Goulding shows his quality as Éire Óg have the edge on Bantry Blues

Éire Óg 0-13 Bantry Blues 0-7 

ÉIRE Óg came out on top following an open and competitive affair against Bantry Blues in the Bon Secours Cork Senior A Football Championship at Ballingeary on Saturday afternoon.

The Ovens side were able to rely on All-Ireland winners Daniel Goulding and Ciaran Sheehan throughout, ably backed by young players like Colm O’Callaghan and Jack Murphy, who both shone for the Cork U20s last summer.

The County Premier Intermediate champions Éire Óg got off the mark with a beautiful Daniel Goulding score on the turn. Goulding was bang on form in the opening exchanges, with a number of fine efforts from frees.

The Ovens men kept their momentum going from efforts slotted over by O’Callaghan and another young gun Brian Hurley.

Bantry, who started without Ruairí Deane, responded with scores through Sean O’Leary, James Casey and Arthur Coakley. The West Cork side also had an effort on target which was saved well by Chris Kelly in the Éire Óg goal, who would also make a fine stop to deny Stephen Coughlan for Bantry in the second half.

Eoin O’Shea got another Éire Óg point before the half time break, as they led 0-8 to 0-4.

With Cork powerhouse introduced into the action, Bantry got the first score after the breakthrough, a neat point by Coakley, with a score by Foley cutting the deficit down to two.

However, Éire Óg responded through the impressive boot of the slick Goulding, who showed his experience and sheer quality throughout. He landed fantastic placed ball from the sideline, the type of effort you'd expect to learn in a Dean Rock free-taking clinic.

Éire Óg finished the job off with another Goulding score and an O’Callaghan point, for a side who look like having the potential to have another strong campaign in 2020.

It was a satisfactory outing for the Muskerry club overall, while Bantry will have to dust themselves down for their next outing, their haul of four points from play won't do if they want to qualify as one of the top two from a group that also features Kiskeam and Mallow, with the Duhallow side winning this weekend too.

Scorers for Éire Óg: D Goulding (0-5 f, 0-1 sl, 0-1 45) 0-8, C O’Callaghan 0-2, B Hurley, E O’Shea, L Sheehan 0-1 each.

Bantry Blues: T Foley 0-3 f, A Coakley 0-2, S O’Leary, J Casey 0-1 each.

ÉIRE ÓG: C Kelly; D O’Herlihy, J Mullins, C McGoldrick; D McCarthy, J Cooper, D Dineen; L Sheehan, R O’Toole; C Sheehan, J Murphy, C O’Callaghan; D Goulding, E O’Shea, B Hurley.

BANTRY BLUES: M Casey; C O’Leary, R O’Mahony, T Cronin; E Minihane, E O’Shea, S Keevers; B Foley, S O’Leary; J O’Neill, A Coakley, D Daly; T Foley, S McSweeney, S Coughlan.

Subs: J Casey for Keevers (inj,19), R Deane for Minihane (h-t).

Referee: Cormac Dineen (Douglas).