'This is one the bookies got wrong' - Skibb boss on victory over Fermoy

Hourihane's decided an end-to-end game that was essentially a shoot-out between Kevin Davis, who kicked 1-6, and Ben Twomey, who tallied 0-11.

O'Donovan Rossa's Isaac Harte breaks from Fermoy's Adam Creed. Pic: Eddie O'Hare

Senior AFC: O'Donovan Rossa 1-14 0-16 Fermoy 

“This is one the bookies got wrong,” was O’Donovan Rossa manager Gene O’Donovan’s reaction to his side’s 1-14 to 0-16 victory over Fermoy in the first round of the Cork SAFC at Charlie Hurley Park.

It didn’t matter that the club from Skibbereen had beaten their Avondhu rivals twice in the last year between league and championship, they were out to prove a point and they made it with Dylan Hourihane Senior scoring the winner in injury time.

“I’m feeling very happy – we came in with a lot of knocks and everything and I think we had a settled team for the last couple of weeks and I think this one the bookies got wrong to be honest,” he said.

O’Donovan Rossa were made to work for the win as Fermoy were inspired by Ben Twomey who hit 0-11 in Bandon.

The west Cork club slowly found their feet, and they first led when Thomas Hegarty played a pass to Elliot Connolly and the left half-forward hit the roof of the net and made the scoreboard read 1-2 to 0-3 in the 14th minute.

Instead of being the start of something, Fermoy wrestled control back from their west Cork rivals and they went on a run that put them up 0-7 to 1-3 at the break.

Twomey raised three white flags during that spell and Padraig De Roiste made sure they had a one point advantage after at half-time.

What happened next was simple, O’Donovan trusted his players to get the job done.

“To be honest – we don’t have to say a lot to these fellas,” he explained.

“We had a guy in recently talking to us about resolve. That is what we wanted out of the lads today. Resolve. We challenged them. 

"If they are down and out, can they get up again? And that is what they did. Resolve is the buzzword now. If you ask them what they think they’ll probably say resolve.” 

It wasn’t a heroic comeback. Fermoy were throwing punches and O’Donovan Rossa jogged along, learning as they went after seven first half wides.

What made this worse was that Twomey sent over another free and Fermoy were leading 0-8 to 1-3.

O’Donovan Rossa rallied, and a 0-4 to 0-3 run in front of the posts opened things up. It was tit for tat, and a curling shot from Hourihane was the winner.

Scorers for O'Donovan Rossa: K Davis 1-6 (3f); D Shannon 0-4 (2f), N Daly 0-2, T Hegarty 0-1, D Hourihane Senior 0-1.

Scorers for Fermoy: B Twomey 0-11 (7f); P De Roiste 0-3, T Clancy 0-1, A Aherne 0-1.

O'Donovan Rossa: R Price; S Fitzgerald, D Daly, P O’Neill, D O’Donovan, P Crowley, D Hourihane Jnr, C Coombes, D Shannon, B Crowley, K Davis, E Connolly, I Harte, T Hegarty, N Daly.

Subs: R Byrne for Harte (HT); D Hourihane Snr, for D Hourihane Jnr (45), L Connolly for O’Donovan (55).

Fermoy: L Coleman; A Creed, S Shanahan, R O’Sullivan, P Murphy, D O’Carroll, G Lardner, J O’Brien, S Aherne, T Clancy, P De Roiste, D Lardner, B Twomey, G O’Callaghan, D Dawson.

Subs: A Aherne for S Aherne (HT); B Daly for Lardner (40), R Morrisson for S Shanahan (40), M Brennan for Lardner (50), J Carr for O’Callaghan (55).

Referee: Peter O Leary (Cloughduv)