St Michael's edge out Mallow to secure playoff with Douglas

St Michael’s 0-12 Mallow 0-11 

ST Michael’s are still in the 2023 PSFC after seeing off Mallow in Blarney – their fate not yet decided as they now must play Douglas for the right to progress to the quarter-finals.

St Michael’s came into the clash on Sunday devoid of any chance to progress (so we all thought) but after beating the Avondhu side and seeing the Barrs down Douglas by seven – Michael's and Douglas ended level on all metrics.

For Mallow, well they came into the game needing just a draw to progress, but just couldn’t get back to parity after conceding the lead in the 22nd minute; they now play Carrigaline in a relegation playoff.

Led in the scoring stakes by Simon Falvey and Adam Hennessy, Michael’s performed as if their collective lives depended on it and deserved the win.

For Mallow, scores from second-half sub Kevin Sheehan, Sean McDonnell and Ryan Harkin helped bring them to within one but some sloppy play and poor second-half misses cost the Carrigoon boys their chance to progress.

The opening 10 minutes saw both sides squander scoring opportunities but when the scoring finally began it was St Michael’s that raised a white flag first – Simon Falvey bagging the first of two first-half points. The wing-forward’s point stirred Mallow into life – Sean McDonnell scoring an excellent point to level things up and lift what to this point was a mistake-littered affair.

Stephen O’Callaghan was next on target for the boys in red as the game began to take hold.

Michael’s weren’t going to slip away that easy with Falvey’s second quickly followed by a Robbie Cotter free.

The sides would trade scores for the next 10 minutes before the city side looked to push on – a brace from Hennessy with points from Daniel Meaney and Andrew Murphy more than accounted for minors from Mallow’s Kieran O’Sullivan and Eoin Stanton – St Michael’s going in at the turn up by three – 0-7 to 0-4.

The second half saw Mallow battle back into the game with a wonder score from McDonnell, three points from Sheehan and some dogged defending from Cork’s Matty Taylor and Shane Merritt inspiring the side to push on but The Blackrock boys weren’t for turning – this would be their day.

Scorers for St Michael’s: S Falvey 0-3; R Cotter (0-1 f), A Hennessy 0-2 each; S Keating, D Meaney, A Murphy, R O’Shaughnessy, L O’Herlihy 0-1 each.

Mallow: K Sheehan (0-3 (0-1 f, 0-1m); S McDonnell, R Harkin 0-2 each; K O’Sullivan, M Kelleher, E Stanton, S O’Callaghan 0-1 each.

ST MICHAEL’S: M Burke; S Keating, A O’Callaghan, L Carroll; E Sheehan, D Meaney, R Kavanagh; A Murphy, E Hickey; K Hegarty, R O’Shaughnessy, S Falvey; A Hennessy, R Cotter, E Hegarty. 

Subs: T Deasy for K Hegarty (38), L O’Herlihy for S Falvey (inj) 45), E de Burca for R Kavanagh (55), J Golden for S Keating (57).

MALLOW: K Doyle; P Lyons, B Myres, S Copps; S O’Callaghan, S Merritt, M Taylor; D Moynihan, E Stanton; J Dillon, R Harkin, J Glynn; J Browne, K O’Sullivan, S McDonnell. 

Subs: M Tobin for J Browne, M Kelleher for J Glynn (both h-t), K Sheehan for E Stanton (inj), 37), P Hennessy for J Dillon (50).

Referee: James Bermingham (Bride Rovers)