Castlemagner fight back to seal four consecutive Duhallow JAFC title

Barry O’Driscoll stepped up to the plate with a match winning point for Castlemagner

Castlemagner retained their Duhallow JAFC title following victory over Ballydesmond. Picture John Tarrant

Duhallow JAFC final: Castlemagner 1-10 (1-1-8) Ballydesmond 1-9 (1-1-7) 

CASTLEMAGNER maintained their hold of the Ashgrove Renewables Duhallow JAFC after overcoming a gritty Ballydesmond in a closely fought encounter at Newmarket on Saturday.

Crucially, the victors found their composure during the latter stages to complete a four in a row, minor player Barry O’Driscoll stepped up to the plate with a match winning point.

Ballydesmond, appearing in domestic Junior A ranks for the first time since 2007, appeared well positioned after Niall Fleming netted a goal in the 47th minute for a 1-9 to 1-5 advantage.

However, Castlemagner’s response was as exemplary as it was emphatic, a strong bench contributed immensely, five points without reply rubber stamped a 10th outright title.

Over the hour, the quality might have been suspect at times, but that was compensated for by the endeavour and hunger of both sides.

Castlemagner broke the deadlock early, a probing ball from Danny Linehan allowed Evan Magner to net an opportunist goal.

Far from building on this encouraging platform, Castlemagner lost influence, Ballydesmond settled once team captain Paudie Breen pointed.

That allowed Ballydesmond build up a head of steam, Castlemagner, prone to fouling, saw Donncha O’Connor convert four frees including a two pointer.

Some of the shooting at either end was poorly directed, Castlemagner waited a full 23 minutes for their second score, a pointed free from Cormac O’Sullivan narrowed the arrears 0-8 to 1-1 at the interval.

On the restart, Castlemagner threw down the gauntlet, O’Sullivan posted a two pointer free before the sides traded points from Tim Howard and O’Sullivan.

Now Castlemagner attacked in waves, man of the match O’Sullivan helped trim the deficit to the minimum.

Ballydesmond remained in the game and appeared to weather the storm, a counter attack saw an effort from O’Connor fall short only for full forward Niall Fleming to win possession and blast to the net.

Now trailing by four, Castlemagner weren’t found wanting, the play of Tadhg Fitzmaurice, Anthony O’Leary and Danny Linehan created an impact as did the influence of substitutes James O’Riordan and Cian Cronin.

Indeed the fresher legs of the champions made a telling impression, precision in attack significant, points in quick succession from Linehan, O’Sullivan and Cronin forced parity.

With the excitement reaching fever pitch entering the latter stages, Castlemagner made the push, young O’Driscoll displayed coolness to slot over the matchwinner.

Time remained for Ballydesmond to revive their challenge and take the game to a replay only for a resolute Castlemagner defence to hold firm by circling the wagons and thwart a late bid for parity to ensure team skipper Daniel Murphy collected the silverware.

Scorers for Castlemagner: Cormac O’Sullivan 0-6 (3f, 1 tpf), E Magner 1-0, C Cronin 0-2, D Linehan (f) and B O’Driscoll 0-1 each.

Scorers for Ballydesmond: D O’Connor 0-5 (3f, 1 tpf), N Fleming 1-0, P Breen, K O’Connell, D O’Sullivan, T Howard 0-1 each.

CASTLEMAGNER: T McAuliffe; A O’Keeffe, D Murphy, C Murphy; A O’Leary, T Fitzmaurice, J O’Rahilly; Conor O’Sullivan, B O’Driscoll; M O’Sullivan, S Cronin, D Linehan; Cormac O’Sullivan, E Magner, E O’Sullivan.

Subs: J O’Riordan for E O’Sullivan (31), C Jones for M O’Sullivan (45), Cillian O’Sullivan for S Cronin (51), C Cronin for E Magner (51), D Lucey for A O’Keeffe (56).

BALLYDESMOND: D Ring; S Murphy, T Fitzpatrick, C Linehan; D Kelly, D O’Callaghan, D O’Sullivan; K O’Connell, Donncha O’Connor; D Hayes, D Moynihan, T Howard; P Breen, N Fleming, L Sheehan.

Subs: J Healy for C Linehan (ht), Donal O’Connor for D O’Sullivan (52 inj), T Myers for D Kelly (58), R Flynn for T Howard (61).

Referee: Simon Stokes (Tullylease).