SAFC: St Michael's push on against disappointing Bishopstown

St Michael’s 2-10 Bishopstown 0-5

ST Michael’s had a comfortable win over Bishopstown in a disappointing Bon Secours SAFC at Páirc Uí Rinn.

Bishopstown, down from Premier Senior, struggled badly against their city rivals who pulled away in the second half. 

It only took 50 seconds for Simon Collins to score, after a three-man sweeping move; the play was fast and furious with a classy Eoghan Buckley.

The Town dominated centrefield, winning the majority of dirty ball, and with Rory Cahill finding his kicking range they went 0-3 to 0-2 up.

Jack Murphy was then black-carded by referee John Ryan and both teams failed to score coming up to the water break.

A fabulous Mark Drummond point tied up the game before a good ball from Simon Collins found Nathan Gough but just as he was about to pull the trigger his attempt was blocked.

Cahill registered his third point for Town before Dan Lenihan caught a high ball and placed a pinpoint pass to Eoghan Buckley who fisted the ball past the bewildered keeper.

Daniel Meaney then gave Michael's a 1-5 to 0-5 lead.

Meaney scored a long-range point on the restart before poor Town defending allowed Dan Lenihan saunter through their defence to drill a low ball to the corner of the net.

Consecutive points from Buckley and sub Tadhg Deasy surged Michael’s into a nine-point lead 2-8 to 0-5 in the 37th minute as Bishopstown looked in dire straits.

Time was certainly against the Town and having to fail to score since the 25th minute of a first half that saw five added minutes they were now 36 minutes without a score.

It be must be added Bishopstown were wasteful in the second half and they had 10 wides up to the 55th minute.

In the closing minutes, the game went into a complete lull with Michael’s playing possession football against a side that looked totally out of their depth.

What was most surprising was that Bishopstown have been playing at a much higher level in recent years, though St Michael's have long been one of the most competitive clubs in the second tier of Cork football.

Scorers for St Michael’s: E Buckley 1-3, D Lenihan1-0, K Hegarty 0-2, D Meaney 0-2, M Drummond, T Deasy, E Sheehan 0-1 each.

Bishopstown: R Cahill 0-3 (0-1 f), S Collins 0-2. 

St MICHAEL'S: M Burke; S Keating, O O’Sullivan, L Carroll; T Lenihan, J Golden, P Cunningham; D Meaney, E Sheehan; D Lenihan, K Hegarty, M Drummond; L Grainger, E Buckley, E Hegarty.

Subs: T Deasy for M Drummond (h-t), E O’Donovan for E Buckley (39 inj), B Cain for P Cunningham (47), R Coleman for S Keating (57), M Drummond for D Meaney (57).

BISHOPSTOWN: K O’Halloran; S O’Bourke, E Byrne, M Murphy; M Power, E Deasy, D Quaid; B Murphy, J Murphy; D Costello, L Ó Driscoil, N Gough; M Oakes, R Cahill, S Collins.

Subs: P O’Flynn for D Quaid (h-t), C O’Driscoil for M Oakes (h-t), J Scally for J Murphy (39).

Referee: John Ryan (Macroom).