Ballinhassig stun Carrigaline with three late goals to reach PIHC semi-final

Ballinhassig 3-14 Carrigaline 1-10

BALLINHASSIG will take on Castlelyons in the Co-Op Superstores PIHC semi-finals after they impressively defeated Carrigaline 3-14 to 1-10 at Minane Bridge.

After a fine group campaign, Hassig delivered in the fourth quarter of this South-East derby, setting up a clash with favourites Castlelyons, while it's Courcey Rovers v Valley Rovers on the other side of the draw.

Carrigaline, without the injured David Griffin, looked to have a firm grip on proceedings they were ahead by four points heading into the final quarter but two goals from Ger Collins and Fintan O’Leary either side of two further points all in the space of three minutes ultimately swung this quarter-final clash Ballinhassig’s way.

There was nothing separating the two sides here after 25 minutes of action as they had both scored five points and also hit seven wides apiece.

Evan Cullinane claimed three for Ballinhassig including a brilliant sideline cut while the pick of the scores from the opposition belonged to Eanna Desmond.

But Carrigaline soon rallied and they would lead 1-7 to 0-6 at the half time break with their only goal of the game coming from Dave McCarthy, who pounced on a defensive error and cleverly kicked it into the back of the net.

The two teams swapped a couple of points each in the third quarter, Brian Kelleher adding two frees to his tally while Evan Cullinane and substitute Brian Lynch fired back for Ballinhassig, as Carrigaline remained ahead by four heading into the final 15 minutes.

But Ballinhassig powered forward from that juncture and the aforementioned 2-2 in their favour in just three minutes completely turned the match on its head.

A stunned Carrigaline could only muster a single point in reply while Ballinhassig grabbed four more points and a third goal this time from full-forward Conor Desmond to send them safely through to the final four and a meeting with Castlelyons.

Scorers for Ballinhassig: C Desmond 1-4 (0-2 f), E Cullinane 0-5 (0-1 sl), F O’Leary 1-1, G Collins 1-0, M Sheehan, C Tyers, D Donovan, B Lynch 0-1 each.

Carrigaline: B Kelleher 0-5 f, D McCarthy 1-0, D McBarron 0-3, E Desmond, R O’Shea 0-1 each.

BALLINHASSIG: P Collins; P O’Leary, K Maguire, M Desmond; D Donovan, M Collins, S McCarthy; M Sheehan, E Finn; G Collins, D O’Sullivan, C Grainger; E Cullinane, C Desmond, F O’Leary.

Subs: C Tyers for D O’Sullivan (h-t), B Lynch for M Sheehan (h-t), S O’Neill for E Finn (42), C Reynolds for F O’Leary (54), J O’Callaghan for S McCarthy (61).

CARRIGALINE: M O’Mahony; C Vaughan, S Williamson, D Stack; Kieran Kavanagh, Kevin Kavanagh, R McCarthy; P McBarron, E Desmond; B Kelleher, R O’Shea, S O’Brien; D McCarthy, D Drake, D McBarron.

Subs: F O’Connell for P McBarron (40), W O’Brien for S O’Brien (51), R Kelleher for B Kelleher (53), K Dwane for E Desmond (55), D King for R O’Shea (57).

Referee: Ian McCarthy (Bandon).