Glen Rovers 1-18 Carrigtwohill 1-16

GLEN Rovers were given a real test of their championship credentials against a young and resilient Carrigtwohill outfit at sun-splashed Cobh this afternoon.

While a late, fortuitous Liam Gosnell goal did give the final scoreline a different sheen, Carrigtwohill can be very pleased with their performance against a Blackpool side with eyes on silverware this season.

Thanks to their opening round draw with Na Piarsaigh, Carrig are still in with a fighting chance of qualifying for the knock-out stages, but a lot will depend on their final group game against St Finbarr’s. The Glen, meanwhile, will play Na Piarsaigh in their final group game.

Glen failed to match the sparkle and intensity evidenced in last weekend’s stunning win against St Finbarr’s. Here they laboured to victory, but such a performance was perhaps inevitable.

The winners were made to work hard for victory against a Carrig side in which Gosnell enjoyed a fine hour pulling off a string of stunning long-range points.

The Imokilly club deployed a sweeper system to try to stymie the Glen’s goal threat while Pat O’Sullivan did a good man-marking job on Patrick Horgan, who was kept to one point from play. While Horgan had a quiet day by his high standards, Conor Dorris was in brilliant form for the winners. 

The corner-forward picked off a litany of beautiful points from his left side, and took his 40th-minute goal with aplomb – a score that put daylight between the sides.

The narrow confines of the immaculately kept Cobh grounds may have benefitted Carrig who knew they needed to stymie an exciting Glen forward unit. With Liam O’Sullivan playing as an extra defender, their game-plan worked a treat as the Glen struggled to gain an upper-hand on their opponents in outfield play and on the scoreboard.

Frees did dominate but when scores did arrive from open play, Jamie McCarthy and Dorris stepped forward to show real class.

By the 15th minute, Dorris was on hand to take advantage of a flawed puck-out by the otherwise dependable Shane Devlin, and Dean Brosnan tacked on another before the first half water-break at which point the Glen led 0-7 to 0-5.

The Glen seemed to lift their game after the short break but it was still 0-9 to 0-8 at half-time.

It remained a close affair for the opening 10 minutes of the second half before Dorris struck for an all-important goal, after a Simon Kennefick assist.

In fairness to Carrig, they never gave up. They made some good substitutions with former Cork great Niall McCarthy putting in a good late shift, while Gosnell displayed some wonderful touches to keep Carrig in touch.

Scorers for Glen Rovers: C Dorris 1-5, P Horgan 0-8 (0-6 f, 0-1 65), D Brosnan 0-2, D Cronin, R Downey, S Kennefick 0-1 each.

Carrigtwohill: L Gosnell 1-6 (0-2 f), S Walsh 0-6 f, T Hogan, A Walsh Barry, J McCarthy, J Mulcahy 0-1 each.

GLEN ROVERS: C Hickey; C Healy, D Dooling, A Lynch; R Downey, B Moylan (c), D Noonan; D Cronin, A O’Donovan; D Brosnan, P Horgan, L Horgan; C Dorris, S Kennefick, L Coughlan.

Sub: D Cunningham for L Horgan (54).

CARRIGTWOHILL: S Devlin (c); B Twomey, P O’Sullivan, J Horgan; D Rooney, R Power, A Walsh Barry; P Hogan, T Hogan; S Roche, L O’Sullivan, J McCarthy; J Mulcahy, L Gosnell, S Walsh.

Subs: C O’Connell for L O’Sullivan (inj 33); S Ronan for Roche (43); N McCarthy for T Hogan (48); S de Búrca for Power (54).

Referee: Ciaran O’Regan (Ballyhea).