Niggle aplenty as 14-man Boherbue resist Glanworth resurgence

The result of the postponed quarter-final between Mitchelstown and Gabriel Rangers will have to be known before the sem-final pairings are confirmed. 

MOING ON: Gerry O'Sullivan of Boherbue. Picture: Jim Coughlan.

Cork IAFC quarter-final: Boherbue 2-14 Glanworth 0-14 

Lots of needle. Lots of yellow cards. A red one too. A fleeting Glanworth resurgence. Ultimate victory for the 14 men of Boherbue.

For a fourth-tier Intermediate A football quarter-final, this fixture had plenty going for it - on and off the ball. Even when the final whistle went, the ownership of a particular O’Neill’s ball was keenly contested on the sideline.

Inside the whitewash, John Corkery and David O’Connor had thrown over a pair of early second half points to push Boherbue 1-11 to 0-6 clear and seemingly out of danger.

On 37 minutes, Boherbue found themselves a man down. Centre-back Michael O’Connor was in disbelief at being shown a second yellow card. The sending off was a rope for Glanworth to try and pull themselves back into the frame.

They did, initially.

Darragh O’Brien, Michael Sheehan, Stephen Condon, and Ger O’Neill reeled off four-in-a-row to bring them within four entering the final quarter. 1-11 to 0-10.

Glanworth were, however, unable to close the gap further. The quarter-final was treated to only two scores in the ensuing 12 minutes. Then came the decisive and finishing score. David O’Connor, already with seven white flags to his name, raised a green flag on 58 minutes.

At 2-12 to 0-11, it was game over, even if there was to be eight minutes of injury-time played.

Boherbue led 1-9 to 0-6 at the break. They began smartly, were gifted a goal to wipe out their opponents’ most productive spell, and then finished the smarter.

Their bright opening was four points inside six minutes. David O’Connor kicked a free, Gerry O’Sullivan kicked a pair, and towering full-forward John Corkery, who time and again troubled Glanworth under the dropping ball, fetched and converted a mark.

Glanworth moved themselves into the game and into contention with three points between the 14th and 19th minute from Dave Pyne (two frees) and a lovely outside-of-the-right from Michael Sheehan. It left the scoreline reading 0-6 to 0-4.

On 21 minutes, a present for Boherbue. A disaster for Glanworth. Dan Sheehan intercepted a short Ciaran Cotter restart and put the ball in the empty net.

Cotter did partially redeem himself later in the half when denying David O’Connor an almost certain second. As it was, O’Connor was the provider of Boherbue’s closing three points of the half to leave them six to the good, 1-9 to 0-6, at the break.

They fell behind in playing personnel thereafter, but never came close to falling behind on the scoreboard.

The draw has Boherbue moving onto a semi-final with Glanmire, but because they already met in the group, the result of the postponed quarter-final between Mitchelstown and Gabriel Rangers will need to be known before the last four pairings are confirmed.

Scorers for Boherbue: D O’Connor (1-8, 0-3 frees); D Sheehan (1-0); J Corkery (0-3, 0-1 mark); G O’Sullivan (0-2); L Moynihan (0-1).

Scorers for Glanworth: D Pyne (0-4, 0-3 frees), D O’Brien (0-4, 0-1 free); S Condon, M Sheehan (0-2 each); G O’Neill, S Finn (0-1 each).

BOHERBUE: D Cremin; J Daly, D Buckley, C O’Keeffe; K Cremin, M O’Connor, D Moynihan; B Murphy, L Moynihan; D O’Sullivan, G O’Sullivan, A O’Connor; D Sheehan, J Corkery, D O’Connor.

SUBS: M O’Gorman for D O’Sullivan (40); C Ducey for D Sheehan, B Herlihy for A O’Connor (both 57).

GLANWORTH: C Cotter; P Condon, T Condon, S Mullins; J Fitzgibbon, J Fogarty, S Finn; D O’Brien, D Pyne; S Condon, P Hannon, J O’Sullivan; T McGrath, M Sheehan, G O’Neill.

SUBS: P Blackburn for Mullins, P O’Driscoll for T Condon (both HT); M Moloney for P Condon (60).

Referee: W Wallis