Cork SFL: St Finbarr's easy win over Ballincollig sees them relegated from division one

St Finbarr’s 1-17 

Ballincollig 1-9 

A solid performance from St Finbarr’s proved too much for Ballincollig in the McCarthy Insurance Division 1 football league in Togher.

By virtue of this defeat Ballincollig are relegated next season as their poor run of form continued in this game fading poorly despite a solid opening quarter.

In the opening possession the Barrs opened up the Ballincollig defence and Alan McCarthy split the posts with a superb finish.

The home side were really pressing forward and when Eoin McGreevy assisted a pinpoint ball into the path of James Wigginton- Barrett his goal bound attempt was superbly parried over the bar by the Ballincollig keeper Chris Walsh.

It took Ballincollig seven minutes to register their first score courtesy of a Peter Kelly point following good work from Darragh O’Mahony.

In a game of few chances Ballincollig had an opportunity to raise the opening green flag but somehow Brian Keating missed the target with a goal at his mercy.

The overall standard of football was reasonably good but we had to wait until the 15th minute for the next score that came from the boot of Wigginton-Barrett.

Two minutes later the Barrs scored consecutive points from McGreevy and Cillian Myers-Murray that extended their lead to four points.

In fairness Ballincollig kept playing a high tempo game and they should have scored a goal in the 19th minute but Darragh O’Mahony’s shot went inches over the crossbar.

John Wigginton-Barrett is a grandson of the late Dave “Wiggy Wigginton and he has definitely inherited his pace and football skills scoring a magnificent point with five minutes remaining to the interval.

Eoin McGreevy is also a quality player and when he executed his second white flag in the 28th minute the Barrs had surged into a six point lead.

The Village showed resilience in the closing minutes and consecutive points from Harry Ahern and Mark Oldham reduced the deficit to four points at the break 0-9 to 0-5.

On the restart the Barrs pushed up on their opponents and it only took three minutes for Myers-Murray to drill over the opening point.

Just like his fellow forward Myers Murray’s father Fionnan was a former Cork and Barrs Senior football star and his grandfather is the legendary Gerry Myers from the Cork Celtic golden era.

The biggest problem Ballincollig were encountering was their failure to win possession as the Barrs ran riot in the third quarter and when Myers-Murray kicked his fifth point in the 43rd minute the lead increased to nine points.

A minute later Sean Kiely kicked over a point for Ballincollig but in the closing minutes Barrs substitute Jack Fitzsimons drilled a low shot to the corner of the bet.

Ballincollig did battle and got a late consolation goal from substitute Cillian Sheehan but in truth they were well off the pace as the Barrs looked head and shoulders over them in many departments.

Ballincollig will now concentrate on getting their squad ready for championship games as their league campaign ended in huge disappointment.

Scorers for St Finbarr’s: C Myers-Murray 0-7 (0-3f), J Wigginton-Barrett 0-4, J Fitzsimons 1-0, E McGreevy 0-3, A McCarthy, E Dennehy, C Doolan (0-1 each).

Ballincollig: C Sheehan 1-0, B Keating 0-2, P Kelly, D O’Mahony, P O’Neill, M Oldham, S Kiely, N Galvin, H Ahern (0-1each).

St Finbarr’s: D Newman; S Ryan, B Hennessy, C McCarthy; C Lyons, A O’Connor, C Doolan; D Burns, T O’Keeffe; E Dennehy, J Wigginton-Barrett, A McCarthy; C Barrett, E McGreevy, C Murphy.

Subs: J Fitzsimons for B Hennessy (inj 39).

Ballincollig: C Walsh; C Moore, L Jennings, S Murphy; E Cooke, H Ahern, D Kirsten,; S Dore, S Kiely; M Oldham, B Keating, P O’Neill; S O’Neill, D O’Mahony, P Kelly.

Subs: C Dalton for L Jennings (h-t), D Murphy for S O’Neill (36), D Ebili for E Cooke (40), N Galvin for H Ahern (46), C Sheehan for P Kelly (56).

Referee: James Regan (Lough Rovers).