Uibh Laoire go goal crazy to see off Kiskeam and reach senior ranks
MAGIC MEN: The Iveleary team celebrate their defeat over Kiskeam in the Premier 1 Football Fiinal at Pairc Uí Chaoimh. Pic: Noel Sweeney
We’ll begin with a comparison of two Uibh Laoire starting teams. The county junior-winning side from the delayed 2020 season set against the history-makers of October 31, 2026.
Our count identifies 10 players who started both final victories.
The point to make is therefore obvious and outrageously impressive: the group of players who shed Uibh Laoire of its century-long junior status is the same group who, five years later, have delivered senior involvement for the first time in the history of the Inchigeelagh club.
A further emphasising of the above point is that the first two subs introduced in Saturday’s Premier Intermediate victory, Kevin Manning and Brian Cronin, were starters for the Junior A final win over Boherbue in August 2021.
Current half-back Sean O’Riordan was a used sub five years ago. Liam Kearney was used off the bench both days.
Bar one or two young fellas who’ve climbed into the line-up in recent seasons, there's a large pool of players below in Inchigeelagh who, in this decade alone, have amassed Cork Junior, Intermediate A, and Premier Intermediate medals.
As midfielder Timmy Roberts said to hat-trick hero Ian Jones at the presentation area, this is pinch-me stuff.
“The club’s rise in such a short space of time has been incredible and, you know, there's a small pool of players there, it's basically the same players from junior all the way up to senior now,” said Uibh Laoire coach Niall Allen.
“You've maybe Sam Pickering coming through, Jack Sweeney coming through. But generally, the core of the team is still the exact same.
“And just the amount of work they put into it and the commitment they give, I'm delighted that they've been rewarded for their efforts.”
Beaten quarter-finalists in 2023, beaten semi-finalists in ‘24, and beaten finalists in ‘25 - falling to the eventual champions on all three occasions - Allen spelt out the more sterile approach taken to this latest Páirc Uí Chaoimh visit.
“Aghabullogue were brilliant last year and there were no complaints in coming second there, but you definitely learn from being in the final, you learn from the whole experience of being around the final and the sideshows that lead up to it.
“You try not to get distracted but it's a novelty and it's new, whereas this year it was just really focused. We approached it as another game and there were no sideshows around the razzmatazz in the lead-up. We really went after just performing, not playing the occasion but playing the game. And I felt like we put in a really good performance there.”
The supremacy of the performance can be reflected in a multitude of ways.
They were never led in this third-tier Cork football final. Their opponents never stood level with them in this flag-heavy and hugely entertaining decider.
Uibh Laoire had 1-2 on the board before their opponents registered a first shot and raised a first flag of the night.
Uibh Laoire’s lead was never less than three thereafter. Three was the difference on 39 minutes, Kiskeam and the sensational two-point kicking of Paul O’Callaghan, Thomas Casey, and Seán O’Sullivan rewriting a 3-10 to 0-6 deficit on 26 minutes into a 4-11 to 0-20 final of brief uncertainty.
Brief being the word. The Duhallow men were held to just 0-3 across the ensuing 26 minutes.
Uibh Laoire claimed the first seven restarts sent long by Kiskeam ‘keeper Billy Daly. They won 11 of Daly’s 15 first-half kickouts. They mined 2-5 from such.
There was equal control on their own kickout. The opening six dispatches of Joe Creedon were retained. An equal split of long and short. Centre-forward Cathal Vaughan won each of the three long.
The fetching of Vaughan and Conor O’Leary was masterful, as was the scrapping on breaks of Roberts and Pickering. This quartet, though, sat behind the headline-grabbing contributions of the Jones brothers.
Ian Jones had completed his hattrick by the 26th minute. He could have had three more. Chris Óg’s 1-10 tally lifted his overall championship tally to 6-33. The pair’s movement befuddled the black and white.
“They are out and out ballers. They've such pace and they're clinical,” continued Allen, who's been on the line with this team for the past four years.
“We've brilliant kick-passers, brilliant inside forwards, so once you can give yourself a platform for the kickouts, then you give yourself a massive opportunity.”
The opportunity for senior status taken so authoritatively, the opportunity is now to go and add Munster honours to all they have accumulated over the past six seasons.
But before that Munster semi-final on November 22, there is more than one rendition of My Inchigeelagh Lass to get through.
C Óg Jones (1-10, tp, 0-1 mark); I Jones (3-2); C Vaughan (0-4, 0-4 45s), S Pickering (0-4, tp); C Galvin, J Sweeney (0-1 each).
S O’Sullivan (0-7, 2tp frees, 0-1 free); P O’Callaghan (0-5, 2tps), T Casey (0-5, 2tps); S O’Riordan, D Fitzgerald (0-2 each); J O’Connor, Mike Casey (0-1 each).
J Creedon; B Murphy, D O’Donovan, D O’Riordan; S O’Riordan, C O’Riordan, C Galvin; T Roberts, C O’Leary; J Sweeney, C Vaughan, S Pickering; C Óg Jones, I Jones, S O’Leary.
K Manning for Murphy (38); B Cronin for Sweeney (42); B O’Riordan for S O’Riordan (54); A O’Brien for D O’Riordan, L Kearney for Pickering (both 63).
B Daly; Mike Casey, J O’Connor, J Daly; D Murphy, E Daly, K O’Connor; S Meehan, G Casey; A Carroll, AJ O’Connor, P O’Callaghan; S O’Sullivan, T Casey, S O’Riordan.
Maurice Casey for Murphy (HT); D Scannell for G Casey, M Cronin for AJ O’Connor (40); D Fitzgerald for O’Riordan (45); M Collins for K O’Connor (49).
R Whelan.
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