O'Sullivan hails the 'resilience' of his Dromtarriffe charges
UNDER HIS SPELL: Brandon Murphy, Dromtarriffe with possession in the Cork Intermediate AFC at Kanturk. Pic: Larry Cummins
Twelve months ago, Dromtarriffe came away from Kanturk with a slew of regrets after their one-point loss to Mitchelstown in the quarter-final of the Bon Secours IAFC.
Fast forward to the same venue on Saturday and the same stage, they secured a fully-merited win against near neighbours Boherbue.
They were drawn to play Mitchelstown in the last four, but with Adrigole beating St Vincent’s, the Beara side cannot take on Aghabullogue (repeat pairing). So, the semi-finals now are Dromtarriffe versus Aghabullogue and Mitchelstown to meet Adrigole.
Dromtarriffe manager and former player Niall O’Sullivan hailed his ‘resilient’ squad.
“We didn’t look past this game, our full focus was on Boherbue. We got to this stage last year but got pipped by a point. It is nice to come out on the right side this time.
“The lads are very resilient, playing both codes hurling and football. A great response today after losing the final group game to Glanworth.
“This competition is a level playing field.”
A victory that was achieved too without regular full-back Michael O’Brien, missing due to a back injury, but is expected to be available for the penultimate round.
They were tied on six points apiece following a tense opening half with the teams deadlocked as many times.
Evan Murphy’s goal two minutes after the interval killed off the Boherbue challenge. It was an unfortunate green flag to concede, as it came from out the field.
Despite the closeness of the opening exchanges, Dromtarriffe were undeterred facing into the wind. A barren 20-minute spell in the second-half didn’t put them off their stride either.
As well as a fine spread of scorers including five points shared between Conor O’Callaghan and Brian O’Keeffe, their dominant rearguard limited last season’s semi-finalists Boherbue to four from play - free-taker David O’Connor kicked six of their nine.
“We were in a similar situation against Glanmire in our first group game playing into a very strong breeze in the second-half. The boys backed themselves, and came out the right side. The same again today. Great character,” O’Sullivan continued.
E Murphy (1-1), C O’Callaghan (0-3, 0-2 frees), B O’Keeffe (0-2). D O’Connor, D O’Keeffe, J Murphy and T Howard (0-1 each).
D O’Connor (0-6, 0-4 frees, 0-1 mark), A Murphy, L Moynihan and B Herlihy (0-1 each).
D Mann; M Dennehy, R Daly, D Dennehy; B Murphy, J Murphy, S Howard; A Buckley (Capt), B O’Keeffe; A Downey, C O’Callaghan, D O’Keeffe; E Murphy, J Kelleher, D O’Connor.
M Healy for M Dennehy (inj), T Howard for J Kelleher (both 48).
D Cremin; M O’Gorman, D Buckley, C O’Keeffe; D O’Sullivan, K Cremin (Capt), A O’Connor; J Corkery, P Daly; L Moynihan, A Murphy, B Murphy; G O’Sullivan, D O’Connor, D Moynihan.
N Murphy for D O’Sullivan (half-time), B Herlihy for B Murphy, M O’Connor for A Murphy (both 52), D Sheehan for P Daly (57).
Patrick O’Driscoll (Bride Rovers).
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