Cork MFC: Glanmire stun Douglas while reigning champions Ballincollig ease past Éire Óg
INTO FINAL: Glanmire's Eoin Considine celebrates his goal with another goalscorer Cathal Galvin against Douglas during the Rebel Óg Premier 1 MFC semi final at The Mardyke. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
The scoreline says comfortable. The performance said the same. From the moment Billy O’Mahony clipped the opening point inside 60 seconds, Glanmire were in front and would never be caught by Douglas in the Mardyke on Thursday evening. By half-time they were 11 clear, and by the close the margin was still the same.
And yet the celebrations on Thursday night at the Mardyke told you this was no ordinary win. Hot favourites Douglas were dismantled. Glanmire are in a Premier 1 Minor Football Championship final, and no one can argue with how they got there.
Three first-half goals did the heavy lifting – the third of them laced with controversy – but it was a display that was as much about defensive steel as attacking sparkle.
Harry Browne and O’Mahony carried the fight up front, while Jack Tierney, Tom O’Flynn and Rory Higgins stitched the backline together when the rain and wind turned it scrappy.
A cagey first 20 had Glanmire in front, 0-3 to 0-1, before the first of three Glanmire majors arrived on 22 minutes.
Browne kicked a sublime ball across the square for Cathal Galvin, who gathered and blasted into the far corner. Eoin Considine added the second, forcing his way through numerous challenges and seeing his first effort saved, but blasting home from the rebound.
Then came the hammer blow. Just before the break, with Glanmire’s Cullen Condon black carded and Douglas sniffing for a way back, they were incorrectly penalised for having only three defenders in their own half.
Glanmire went quick, Browne went high to the top corner, and the half ended 3-4 to 0-2.
As deflating a concession as Douglas could have imagined, the timing detrimental.
The second period brought driving rain and slippery football, but Glanmire were ruthless in the muck.
Three without reply from Ruaidhri Dennehy, Higgins and Browne pushed them 14 clear after 35 minutes. When Browne converted a two-point free at the beginning of the final quarter, it lifted Glanmire to their highest advantage of 15 points, 3-11 to 0-5, the game long settled.
Douglas belatedly stirred. Oscar Doherty was denied a certain goal by an excellent Isaac Barrett stop, and forced to settle for a white flag.
In the 54th minute, they finally cracked Glanmire open – Liam Kelleher’s effort saved, Sam O’Keeffe recycling, Jack O’Brien finishing.
By then it was consolation, though O’Brien nearly had another in injury time, his rasping shot only denied by the post, summing up their fortunes.
Instead, it was Glanmire who would have the last word – Darragh Barrett bending one over off the outside of the boot on the hour to cap a night they will savour for a long time.
For Douglas, misery in the rain. For Glanmire, a special night.
Meanwhile, reigning champions Ballincollig produced a strong second half display to comfortably defeat neighbours Éire Óg in the Rebel Óg Premier 1 MFC semi-final at rain-soaked Mardyke on Thursday night.
This was a typical local derby contest that drew a large crowd into the city. It was an entertaining last four encounter. It maybe wasn’t the highest quality, but for sheer honesty and endeavour, it certainly delivered.
Con O’Connell’s team had too much quality for their rivals as the game wore on helped by a Cian O’Connor goal early into the second half. It gave Ballincollig the belief to kick on as at the time it looked like Éire Óg were going to reel them in.
The Village will now meet Glanmire in the decider after the latter overcame Douglas.
In very poor weather conditions, Ballincollig hit the front through a Danny Miskella point from a free after two minutes.
It was replied with a Micheál Sheehan effort two minutes later for Éire Óg, but they wouldn’t score again for another 21 minutes.
There were mistakes on both sides given the conditions with also wayward shooting a factor.
Ballincollig did put five points on the bounce together. Danny Miskella with three points, one which was a free, and also O’Connor and Kevin O’Leary pointed, 0-6 to 0-1 after 16 minutes.
The scoreline was slightly misleading with Éire Óg not making the most of promising positions while also shading possession.
A Cian O’Flynn white flag was timely for Éire Óg, but a Danny Miskella free kept that comfortable buffer for his side.
The team in red and yellow finished the half better though, a pair of Cathal Murphy white flags left his team three points adrift at half-time, 0-7 to 0-4.
An Ethan Hyde converted free was the perfect start for Éire Óg on the resumption to keep his team in touch.
There was a feeling though that Ballincollig were playing within themselves. The teams traded points before a crucial score after 39 minutes.
Cian Ahern gave a great pass to O’Connor and the latter finished beautifully into the roof of the net, 1-8 to 0-6. It sucked the life out of Éire Óg.
Ballincollig remained in control, they landed two of the next four points to lead 1-10 to 0-8 after 45 minutes.
Peter Rose did receive a black card two minutes later for Ballincollig as they were reduced to 14 players for 10 minutes. It didn’t have any impact on the game.
A Brian Cronin point was a settler for the Collig before they put the game to bed after 50 minutes when Luke O’Mahony finished to the net from close range, 2-11 to 0-8.
Cronin got his second point before Éire Óg got a two-pointer through Eoghan Hogan, 2-12 to 0-10 with four minutes to go.
Seanie Hurley bisected the posts for the Ovens team, but Ballincollig finished with a flourish. Cronin kicked another point before centre-back O’Connor netted his second goal deep in added time to crown an excellent second half display from the Village.
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