Not Belgooly’s day but Dwyer was simply outstanding

 Ballinora 2-25 Belgooly 2-15

Barry Dwyer who clocked up 2-11 for Belgooly today

JJ Hurley

Belgooly were outclassed by a determined Ballinora side in the quarter-final of the Co-op Superstore Junior A Hurling County Championship at Minane Bridge on Sunday.

To their credit, the South East outfit hurled right to the end of the game, with their talisman Barry Dwyer scoring his second goal of the day late on.

But in truth, giving the mid-Cork side a 1-10 to 0-2 lead after 16 minutes gave Belgooly an impossible target to mount a comeback.

Belgooly had Barry Dwyer to thank for dragging the SE Champions back into the contest as Ballinora led by 1-14 to 0-4 after 28 minutes.

However, Dwyer had hit four consecutive points to double Belgooly's tally on 30 minutes.

Indeed, it was Dwyer who had opened the scoring with a point in the opening minutes.

Unfortunately for the South East Champions, the traffic was all one way for the next eight minutes, as Ballinora sent over six unanswered points.

An industrious Ryan Long added a point, but man-of-the-match Ben Mayer goaled on 10 minutes, after Ruairi Dwyer had saved brilliantly from Tom Burns.

A flurry of Ballinora scores had them out in front by 1-10 to 0-2 on 18 minutes, before two Dwyer points gave his side a chink of light.

As the game was fast approaching a shootout between Dwyer and Mayer, the Ballinora man was on target again.

With the first half whistle sounding, Belgooly had tacked on two points from Conor O'Donovan and Long to a single reply from Mayer, as his side led 1-15.

In a repeat of the first half, it was Dwyer who was keeping the South County side’s scoreboard ticking over, as he hit three points to Ballinora’s four, as the gap extended to nine points after 40 minutes.

It increased to 13 by 46 minutes, before Long first fired over for a point and then set up Dwyer for a goal.

Three minutes later, the outstanding Dwyer had reduced the deficit to 0-8 on 50 minutes.

But the game ended as a contest on 55 minutes as Mayer clinched his second goal.

Kevin Fitzgerald was unlucky not to goal late on, but he had his shot blocked twice and Eric Lynch couldn’t get a stick to redirect Fitzgerald’s shot to the net.

Fittingly it was Dwyer who got the final goal but disappointment for Belgooly can be couched in a second South East Hurling Title in 2025.

Scorers for Ballinora: B Mayer 2-14 (0-8f, 0-2 65), L Lyons 0-5, A O'Shea, T Burns, M O’Brien, D Corkery, J Keohane, J Hegarty 0-1 each.

Belgooly: B Dwyer 2-11 (0-8f); R Long 0-3, C O’Donovan 0-1.

BALLINORA: B Crowley; T Forde, N Lordan, J Byrne; M O’Brien, S Kingston, C O’Flynn; L Lyons, T Burns; D Holmes, D Dineen, S Lyons; B Mayer, D Corkery, A O’Shea.Subs: J Keohane for O’Shea, J Hegarty for Holmes (both h/t), C Quirke for Dineen (42), B Carbery for S Lyons (49), C O’Donoghue for L Lyons (56).

BELGOOLY: R Dwyer; J O’Sullivan, T O’Donovan, N O’Sullivan; R Reynolds, G O’Riordan, C O’Sullivan; S Kiely, C O’Donovan; E Corkery, E O’Donovan, B Dwyer; R Long, M Kenny, J Dwyer.Subs: K Fitzgerald for Kenny (h/t), E Lynch for J Dwyer (43), F Walsh for E Corkery (60).Referee: Willie Wallis (Aghada).