Canovee hit four to beat Castlemagner in Junior A FC semi-final

Canovee 4-11 Castlemagner 1-6 

 CASTLEMAGNER’S 71-year wait for a Cork County Junior A Football Championship will continue, as Canovee put four goals past them in Páirc Uí Rinn on Sunday to book a spot in the final where they will play Mayfield.

In a game that saw two men sent off, the early goals from Canovee proved too difficult to come back from, as Castlemagner struggled to create chances.

Castle opened the scoring straight from throw in, as Cillian O’Sullivan found space and set up Jack Cott, who kicked a brilliant point over the shoulder, but Canovee responded in style.

A quick move from the kickout set Brian McNabola through on goal, and he placed it into the bottom corner within 40 seconds of Castlemagner’s opening point.

The goal seemed to rock the Duhallow champions, and Jack Kelleher followed up with two points from play, before scoring a free to put Canovee five points ahead after five minutes.

McNabola got involved once again after making a good run out wide, and as Conor O’Neill made an unmarked run inside Castlemagner’s 20 metre line. McNabola got off a good hand pass to find O’Neill, and the wing-forward smashed it in from close range in the 7th minute.

Points from James Moynihan and Darragh McMahon put Canovee 10 ahead as they ran riot, while Castlemagner eventually got their second score in the 14th minute when Cott pointed.

The game changed six minutes later when McNabola was given a straight red for an off the ball incident, and within 40 seconds Danny Lenihan landed a crucial point that lifted Castlemagner and brought the gap down to eight.

A free from Lenihan was cancelled out by a fisted score from Kelleher, as Canovee still looked to be the better of the two teams despite being a man down.

The Muskerry champions closed out the half with another free, while Castlemagner finished with two wides, leaving them nine points behind and work to do in the second period.

Despite playing with 14, there was no sign of Canovee sitting in and holding their advantage as Moynihan played an inch-perfect handpass to McMahon, but Trevor McAuliffe pulled off an exceptional diving save.

The teams traded scores twice, but as Castlemagner struggled to create good scoring opportunities, Canovee found chances to counter, and pounced in the final quarter.

Conor Dodd set up O’Neill, and he passed to Kelleher, but his attempt was brilliantly saved by McAuliffe. However, the Castlemagner goalkeeper could do nothing to stop O’Neill’s follow up attempt, and he got their third goal in the 46th minute.

Shane Cronin received a second yellow card in the 55th minute, bringing Castle down to 14, but they had showed little signs of coming back prior to his dismissal.

A Kelleher point was followed by Canovee’s fourth and final goal, as Mark Healy gave it to Kelleher, who handpassed it across goal to Padraig O’Leary, and the substitute palmed it into the open net to make it 4-10 to 0-6 after the healy.

Healy could have added a fifth, but his powerful strike rattled the crossbar and back into play, and Castlemagner did get a consolation goal in additional time when Cormac O’Sullivan shot across goal and into the bottom corner.

A final point from play for the mid-Cork champions sealed it as Colm Maher blew his whistle for full time.

Scorers for Canovee: J Kelleher 0-8 (0-2 f), C O’Neill 2-0, B McNabola, P O’Leary 1-0 each, J Moynihan, M Healy, J Kelleher 0-1 each.

Castlemagner: D Linehan 0-4 (0-3 f), Cormac O’Sullivan 1-0, J Cott 0-2.

CANOVEE: C O’Driscoll; C Cronin, W Ahern, E Lehane; E Dodd, O O’Driscoll, M Dunne; C Dodd, A Murphy; J Moynihan, D Cronin, C O’Neill; D McMahon, B McNabola, J Kelleher.

Subs: M Healy for D Cronin (38), R Delaney for C Cronin (51), P O’Leary for McMahon (53), A Morrissey for Gayer, T Murphy for Magner (both 56), A O’Leary for Holland (60).

CASTLEMAGNER: T McAuliffe; T Fitzmaurice, T O’Riordan, L O’Riordan; C Murphy, D Gayer, D Murphy; Cillian O’Sullivan, S Cronin; D O’Sullivan, K Holland, E Magner; Cormac O’Sullivan, D Linehan, J Cott.

Subs: Conor O’Sullivan for Cott (47), A O’Keeffe for Murphy (52), P Healy for Moynihan (56), D O’Sullivan for Ahern (59).

Referee: Colm Maher (Buttevant)