PIHC: Brian Kelleher on song as Carrigaline relegate Bandon
Carrigaline’s Kevin O’Reilly bears down on goal and away from Bandon’s Peter Murphy during the Co-Op Superstores PIHC relegation play-off in Ballinspittle. Picture: Martin Walsh.
FROM SENIOR A to the Intermediate A grade in three seasons, it's been a precipitous fall for Bandon hurling, and one that showed little signs of abating on Sunday in Ballinspittle.
The west Cork men ran into a Carrigaline side firing on all cylinders and had no answers as they suffered relegation for the second time in three years.
It was a dismal first half for Bandon. Carrigaline bagged their first goal of the game after just 35 seconds when Finn O’Connell, a late change on the team sheet, smashed the ball past keeper James McSweeney from close range.
It was an opening 20 minutes to forget for Bandon and ultimately it cost them on the day. Carrigaline ran riot, pointing from a range of angles and distances.
Cheap fouls, sloppy passing and misplaced shots were killing Bandon. They had to wait until the 21st minute for their first point but kicked on after this until the short whistle, scoring 1-3 to give them a glimmer of hope for the second half.
Their goal came after a bit of well-needed luck. On 28 minutes Charlie Long’s long-distance free somehow made it all the way to the net as Carrigaline keeper Robert Foster, thinking it was going over the bar, let it off.
Going in 1-13 to 1-3 down at the interval, Bandon needed the second half of their lives and to their credit, they had a crack at it. But, ultimately it wouldn’t be enough. Despite arguably being the better side in the second period, Bandon simply couldn’t keep up with Carrigaline’s quality marksmanship.
Both sides were reduced to 14 men after 45 minutes when a brawl broke out. Bandon’s Darren Crowley and Carrigaline’s Kieran Kavanagh were the ones to see red, although there could have been a couple more had the ref been so inclined.
Carrigaline corner-forward Brian Kelleher was a stand-out. With 11 key scores on the day, he was a huge factor in his side avoiding relegation.
On the other hand, Charlie Long’s 1-5 and Eolan McSweeney’s 1-2 for Bandon may have gone in vain but they put on performances to be proud of nonetheless.
B Kelleher 0-11 (0-6 f), R McCarthy 0-4, F O’Connell 1-0, D Griffin 0-2, S Williamson, D Greene, K O’Reilly 0-1 each.
C Long 1-5 (1-4 f, 0-1 65), E McSweeney 1-2, A O Mahony 0-1, J McSweeney 0-1f .
R Foster; D King, S Williamson, C Vaughan; Kieran Kavanagh, D Griffin, Kev Kavanagh; J McCarthy, E Desmond; R McCarthy, F O’Connell, D Greene; R O’Shea, K O’Reilly, B Kelleher.
D Drake for F O Connell (12), N Coleman for D Greene (36), R Kelleher for R McCarthy (47), N O’Keefe for J McCarthy (55), P Mellett for E Desmond (58), J Maher for D Drake (58).
J McSweeney; H Lillis, P Murphy, E Twomey; S Collins, T Twohig, C McCarthy; E McSweeney, C Calnan; D Collin, D Crowley, J Mulcahy; C Long, A O’Mahony, M Cahalane.
N McCarthy for C Calnan (48), R Desmond for J Mulcahy (54), M Sugrue for C Long (57).
P Lyons.
App?
