St Michael's far too strong for St Nicks in disappointingly one-sided city derby

St Michael’s 2-15 St Nicholas 1-5 

A STROLL in the park for St Michael’s as they eased past St Nicks in a disappointing Bon Secours Cork County Senior A football championship at Caherlag.

Although St Michael’s were convincing winners their overall performance will have to improve immensely for their final group game against fellow unbeaten side O’Donovan Rossa.

St Michael’s looked energetic in the opening exchanges with Mark O’Keeffe only taking 20 seconds to raise the first white flag.

Further points from Eric Hegarty and Eoghan Buckley put the Blackpool outfit under more pressure but they responded in style.

Dean Brosnan kicked a superb free in the eight minute and two superb points from Simon Kennefick and Adam Lynch tied the game in the 12th minute.

Indeed, Nicks had a chance to go ahead two minutes later but amazingly Liam Coughlan missed a free in front of the posts.

Credit to Nicks they matched their opponents in many departments but the loss of their 41-year old stalwart David Brosnan five minutes from the interval weakened their attack.

Brosnan is a credit to his club after serving them for many years and despite now lacking a little bit of pace he still is a wonderful fielder of the ball.

A neat Andy O’Connell point for Michael’s was good enough to see them go in at the break commanding a five-point lead 0-8 to 0-3.

On the restart Michael’s conjured a nice move just two minutes into the half that saw Liam Grainger kick over a classy point.

On the next possession the hard-working Dean Brosnan found Simon Kennefick encroaching on goal as his shot found the back of the net.

As the half matured both sides made a number of substitutions and despite their best efforts St Nicks gradually went into meltdown.

The introduction of Liam O’Sullivan proved a masterstroke for Michael’s as the energetic forward finished a three-man move in the 47th minute to drill a low shot to the corner of the net.

When Nick’s dropped their intensity, they were punished again with a second green flag with eight minutes remaining as Liam Grainger was on hand to place the ball wide of the Nicks keeper Eddie Fuller.

As Nick’s exit from the championship with one game to play St Michael’s advance but manager Dave Egan will be looking for improvement in the coming weeks.

Scorers for St Michael’s: L Grainger 1-1, L O’Sullivan 1-0, E Buckley 0-3, L Grainger, K Hegarty, E O'Donovan, A O’Connell (0-1 f) 0-2 each, E Hegarty, M O’Keeffe, D Meaney 0-1 each.

St Nicks: S Kennefick 1-1, D Brosnan 0-3 f, A Lynch 0-1.

St MICHAEL'S: M Burke; R Coleman, O Sullivan, J Golden; T Lenihan, D Meaney, B Cain; M O’Keeefe, E Hickey; K Hegarty, A O’Connell, L Grainger; E Buckley, A Hennessy, E Hegarty.

Subs: L O’Sullivan for E Buckley (38), E O’Donovan for E Hegarty (52), E Sheehan for B Cain (52), P Cunningham for K Hegarty (56).

St NICKS: E Fuller; D Dunlea, A O’Donovan, K Mc; AEnery Lynch, K McCarthy-Coade, R McCarthy-Coade; L Forde, J Morrissey; L Coughlan, D Brosnan, S Kennefick; D Morris, D Brosnan, J Galvin.

Subs: R Byrne for D Brosnan (inj 25), G Mulcahy for J Galvin, A Evans for A O’Donovan, R Long for R McCarthy-Coade, J O’Brien for S Kennefick.

Referee: Justin Murphy (Castletownroche).