O'Herlihy-led St Michael's topple champs Carrigaline, Sherlock stars in Barr's win

Douglas and Castlehaven got the new campaign underway last Thursday and it was the city side who took the two points.

Sun, 02 Mar, 2025 - 16:46

John Coleman

The McCarthy Insurance Cork Football Leagues got underway over the weekend as all sides got their first taste of competitive action under the new rules.

In Division 1, reigning champions, Carrigaline, suffered an opening round defeat as St Michael’s bested them by 0-18 to 1-11 in Mahon on Sunday morning.

The scoreline belied a close contest that wasn’t decided until the last 10 minutes in which Michael’s outscored Carrig by 0-10 to 0-3.

The winners trailed by 1-10 to 0-11 at the break as a goal from Carrigaline's Niall Coakley and two two-pointers from his brother, Brian, gave them the edge.

Luke O’Herlihy proved to be the star of the show, however, as he kicked 0-12 with 0-8, including a two-pointer, coming from play while Eric Hegarty and Adam Hennessey also found their range.

In Cill na Martra, St Finbarr’s registered an opening day win against the home side as they ran out winners by 2-20 to 2-15 after a most entertaining encounter. 1-2 from Shane Ó Duinnín gave the Gaeltacht side an early advantage but goals from Adam Lyne and Cillian Myers Murray helped the Barrs to a 2-10 to 1-8 interval lead.

Steven Sherlock was in sublime form, kicking 0-15, 0-4 of which were two-pointers, but a penalty and a sublime two-pointer from Mike Ó Deasúna left Cill na Martra trailing by two with a minute to play. The Barrs finished strongly, however, with Sherlock and Enda Dennehy pushing them clear.

Clonakilty marked their return to the top-flight with a an impressive 1-18 to 1-8 home win over Éire Óg. The West Cork side did the heavy lifting in the opening half as they led by 1-10 to 0-3 at the short whistle.

Conor Daly, who kicked 1-6 across the hour, landed the goal seven minutes before the interval while Dara Ó Sé marked his return to Clon’s set-up from An Gaeltacht with 0-5 in the first half.

Brian Hurley, who scored 1-4 on the day, gave Éire Óg a lifeline when he goaled to bring the lead back to seven. There was to be no denying Clon though, with Darragh Gough bringing his tally to 0-5, as they ran out deserved winners.

Nemo Rangers travelled to Newcestown and returned home to Trabeg with the points after beating the hosts by 2-6 to 0-8 in what was the lowest scoring tie of the round.

An attritional first half saw just the four points, shared equally, scored. Colum Dinneen doubled Newcestown’s total with a two-pointer on the resumption, but a Conor Horgan goal soon put Nemo ahead.

Paul Kerrigan set up Colm Kiely for Nemo’s second major that put them 2-4 to 0-6 to the good and they had the nous from there to see the game out.

Douglas and Castlehaven got the new campaign underway last Thursday and it was the city side who took the two points on an evening where only one two pointer was scored.

Conor Kingston kicked that score, but 0-5 from Jack Cunningham and 0-4 from Kevin Shanahan proved crucial as Douglas prevailed by 0-17 to 0-7. Michael Hurley kicked 0-2 for an understrength Haven team, while Jack O’Neill and Conor Nolan also got on the scoresheet.

Meanwhile, in Division 2 Carbery Rangers got their campaign off to the perfect start as they defeated Castletownbere by 3-20 to 0-14 in Castletown.

A goal from Pa Hurley gave Ross the initiative early on but good scores from Fintan Fenner and Gary Murphy kept Castletown in touch.

They trailed by 1-11 to 0-9 coming up to the break before a Peadar O’Rourke goal on the stroke of half time somewhat broke their resolve.

From there John O’Rourke was accurate from frees, Paul Hodnett clipped over a two-pointer and Conor Twomey pounced for Carbery Ranger’s third goal as they look to return to the top-flight at the first attempt.

Valley Rovers are another side with their eyes on promotion and they showed their intent with a 0-21 to 0-9 win away to Fermoy on Sunday morning.

In a very balanced performance, William Hurley and Cian Johnson excelled for Valleys while their full-forward line of Fiachra Lynch, Sean McEntee and Adam Walsh Murphy all clipped 0-3.

Ballincollig and Béal Átha‘n Ghaorthaidh played out a draw in Ballincollig.

An early goal from Sean Moynihan gave Béal Átha the early edge but Cian Dorgan was on song for Ballincollig as he kicked 0-6, 0-4 of which were two-pointers.

Ben Seartan was the Gaeltacht side’s most potent weapon, but 0-2 from Frank Downs and Dara Dorgan helped the home side to a 0-12 to 1-9 draw.

Knocknagree got off to a victorious start as they enjoyed home comforts in recording a 0-15 to 2-6 win over O’Donovan Rossa. Knock raced into a 0-9 to 0-0 lead with Denis O’Connor, Eoghan McSweeney, Killian Cronin and Anthony O’Connor all on target.

However, a youthful Rossa found their grove as 2-2 from Rory Byrne and good performances from Luke Connolly and Dylan Hourihane gave them something to build on in the coming weeks.

Finally, in Dunmanway on Friday night Dohenys registered a 1-15 to 0-7 win over Kanturk.

Fionn Herlihy was their main man as he kicked 1-4 across the hour while Gavin Farr and Keith White both helped themselves to 0-3.