Kinsale make bold statement

Kinsale 4-15 Belgooly 2-14

(JJ Hurley)

Kinsale made a bold statement as they out hurled the favourites Belgooly for the Ross Oil South East Junior A title in the group stages at Riverstick on Saturday.

Credit to both sides for providing an entertaining contest in conditions less than conducive for hurling, with the wind and rain doing its outmost to spoil the party.

With the wind at their back for the second half, Belgooly were only trailing by 0-9 to 0-5, but despite the advantage Kinsale refused to go away, as they carved open Belgooly’s defence for four goals.

The first of which arrived from Noah Ryan on 35 minutes, after the excellent Michael Murphy had opened his sides account in the second half, with a difficult free against the wind.

Indeed, it was Murphy who had set the seasiders on their way in the opening minutes of the contest and acquired all the free taking duties, soon after, as John O’Brien left the field due to an injury on six minutes.

With both sides coming to terms with the conditions, the teams were tied at 0-2 to 0-2 on 13 minutes, as Murphy had added a free and Barry O’Dwyer was as accurate as ever up the other end.

Kinsale had their net minder, Ted O’Callaghan, to thank on 19 minutes as he produced an outstanding save from Conor O’ Donovan.

A brace of frees from Murphy had Kinsale out in front by two, as Dwyer reduced the deficit by one from a free.

However, Kinsale  continued to push on as Conor McCarthy and Murphy had Kinsale leading by 0-6 to 0-3 on 25 minutes.

From there to the break, Kinsale outscored Belgooly by three points to two, which included a point from Ryan and former Cork U20 footballer, Gearoid Kearney, leaving Kinsale with a 0-9 to 0-5 advantage at the break.

Despite Kinsale’s early second half goal, Belgooly had knocked over four points from Dwyer (2), Ryan Long and Eoin O Donovan as they had narrowed the score to only four points.

Eoin O’Donovan had a great chance for a goal to put the minimum between the sides, but Ted O’Callaghan pulled out a top drawer save,

Belgooly were growing into this game as Sean Kiely and Eddie Corkery continued to impress and Dwyer had narrowed the score line to a single goal, but up popped Tim Broderick for a goal on 40 minutes.

Belgooly needed to find an answer and Ryan Long produced two scores to rally his side, as Eoin O’Donovan added a beauty, indeed both sides must be credited with some fine shooting over the hour, despite the weather conditions.

With the game at 2-12 to 0-14, Rhys Reynolds sent a looping shot in around the house and second half substitute, Eric Lync, dispatched the sliotar to the net.

Belgooly had hardly finished celebrating when Broderick was on hand to finish to the Belgooly net on 55 minutes.

A point moments later from Eoin O’Donovan gave Belgooly a glimmer of hope, and it could have been even more on 59 minutes, after Murphy had fired over up the other end, but O’Callaghan was almost unbeatable.

With Belgooly not able to cope with Kinsale’s pace upfront Broderick made perfect use of a pass and fired over.

Any possibility of a comeback from the 2023 champions was snuffed out as time ticked away as the tireless Ryan scored his second goal of the night, and Kinsale deservedly took the victory.

Scorers for Kinsale: Michael Murphy 0-10 (8F), N Ryan, T Broderick 2-1, C McCarthy, J Murphy, G Kearney (0-1 each). Belgooly: B Dwyer 0-8 (8F), E O’Donovan 1-2,E Lynch 1-0, R Long 0-3, S Kiely 0-1.

Teams

Kinsale: T O’Callaghan; S Ahearn, N McCarthy, C O’Leary; G Kearney K O’Callaghan, D Nolan; K O’Rourke, D O’Leary; C McCarthy, B O’Neill, J Murphy; N Ryan, M Murphy, J O’Brien. Subs: T Broderick for J O’Brien (6inj), C Fitzpatrick for Senan Ahern (45inj), H Sheehan for C O’Leary (58)

Belgooly: E Dwyer; D Walsh, C O’Sullivan, J O’Sullivan; R Reynolds, G O’Riordan, T O’Donovan; N O’Sullivan, S Kiely; C O’Donovan, R Long, E O’Donovan; B Dwyer, J Dwyer, E Corkery. Subs: E Lynch for J Dwyer (50).

 Referee Alan O’Connor, Ballygarvan

 Two of Kinsale's heroes from their win in the Ross Oil SE Junior A Championship against Belgooly in Riverstick on Saturday, Michael Murphy and Timothy Broderick