Ben Mayer fires Ballinora to Cork Junior A hurling final

Mayer scored 11 points for Ballinora in their victory over Cobh

Ballinora will face Kilshannig in the Cork JAHC semi-final: Pic: Jim Coughlan.

Cork JAHC semi-final: Ballinora 0-24 Cobh 1-16 

Ben Mayer led the Ballinora attack with class and accuracy as his 11 points was good enough to see off Cobh in a thrilling Co-Op Superstores Junior A Hurling Championship semi- final at Pairc Ui Rinn on Sunday.

This game had everything, and the winners were made battle to the wire before eventually gaining control of this intriguing encounter.

It only took Cobh’s Timmy Wilk 15 seconds to nail a placed ball that was followed by a superb Adam Lynch white flag from play that gave the underdogs the perfect start.

Cobh had the advantage of playing with the stiff breeze but they were almost punished in the fifth minute.

A high ball across the square was met by Alan O’Shea but his sublime strike was superbly parried over the bar by the Cobh keeper Scott Molloy.

As the half matured Ballinora began showing their class and a Shane Kingston point in the 12th minute cut the deficit to the minimum.

The harbour club were battling hard and their shooting was excellent that culminated in Eoin Cullimore striking a magnificent point midway through the half.

In a half with few goal opportunities Ballinora forward Tommy Burns must have been wondering how he failed to hit the target in the 26th minute.

Slack defending allowed Burns through on goal and with only the keeper to beat he somehow placed his shot into the side net.

Wilk has been a great servant to Cobh over the years and he produced a strike right from the top drawer in added time that sent his side in at the break leading by the minimum 0-10 to 0-9.

On the restart Wilk chalked up his fifth point as Cobh looked a side ready that weren’t prepared to lie down easily..

To be fair, Ballinora never panicked and after Danny Dineen responded with a clinical white flag a minute later, they soon settled into their stride.

Cobh gave them a scare in the 40th minute when a terrific Diarmuid Kearney solo run saw the ball flicked to the back of the net by Adam Lynch.

Despite refusing to throw the towel in Cobh played second best in the closing quarter with the winners scoring points with relative ease as a final against Kilshannig awaits them on Sunday.

Scorers for Ballinora: B Mayer 0-11 (0-8f), D Dineen 0-4, A O’Shea 0-3 S Kingston 0-2 (f), , D Holmes 0-2, J Hegarty, D Corkery (0-1 each).

Scorers for Cobh: T Wilk 0-9 (0-7f), A Lynch 1-1, E Cullinane 0-2, M O’Rourke 0-2, N O’Connell, D Kearney (0-1 each).

BALLINORA: B Crowley; T Forde, N Lordan, J Byrne; M O’Brien, S Kingston, C O’Flynn; L Lyons, D Dineen; C Quirke, T Burns, J Hegarty; B Mayer, D Corkery, A O’Shea.

Subs: T Burns for L Lyons (41), S Lyons for C Quirke (45), M Lordan for C O’Flynn (50), K Murphy for J Hegarty (55), J Keohane for A O’Shea (56).

COBH: S Molloy; A Stanton, C McLoughlin, J Doody, J McCarthy, J Barrett, S O’Keeffe; G Keating, D Kearney; E Cullimore, T Wilk, M O’Rourke; S Denis, N O’Connell, A Lynch.

Subs: C Farrell for M O’Rourke (32), S O’Connell for G Keating (40), J Cotter for S Denis (47).

Referee: Aidan Hyland (Kilworth).