Fermoy hold on to clinch hard-earned win over Mallow

"It was pressure on because the loser knew they would be in a bad, bad situation, so it didn't really matter about the performance, the result was paramount," said the Fermoy boss.

Sun, 13 Aug, 2023 - 14:42

Andrew Horgan, Castletownroche

Fermoy 0-18 Mallow 1-13

"Job done” exclaimed one of the Fermoy players shortly after they secured a hard-earned and vital victory over their Avondhu rivals Mallow in their Cork SAHC Group C decider.

And their manager Trevor Grumbridge's assessment struck a similar tone after seeing his men battle to a two-point triumph on Saturday.

"We tired badly in the last 15, 20 minutes. We are always harping on about it but it's a fact, there's a lot of fantastic dual clubs but there's only three or four of us playing with the same 15 so they were heroes one and all today," he said.

"It was pressure on today because the loser knew they would be in a bad, bad situation, so it didn't really matter about the performance, the result was paramount."

Both sides suffered defeat in their opening game of this competition – Fermoy were beaten by Cloyne while Carrigtwohill overcame Mallow - so it was imperative they avoided another loss at Castletownroche if they were to retain an interest in the knockout rounds.

Fermoy were 0-22 to 1-16 victors when these two Avondhu teams also locked horns in the group stage last year and they would again edge past their neighbours here on a slightly closer scoreline of 0-18 to 1-13.

That was the first loss of an 11-game winless streak across league and championship for Mallow and they started like a team that was determined to bring that unwanted record to an end as they registered the first two scores inside the first two minutes through Mark Tobin and Fionn O’Neill.

Sean Hayes, Mallow is held back as Fermoy defend in the first half of the Co-Op Superstores Cork County Senior A Hurling Championship: Fermoy vs Mallow at Castletownroche. Pic: Larry Cummins

But their opponents soon settled into proceedings and led by the accuracy of Brian O’Sullivan, they soon took control of the contest by claiming eight of the match’s next nine points to lead 0-8 to 0-3 by the 21st minute.

It was at that juncture that Mallow lost John Healy to injury but they would rally following that setback and they finished the half strongly to reduce the deficit to 0-10 to 0-7 at the interval.

Fermoy regrouped during the break and soon restored their five-point advantage moments after the restart thanks to another O’Sullivan free and an excellent point from play from Darragh Daly.

The two familiar foes swapped scores on four occasions as the second period progressed before a Jake Carr over for Fermoy was followed by a low pulled goal from Mallow’s Sean Hayes in the 54th minute to set up an interesting finale, 0-17 to 1-11.

But despite their best efforts, Mallow couldn’t get the second goal that they were desperately searching for in the closing stages as Fermoy defended resolutely to hold onto the win.

Scorers for Fermoy: B O’Sullivan 0-6 (4f), P De Róiste, M Brennan, D O’Callaghan, S Aherne, and J Carr 0-2 each, D Daly and J Molloy 0-1 each.

Scorers for Mallow: S Hayes 0-6 (5f, 1 ’65), D Hayes 1-0, R Sheehan and M Tobin 0-2 each, P Lyons, F O’Neill and R Mills 0-1 each.

FERMOY: S Coughlan; P Murphy, S Shanahan, G Lardner; J O’Brien, D O’Carroll, P De Róiste; M Brennan, D Daly; J Molloy, D O’Callaghan, S Aherne; B O’Sullivan, G O’Callaghan, J Carr.

Subs: A Creed for G O’Callaghan (ht), T Clancy for J Molloy (49), D Lardner for D O’Callaghan (52), A Aherne for D Daly (56).

MALLOW: P Buckley; S Copps, B Kingston, J Healy; P Healy, N O’Riordan, D Moynihan; S Buckley, R Sheehan; P Lyons, D Hayes, M Tobin; D Sheehan, S Hayes, F O’Neill.

Subs: R Mills for J Healy (21), S O’Callaghan for M Tobin (ht), S Leneghan for R Mills (42, inj).

Referee: Aidan Hyland (Kilworth).