Kinsale prove too good for Ballinhassig in South east junior A football championship final

Kinsale 2-15 

Ballinhassig 0-4 

A polished Kinsale side claimed the Huntsman Bar & Restaurant South-East Junior A Football Championship, when they proved much too strong for reigning champions Ballinhassig, in this final which was played in Ballinaspittle on Saturday afternoon.

Dominant from the throw in, Kinsale, aided by man of the match award winner Brian Coughlan, who kicked seven first half-points, led at the interval 0-10 to 0-4, and added two further points early in the second half before a brace of goals from Gearoid Finn and Kian O’Callaghan ended the contest as Kinsale led 2-12 to 0-4 after 40 minutes.

Ballinhassig tried hard, but they were soundly beaten. Having reached the county final last year, they would have fancied their chances of having another go at the County Championship, but the loss of star forward Killian Tyres to emigration and trying to juggle hurling and football in consecutive weeks was too big a hurdle to overcome, and they failed to score in the second-half.

Playing with the Breeze, Kinsale raced into a 0-3 lead after 14 minutes, the points coming from Coughlan (2) and Michael Murphy before Darren Delea had Ballinhassig’s opening score after 15 minutes.

Gearoid Finn and Diarmuid O’Sullivan swapped points before Kinsale hit six unanswered points from Coughlan (5) and Finn to lead 0-10 to 0-4 at half-time.

Ballinhassig needed a big start to the second half, but it was Kinsale who kicked on with points from Michael Murphy and Niall McCarthy before Gearoid Finn finished a good move to the net in the 36th minute.

Ballinhassig lost Donncha Donovan to a black card, and any hope they had was extinguished in the 40th minute when Kian O’Callaghan goaled from the penalty spot after James Murphy was pulled down.

The game was over as a contest and Kinsale finished with points from Barry Gray, Niall McCarthy and Timmy Broderick, before Kinsale captain Brian Coughlan gleefully accepted the trophy from board chairman Myles Barry. Kinsale will now play Urhan in the County Championship.

Scorers for Kinsale: B Coughlan 0-7 (4F), G Finn 1-2, K O’Callaghan 1-0 (1 pen), M Murphy 0-2, N McCarthy 0-2, B Gray 0-1, T Broderick 0-1.

Ballinhassig: D O’Sullivan 0-2 (1f), D Delea 0-1, G Daly 0-1.

KINSALE: S O’Neill; Kian O’Callaghan, R O’Regan, F Ahern; D Mahony, N McCarthy, Kris O’Callaghan; D Coughlan, B Coughlan; H Sheehan, G Finn, B Gray; M Murphy, J Murphy, J O’Brien. 

Subs: C Sheehan for J Murphy (40), C McCarthy for F Ahern (41), J Murphy for G Finn (45), T Broderick for H Sheehan (52), S O’Brien for B Gray (54).

BALLINHASSIG: A O’Leary; C Grainger, K Maguire, M Desmond; P O’Leary, C Desmond, E Finn; E Lombard, D Donovan; E Cullinane, D O’Sullivan, G Daly; D Delea, F O’Leary, E Buckley. 

Subs: B Lynch for D O’Sullivan (41), J O’Callaghan for E Finn (43), S O’Leary for D Delea (43), D Lombard for K Maguire (45), T Madden for E Buckley (55).

Referee: Brian Sweeney (Shamrocks).