifford helped orchestrate a convincing Bishopstown victory. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Cork Senior AFC Group C 

Bishopstown 1-12 Ilen Rovers 0-4 

Brian Clifford helped orchestrate a convincing Bishopstown victory over Ilen Rovers in Clonakilty on Sunday evening.

The influential Clifford finished with five points and provided the assist for Kieran McFadden’s goal to get Bishopstown’s campaign off to a winning start.

Rovers, relegated from the Premier SFC in 2022, faced off against an opponent that suffered the same fate twelve months before.

Both teams had to contend with awful weather conditions as incessant rain turned the first half of this Group C clash into a battle of wills.

Peter O’Driscoll opened the scoring courtesy of a delicious effort but Brian Clifford immediately responded after 3 minutes.

A scrappy period delivered little in the way of attractive football and it wasn’t until the 19th minute that corner-back Michael Murphy raised the next white flag on behalf of the maroon and white’s.

Prior to that, Brian Clifford setup Paul Honohan for a close-range opportunity that was blazed wide.

Undeterred, Bishopstown took advantage of their opponent's erratic shooting and added two quick-fire scores via Clifford and Honohan.

Unable to make any headway, Ilen Rovers were punished when the game’s most influential player, Brian Clifford, released Kieran McFadden to palm the ball into the net.

Sean O’Donovan curled over Ilen’s first point in 28 minutes shortly after but the West Cork club changed ends 1-4 to 0-2 behind.

McFadden and Clifford increased Mick Hannon’s side advantage to seven points shortly after the resumption before the former was black-carded following a brief flare-up.

It mattered little as Liam O’Driscoll and two Brian Clifford frees added to Bishopstown’s total either side of a rare Ilen Rovers score via Micheal Sheehy.

A fractious ending saw Bishopstown comfortably see out the remaining time and win by an eleven-point margin thanks to two late Conor Dunne frees.

Scorers for Bishopstown: B Clifford 0-5 (0-2 frees), K McFadden 1-1, C Dunne 0-2 (0-2 frees), M Murphy, P Honnohan, L O’Driscoll and S Collins 0-1 each.

Scorers for Ilen Rovers: M Sheehy 0-2, P O’Driscoll and S O’Donovan 0-1 each.

BISHOPSTOWN: C Hynes; M Murphy, M Power, D Quaid; K Murphy, E Byrne, N Gough (captain); D O’Connor, J Murphy; D O’Donovan, M Nunan, L O’Driscoll; K McFadden, P Honohan, B Clifford.

Subs: C Dunne for M Nunan (42), S Collins for L O’Driscoll (48), L Arslan for J Murphy (58).

ILEN ROVERS: D O’Sullivan; S O’Shea, S Minihane, J Davis; C O’Driscoll, J Collins (captain), D Collins; Peadar O’Driscoll, Peter O’Driscoll; A O’Driscoll, S O’Donovan, K O’Driscoll; D MacEoin, M Sheehy, C Harrington.

Subs: A O’Sullivan for A O’Driscoll (25), D O’Driscoll for K O’Driscoll (39), A Holland for D MacEoin (44).

Referee: Brian Sweeney (Shamrocks).