Castlehaven hit the last two points to beat Éire Óg in league clash at Ovens
Castlehaven's Ronan Walsh breaks away from Éire Óg's Brian Thompson. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
CASTLEHAVEN continued their fine start to the Cork Credit Unions Division 1 Football League following an away win over Éire Óg.
The Haven have now won the first three league games and sit top of the table, while their opposition suffered defeat for the first time this campaign following three points from the opening two games.
Haven controlled the first half, but Éire Óg improved after the break and were the better team for the vast majority of the second half. It looked like the points would be shared, but two late scores swung it
It wasn’t a classic, with both teams deploying a defensive game, it was a real tactical battle. The away team made a dream start, a tremendous pass into Michael Hurley from Jamie Walsh opened up the Éire Óg defence and Hurley placed the ball into the bottom corner of the net.
Hurley and Seán Browne pointed for the West-Cork outfit, before Éire Óg registered their first score after 24 minutes, as Hugh Murphy landed a long-range effort. Hurley and sub Micheál Maguire bisected the posts, which extended the advantage.
However, the home team got the last two points of the half, the lively Brian Hurley with a fine point and the evergreen Daniel Goulding from a free, 1-4 to 0-3 at half-time.
When Browne found the target a minute into the new half, it looked like the Haven would keep their opposition at arm’s length, but remarkably they would fail to score for the next 28 minutes. Éire Óg dominated the game during this time, three Goulding frees and a Jack Murphy effort cut the deficit to just a point with five minutes remaining.
Conor McGoldrick levelled the contest with three minutes remaining, but the team in blue and white finished well, Mark Collins pointed from a free, their first score in 28 minutes and Jack Cahalane slotted over the insurance score two minutes into injury time.
D Goulding 0-4 f, B Hurley, H Murphy, J Murphy, C McGoldrick 0-1 each.
M Hurley 1-2, S Browne 0-2, J Cahalane, M Collins (f), M Maguire 0-1 each.
E Kelleher; M Corkery, J Mullins, C McGoldrick; J Murphy, D O’Herlihy, D Dineen; M Griffin, D McCarthy; H Murphy, J Cooper, B Thompson; R O’Flynn, B Hurley, D Goulding.
J Kelleher for D Dineen (33), D Kelly for B Thompson (46), D Foley for B Hurley (49).
A Seymour; J Regan, R Walsh, J Bohane; D Whelton, C O’Sullivan, S Walsh; J Walsh, M Collins; A Whelton, J Cahalane, S Browne; J O’Driscoll, M Hurley, S Bohane.
M Maguire for J O’Driscoll (9, inj), L O’Mahony for S Bohane (40), S O’Connell for C O’Sullivan (54), S Hurley for J Walsh (57), J Walsh for A Whelton (62, inj).
Robert Whelan (Aghada).
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