Milestone win for Michael's, fine margins condemn Mallow to relegation playoff
Jasck Dillon, Mallow, has his shot blocked by Simon Falvey, St. Michaels.
St Michael’s got their first win in the top flight of Cork football in decades seeing off Mallow by the minimum in Blarney – earning themselves the most unlikely of spoils – a playoff game with Douglas to see who advances.
Both Douglas and St Michael’s finished on two points after their three PSFC fixtures however with the same points difference, the same points for, and against, an all or nothing, one off game, is the only way to decide who goes forward to play Duhallow.
Mallow came into the game needing just a draw to progress, assuming St Finbarr’s beat Douglas (which happened) but try as they may, and to be fair to the Avondhu side they tried, Mallow just couldn’t get this one back to parity after conceding the lead in the 22nd minute. Mallow now play Carrigaline in a relegation playoff tie.
After losing their opening two fixtures, the Blackrock club led for the majority of this one – hanging on in the end to record what may well be a milestone win for the city side.
Led in the scoring stakes by Simon Falvey and Adam Hennessy, St Michael’s played this game as if their collective lives depended on it and for their endeavour alone deserved the win.
For Mallow, scores from Kevin Sheehan, Sean McDonnell and Ryan Harkin helped bring them to within one but some sloppy play and poor second-half misses cost the Carrigoon boys their chance to progress.
The opening 10 minutes saw both sides squander scoring opportunities with Mallow having a wide and two short efforts while St Michael’s managed a pair of misses and one shot dropping into a defender's hands.
When the scoring finally began it was St Michael’s that raised a white flag first – Simon Falvey bagging the first of two first-half points. The wing forward’s point stirred Mallow into life – Sean McDonnell scoring an excellent point to level things up and lift a mistake-littered affair.
Stephen O’Callaghan was next on target for the boys in red as the game began to take hold.
Michael’s weren’t going to slip away that easily with Falvey’s second quickly followed by a free from full forward Robbie Cotter.
The sides would trade scores for the next 10 minutes before the city side looked to push on – a brace of tasty scores from Adam Hennessy, with points from Daniel Meaney and Andrew Murphy, more than accounted for minors from Mallow’s Kieran O’Sullivan and Eoin Stanton – St Michael’s going in at the turn up by three – 0-7 to 0-4.
The second half saw Mallow battle back into the game with a wonder score from McDonnell, three points from Sheehan and some dogged defending from Cork’s Matty Taylor and Shane Merritt inspiring the side to push on but the Blackrock side weren’t for turning – this would be their day.
S Falvey 0-3; R Cotter (one free), A Hennessy 0-2 each; S Keating, D Meaney, A Murphy, R O’Shaughnessy, L O’Herlihy 0-1 each.
K Sheehan (0-3 (one free, one mark); S McDonnell, R Harkin 0-2 each; K O’Sullivan, M Kelleher, E Stanton, S O’Callaghan 0-1 each.
M Burke; S Keating, A O’Callaghan, L Carroll; E Sheehan, D Meaney, R Kavanagh; A Murphy, E Hickey; K Hegarty, R O’Shaughnessy, S Falvey; A Hennessy, R Cotter, E Hegarty.
T Deasy for K Hegarty (38), L O’Herlihy for S Falvey (inj) 45), E de Burca for R Kavanagh (55), J Golden for S Keating (57).
K Doyle; P Lyons, B Myres, S Copps; S O’Callaghan, S Merritt, M Taylor; D Moynihan, E Stanton; J Dillon, R Harkin, J Glynn; J Browne, K O’Sullivan, S McDonnell.
M Tobin for J Browne, M Kelleher for J Glynn (both half time), K Sheehan for E Stanton (inj), 37), P Hennessy for J Dillon (50).
James Bermingham (Bride Rovers)
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