Mallow minor footballers edge out Nemo Rangers by four points in Trabeg
Gearoid Daly claims possession on the halfback line for Mallow against Nemo Rangers in the GAA Premier Minor Football Championship: Nemo Rangers vs Mallow in Trabeg. Pic: Larry Cummins
A solid team display from Mallow was good enough to secure a thrilling win in the Premier 1 Minor football championship at Trabeg on Wednesday.
In a highly entertaining game, both sides played committed football over the hour but Mallow with goals from the outstanding Ben O’Shea and Richard McAuliffe proved crucial in this hard-earned win.
Ironically these teams also met in this championship last season when the grade was a year less in the age group and Mallow ran comfortable winners.
The north Cork club reached the semi-finals before getting eliminated by St Finbarr’s.
The visitors got a great opportunity to register the opening green flag when Ben O’Shea got in behind the Nemo defence but sadly for him, his shot was superbly parried to safety by keeper Joe Lyons.
O’Shea looked lively for Mallow and he made up for his missed goal opportunity when slotting over a superb point from play two minutes later.
The Trabeg outfit were patient with their build-up play and they were rewarded in the sixth minute when Bill Twohig kicked a long-range point. On the next possession, Mallow caught Nemo’s defence napping with a stunning goal.
A high ball was caught by full forward Richard McAuliffe and his pass across the square was met by O’Shea who guided the ball with ease to the back of the net.
In fairness Nemo were resilient and on the next possession they should have responded with a goal but somehow the Mallow keeper Devin Frey denied Dara O’Sullivan with a stunning save.
O’Shea was the one player that continued to pose Nemo problems and when he kicked he kicked another classy point in the 14th minute it edged his team into a three-point lead, 1-2 to 0-2.
In fairness, this Nemo side refused to wilt and a brace of Dara O’Sullivan points reduced the deficit to the minimum.
The one negative for Nemo was their loose defending and they were punished again in the 21st minute with a second Mallow goal.
Not for the first time were their defence caught napping as full forward McAuliffe was allowed acres of space to drill a low shot to the corner of the net.
Mallow looked to have finished the half in style when following a sweeping break McAuliffe was hauled down inside the square.
Up stepped Cathal Mullins for the resultant penalty but once again the Nemo keeper Lyons showed his agility with a superb save.
Nemo trailed 2-5 to 0-6 at the break and they started well with consecutive points from O’Sullivan and Rory O’Connor.
The visitors were struggling to get possession and the lead was down to two points following another long-range Twohig white flag.
When Mallow needed inspiration they got it courtesy of a magnificent point from captain Padraig Britton.
The closing minutes were competitive with Nemo testing their opponents' defence but the Avondhu side held form and just about deserved their win.
D O’Sullivan 0-8 (0-5 f), B Twohig 0-3, R O’Connor, S Denn (0-1 each).
B O’Shea 1-3, R McAuliffe 1-1, C Mullins 0-3, T Kiely, A Murphy, P Britton, G Daly (0-1 each).
J Lyons; H Walsh, J McLaughlin, L Keenan; D Mellerick, D Callanan, N O’Shea; D Coughlan, B Twohig; J Hennessy, M Keenan, L Healy; R O’Connor, C Yelland, D O’Sullivan.
J Foley for L Healy (inj 15), S Denn for L Neenan (23).
D Frey; E Murphy, E Sheehan, C Cunningham; E Walsh, G Daly, T Kiely; P Britton, J Roche; C Mullins, L Buckley, A Murphy, B O’Shea; R McAuliffe, A Hourigan.
D Kingston for E Murphy (37), J Quill for C Cunningham (52), J Kiely for L Buckley (56), D Lynch for R McAuliffe (60)
Cormac Dineen (Douglas).
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