PIHC: Courceys Rovers beat Éire Óg to seal semi-final spot
Courcey Rovers goalkeeper Stephen Nyhan is tackled by Éire Óg's Joe Cooper during the Co-op Superstores PIHC clash at Cloughduv. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
Courcey Rovers 0-18 Éire Óg 2-8
COURCEYS secured a place in the Co-Op PIHC semi-finals as a top-two seed following this victory over Éire Óg on Saturday evening.
Along with Castlelyons, Rovers move past the quarter-finals with three wins in the group stages, as Ballinhassig meet Carrigaline and Valley Rovers take on Kilworth.
The sides exchanged points in the opening minutes. Kevin Hallissey slotted over early scores for the men from Ovens, with Courcey’s doing likewise through the impressive Richard Sweetnam.
Joe Cooper got Éire Óg’s third point of the game in the 10th minute. However, Courceys went through the gears by the midway stage of the opening half, with Sweetnam continuing his fine form while Jerry O’Neill and Tadhg O’Sullivan also pointed.
Courceys in this fruitful period got nine scores in a row, to ultimately lead 0-13 to the 0-4 of Éire Óg at halftime.
The second half proved a closely contested affair. Éire Óg got a lifeline when Daniel Goulding was on hand to tap the ball in for a goal from close range.
Courceys kept the scoreboard ticking over through further points by O’Sullivan, Sweetnam and Sean Twomey.
However, Éire Óg were awarded a penalty heading into the latter stages, which was duly tucked away by Hallissey to reduce the gap down to four points in second-half stoppage time.
Despite that late onslaught, Courcey Rovers remained composed and did what was needed to complete the job they needed to do.
Liam Collins converted a late second-half point from their perspective, as Courceys will now turn attention to ensuring they are well primed to the challenge which awaits them in a couple of weeks’ time.
The prospect of a local derby clash lies in wait for Courceys in the final four, as they play the winners of the quarter-final between Carrigaline and Ballinhassig.
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