Rockmount stand firm

Bluebell United 0 Rockmount 1

Centre forward Ross O’Callaghan headed the decisive goal in the first attack of the game and set a trend that was virtually unrelieved from then until the final whistle of a second-half that stretched endlessly for an extra seven minutes.

The goal came as Pat Keane hooked a ball from midfield high into the Bluebell penalty area. Ken Hoey won a critical jump for possession to head the ball across the goal where O’Callaghan won an equally important leap to head it firmly past goalkeeper Shay Davoran.

“I cannot believe it,” said O’Callaghan afterwards. “I’m delighted for the lads. We scored in the first minute and I’m lost for words. It’s just a dream come true.”

The goal inevitably sparked an immediate and spirited response from Bluebell, who charged forward in an effort to regain equality immediately. In between O’Callaghan’s marvellous strike and that final whistle Rockmount spent long, unrelieved, spells in defence countering a Bluebell side that played good constructive football to the edge of the penalty area.

There they perished on the rock that was Rockmount’s defence. Thus far and no further was the creed that Rockmount lived by, their attitude born of a great hunger to compensate for their loss in last season’s final.

Rockmount played to a 3-5-2 formation and it was biased in favour of defence for all but the opening 20 minutes. Rockmount rated highly as an attacking force in that opening spell with the energy level of their two strikers, O’Callaghan and Rory Beechinor.

They set the standard for the rest with their capacity for hard work and their drive for involvement. They never spared themselves as they pressured the Bluebell defence persistently and their contribution to Rockmount’s cause was immeasurable.

Inevitably they tired, however, and Bluebell’s control of the pace and the flow of the game became ever more pronounced as their two full-backs found time and space to come ever more forward. Their territorial advantage in the second-half was considerable and yet they never succeeded in penetrating Rockmount’s defence.

The reason why was easily explained. Rockmount defended heroically, their three centre backs Pat Oldham, Alan Martin and Kieran O’Mahony were hugely competitive and uniformly effective.

Ken Hoey was sharp and decisive in all his work at left-back and with John Busteed playing with calm assurance on the opposite flank, Rockmount were resourceful and secure.

The cover afforded them by the concentration of players in central midfield was a huge help and the overall discipline and organisation of the team was reflected in the fact that goalkeeper Derek Slattery had only three direct strikes at goal to cope with.

He exuded an air of confidence that must have been a comfort to those in front of him and the overall success of Rockmount’s game plan was remarkable, given the amount of ball that Bluebell enjoyed.

“It was very difficult,” said Rockmount’s busy centre-forward Rory Beechinor. “After scoring in the first minute I think we sat back a little. We seemed to be playing a dangerous game at times because we played so deep, especially in the second-half. But our defence is the best around and they have been playing like that all season.”

Beechinor’s success was of special significance for his family. His grandfather, John ‘Bud’ Healy captained another Cork side, Albert Rovers to an Intermediate success in the early 1950’s.

Rockmount’s win was of particular satisfaction as well for full-back Ken Hoey, whose previous two final appearances were losing ones. He said: “This was third time lucky for me but they are a great bunch of lads and they deserve this. We knew they would come out in the second-half and put it up to us. Give credit where it is due, the lads were brilliant.”

The man of the match award was presented to one of Rockmount’s central defenders, Pat Oldham, and he said: “This award is down to the lads around me. They played brilliantly. It was very difficult and we were under pressure for long spells but everybody played very well and contributed to a good team performance.”

Manager Billy Cronin said: “They are a great bunch of lads and they deserve this. It is their day and they’ve worked all season for it. I thought it was a very disciplined performance and although it seemed they had a lot of the ball they created very little.

“They put a lot of ball into the box but our lads have been coping with that all season and overall I was delighted with the effort,” he said.

BLUEBELL UNITED (4-4-2): Davoran; Mahedy, Scully (Callaghan 71), Stewart Smith, Byrne; Cullen, Curran (Gill 88), Dempsey, Doherty (Wynne 67); Stokes, Kevin Smith.

ROCKMOUNT (3-5-2): Slattery; Oldham, Martin, O’Mahony; Busteed, Buckley, Keane, Hurley, Hoey; O’Callaghan, Beechinor (O’Shea 78).

Referee: Mr S. Travers (Dublin).