East Cork Junior A Football: Midleton lay down early marker 

ONLY six teams will remain in contention for the Michael O'Connor Motors Factors East Cork Junior A Football Championship come Sunday evening, as the race hots up to succeed Cobh as champions.

Group 2 has already been decided with the two remaining matches being brought forward to last Friday and resulting in wins for Aghada and Lisgoold who fill the top two places, with last year's beaten finalists Cloyne eliminated and Glenbower Rovers having finished bottom.

Agahda ensured themselves of group honours with a hard-earned 2-12 to 2-10 win over Glenbower. Aided by the wind in the first half Rovers with goals from Ciaran Leahy and Richie Long retired leading 2-8 to 1-8, but Aghada limited their opponents to just two white flags thereafter. Diarmuid Phelan's goal on 46 minutes was a huge score and when Alan Hogan added a late point, the Rostellan outfit had done enough to record a third straight win.

In Carrigtwohill, Lisgoold had also to battle very hard before overcoming Cloyne in a match that would decide the runners up spot. The winners were 0-8 to 0-3 ahead early in the second half before Cloyne roared back to reach parity with an unanswered 1-2. In the tight closing exchanges, Lisgoold just managed to get back ahead and finished winners by 0-13 to 2-6.

As for the other two groups, Fr O'Neill's are already assured a place in the knockout stages whilst only a very rare combination of results can deny Midleton similar progress.

As it stands the Magpies top group 1 having already accounted for Youghal by a point before producing a powerful performance to inflict a massive 20-point reversal on Bride Rovers. Cormac Beausang registered 2-1 as Midleton made a big statement against a Rovers outfit who had comprehensively defeated Castlemarty in their first game.

So Midleton now head for Dungourney on Sunday afternoon (2pm) with a plus-21 scoring difference in the bag. Opponents Castlemartyr know that their first objective is to win the game and then hope that Youghal can ignite their reason in Ballynoe with a result and in the process deny Bride Rovers reaching the four-point mark. 

The Rathcormac club, who won the title in 2021 will advance if they defeat the Seasiders and Castlemartyr don't record victory by a big margin over Midleton. So as it stands, the smart money is on Midleton and Rovers to stay in the mix for honours.

Equally crucial of course is Youghal's need for a return from their outing to avoid the prospect of a relegation play-off.

Group 3 has Fr O'Neill's sitting pretty with excellent wins having already been recorded over Carraig na bhFear and Carrigtwohill. O'Neill's form line suggests that they are well capable of being contenders for a first title since 2015, having made it to the county B final last autumn. A 2-13 to 0-12 win over Carrigtwohill followed up an opening-day 10 points success.

Last time out a brilliant early goal from Eoin Motherway helped O'Neill's race into a 1-6 to 0-1 lead inside 20 minutes against Carrigtwohill and they never looked back afterwards despite the best efforts of David Murnane and Sean Walsh who between them scored 0-10 for the blue and gold.

SHOOTING BOOTS

Carrigtwohill will be hoping both their star men will again have their shooting boots on as they now face Carraig na bhFear in what is a winner takes all battle for second place in Glenville on Sunday evening at 7pm. Carraig na bhFear, tipped by many as championship favourites a few weeks back, bounced back from their loss to Fr O'Neills with a comprehensive 3-14 to 1-6 success over Erin's Own in their second match. 

The result means Erin's Own face a big task now as they take on Fr O'Neill's in Castlemartyr on Sunday evening (7pm).

Whilst the chase is on for the remaining knockout spots, also significant is the relegation issue. The current state of play sees Glenbower Rovers pointless after their three games and with a score difference of -7. Youghal (-4) and Erin's Own (-18) are also empty-handed at the bottom of their respective groups, but have a game to play on Sunday. The two lowest-ranked teams will contest the relegation play off.