Dominant Castletownbere made to sweat by late Rockchapel surge

BREAKAWAY: Castletownbere's Fintan Fenner breaks free from Brian Carroll of Rockchapel in their Cork Premier IFC game at Clondrohid oN Sunday.

Cork Premier IFC: Castletownbere 1-11 Rockchapel 2-6.

Castletownbere emerged with two more Cork Premier IFC points against Rockchapel in Clondrohid but they were made to sweat by the Duhallow men who forged a late comeback with two goals in the final few minutes.

For sure, the wind against them was a contributory factor but Rockchapel will be more than disappointed with themselves having only scored a single point in the first half. In fact it took them 19 minutes to get that score.

Castletownbere, with a win over Nemo Rangers already in their satchel from round one, looked like the team who wanted it more. Their players were composed in front of the posts, especially Gary and Tommy Murphy who were causing the Rockchapel full back line all sorts of problems, in the first-half especially.

They had the hall in the net after seven minutes thanks to the clinical finish of James Harrington who slipped the ball low past Rockchapel keeper Conor Casey from close range. It could have been even worse for Rockchapel ten minutes later when Castletownbere half-forwardBilly Murphy was dragged down in the box for a penalty. Gary Murphy stepped up but his spot kick was saved by keeper Conor Casey.

At half-time Castletownbere looked comfortable at 1-6 to 0-1 but the second half was a different story. The two sides were more evenly matched as they traded scores until the final ten minutes when the Rock took control. A well-taken free from Jack Curtin and another beautiful long-range score from Seamus Hickey drew Rockchapel an inch closer.

Then in the 58th minute Rock midfielder Ciaran Curtin burst through the Castletownbere defense after a brilliant solo run and buried past keeper Dave Fenton to make it a five-point game.

Rockchapel now had hope and that turned to belief when they were awarded a penalty after a high challenge by Dave Fenton on Mikey McAuliffe in the square. Fenton was shown the black card and substitute, and captain, Liam Collins cooly scored the penalty.

Unfortunately, it was too little too late for Rockchapel who couldn’t find the late points to get something from the game but they will look to try to carry this second half performance into their final game against Nemo Rangers, whe are pointless.

Scorers for Castletownbere: G Murphy (0-5, 1f), J Harrington (1-1), T Murphy (0-3, 2f), J Rosales and L Kelly (0-1 each).

Scorers for Rockchapel: J Curtin (0-4, 3f), C Curtin and L Collins (1-0 each), C Curtin and S Hickey (0-1 each).

CASTLETOWNBERE: D Fenton; J Rosales, L Harrington, D Hanley; S McCarthy, T Collins, O Murphy; A O’Sullivan, O Byrne; B Murphy, J Harrington, K O’Sullivan; G Murphy, L Kelly, T Murphy.

Subs: F Fenner for B Murphy (43), D Hegarty for L Kelly (52), M Orpen for O Murphy (56), D Dunne for T Murphy (58).

ROCKCHAPEL: C Casey; P Curtin, E O’Callaghan, B Carroll; E Murphy, M O’Keefe, W Murphy; S Hickey, C Curtin; J O’Callaghan, C Curtin, S Curtin; M McAuliffe, J Curtin, J McAuliffe.

Subs: D O’Callaghan for E Murphy (42), K Collins for J O’Callaghan (42), L Collins for C Curtin (53).

Referee: Pat O’Leary (Kilmurry).