Bantry Blues U14 footballers came away from Rossmore
with the league points following a tough physical encounter with Kilmeen on
Thursday evening, May 3rd. The home team opened the scoring with a
point but full forward Patrick Casey soon equalised and kicked Bantry into the
lead with two points. Shane McSweeney followed up with a fine point off his
left boot and then Daniel Murray made it four points to one. When Eoghan O’Shea
was pulled down in the square Daniel stepped up to take the kick but it was
well saved. Three further points from Ronan O’Mahony, Shane McSweeney and
Daniel Murray put Blues into a commanding seven points to one lead at half
time.
Ronan O’Mahony and Patrick Casey extended the lead
with points but Kilmeen weren’t finished and were lifted when an attack
resulted in a goal. They hit two unanswered points to reduce the deficit to
three points. It was time for Bantry players to step up and they upped their
efforts. Daniel Murray kicked over a free and followed up with a goal that Lionel Messi
would have been proud of. Patrick Casey brought his tally to 0-4 with the last
score of the game to leave a result of Bantry Blues 1-11, Kilmeen 1-03.
Every player
contributed to this hard fought win. In defence Sean Thornton, Aiden O’Sullivan
and Savo Dragas stood out, the two midfielders put in a busy hour and in
addition to the scorers, Eoghan O’Shea, Russell Barry and Jack O’Neill worked
hard.
Team: James
Lavin, Robyn McCarthy, Gavin Cronin, Sean Thornton, Aiden O’Sullivan, Savo
Dragas, Fionn O’Driscoll, Jack McCarthy, Ronan O’Mahony (0-2), Shane McSweeney
(0-2), Daniel Murray (1-3, 1F), Eoghan O’Shea, Jack O’Neill, Patrick Casey
(0-4), Russell Barry.
On Saturday morning the Bandon U10 hurlers took on
the Blues in Wolfe
Tone Park.
This was the first outing for the Bantry lads and though they fought hard and
never gave up, St Brogans proved stronger and were winners on the day. The
players who really gave their all were Dara McCarthy, John Crowley, Conor
Hanley and in goals James O’Shea.
Team: James O’Shea, John Crowley, Stephen Murnane,
Conor Hanley, Barry O’Shea, Dara McCarthy, Daithà Sheils, Jayce Cronin, Dylan
Kelleher, James Crowley.
Later in the afternoon the U12 hurlers played Ilen
Rovers, also in the park. This was played in three 20 minute periods with
Bantry winning the second and third. The Blues first score of the day came when
Shane Murray converted a penalty. In the second period centre forward James
Crowley hit two goals and in the third Billy Foley pointed a free with Shane Murray
scoring two, along with James Crowley’s point to seal the win.
David O’Sullivan contributed well when he came out of
goals to be replaced by Charlie Lavin, others who played well were Billy Foley,
Paddy O’Neill and Shane Crowley.
Team: David O’Sullivan, Oisin Bennett, Shane Buckley,
Greg Cotter, Shane Crowley, Shane Murray, Paddy O’Neill, James Crowley, Luke
O’Shaughnessy, Charlie Lavin, James O’Shea, Patrick Barry, Billy Foley, James
Buckley.
Bantry Blues are through to the U13A football
championship final after overcoming O’Donovan Rossa after extra time in
Ballydehob on Sunday evening last. The final score at the end of a thrilling
game was Bantry Blues 3-16, O’Donovan Rossa 2-16.
Blues played good football in the first half with forwards
Ronal Shiels, Shane Mc Sweeney and Liam Coakley winning good possession to keep
Bantry in control. Shane McSweeney scored a great goal and points from Matthew
Barry gave Bantry the lead. Skibbereen’s full backline defended well and Rossa
continued to score good points from play. Eoghan Minihane crashed in a goal to give
Bantry a lead of 2-5 to 0-9 at half time. Skibbereen put great pressure on the
Bantry backline looking for scores but with Sean O’Regan in goal and Aaron Mc
Carthy, Liam De La Coeur and Kevin Coakley in top form the defence held out
well. It looked like Bantry would go on to win when Kevin Coakley kicked a
great long range point to put Bantry three points up. There was drama at the
end of the half when Skibbereen scored a goal from a penalty to draw level just
before the full time whistle.
Although both teams were tired, all players put in a
great effort for the extra time. Skibbereen dominated the first period scoring
1-2 to Bantry’s 0-1. With time running out it looked like Bantry's chance was
gone as they kicked a few wides and also had a goal disallowed for square ball.
Dylan Carthy who had played his best football in the extra time then sent in a
pass to Eoghan Minihane who rounded the full back and score his second goal.
Dylan Carthy then kicked a fifty over the bar to leave Bantry the winners by
three points. Great credit is due to all the Blues players as this was a great
team effort. Bantry are now in the final and will meet the winners of Bandon or
Kilmeen on next Sunday evening in Dunmanway.
Team: Sean O'Regan, Aaron McCarthy, Liam De La Coeur, Kevin
Coakley (0-1), Jack Maguire, Dylan Carthy (0-2), Eoin Black, Eoghan Minihane (2-2),
Eric Dowling, Ronal Shiels, Shane Mc Sweeney (1-1), Billy Foley (0-2), Matthew
Barry (0-6), Shane Murray (0-1), Liam Coakley. Subs: Liam Clifford, John
Enderson, David Clifford, James McGlinchey, Sean Downey, Dean Horgan, Michael
Hanley,