Seven-goal blitz sees Mallow canter to Minor Hurling Challenge Cup

Mallow 7-14 Inniscarra 0-13

A seven-goal blitz from Mallow was enough to see off Inniscarra in the Rebel Óg Premier 2 Challenge Cup final at Páirc Uí Rinn last night.

Plenty of heroes for the winners but four goals from Ben Murphy and a hat-trick from Mark Kelleher sealed the deal in emphatic fashion.

Mallow were quickest from the blocks with Mark Kelleher splitting the posts in the first minute following a good move.

In the opening six minutes Inniscarra had plenty of possession to score but they lacked a cutting edge in front of goal.

The north Cork side almost raised the first green flag a minute later but following a tremendous Kelleher run, full forward Billy Murphy failed to connect with a goal at his mercy.

Ironically on the next possession, Murphy made up for his near miss when he drilled home a low shot to the corner of the net.

The drought eventually ended for Inniscarra in the 10th minute with an Adam Doyle point, followed by a second white flag from Michael Murphy.

In a rare Inniscarra move, they were denied what looked like a certain goal a minute later but just as Michael Murphy was about to pull the trigger, he was denied by a superb Barry Taylor hook.

Mallow looked to have sharper movement among their forwards. A Simon Leneghan white flag in the 16th minute saw them edge into a four-point lead.

It got worse for Inniscarra two minutes later when Murphy got in behind their static defence to drill home his second goal.

The pace of the Mallow forwards continued to pose Inniscarra all sorts of problems and with five minutes remaining to the interval, they were punished with a third goal.

The distress signals were out for Inniscarra once the pacey Liam Walsh got the ball 40 yards from goal before producing an electric burst of speed. He placed the ball to the roof of the net.

Trailing 3-5 to 0-4 at the break, Inniscarra needed a good start to the second half and despite opening with a Calum Larkin point, they were torn apart in the opening seven minutes with two more Murphy goals.

Inniscarra battled to the wire but were punished by two Mark Kelleher goals that completed his hat-trick.

Mallow closed out the game to be crowned champions in style.

Scorers for Mallow: B Murphy 4-2, M Kelleher 3-1, S Leneghan 0-9 (0-8 f), L Walsh, L Malone 0-1 each.

Inniscarra: M Murphy 0-9 (0-5 f), C Larkin 0-2, A Doyle, N Buckley 0-1 each.

MALLOW: B McPhilips; R McAuliffe, D Copps, B Taylor; A Hourigan, L Buckley, C Mullins; G Daly, E Walsh; A Roche, L Malone, L Walsh; M Kelleher, B Murphy, S Leneghan.

Subs: B Noonan for A Roche (48), D Fleming for A Hourigan (48), P Buckley for L Walsh (48), C O’Keeffe for C Mullins (52), P Britton for E Walsh (52).

INNISCARRA: B Gleeson; T O’Reilly, T Lyons, C Larkin; D O’Brien, C Dineen, R O’Donovan; S Connolly, A Doyle; S Linehan, M Murphy, C Geoghegan; D Murphy, N Buckley, S Murphy.

Subs: D O’Connor for S Linehan (h-t), J Shine for C Geoghegan (h-t), K Keohane for S Murphy (h-t), D Enright for S Connolly (55), R Murphy for C Larkin (55).

Referee: Arthur Murphy (Killeagh).