Division 1 FL: Clonakilty impress again as they hold off St Michael's comeback
Clonakilty's Thomas Clancy tries to move away from Sam Murphy of St Michael's. Picture: Jim Coughlan
Clonakilty have maintained their perfect start to the McCarthy Insurance Group Division 1 Football League following a hard-fought victory in the end over St Michael’s at sun-kissed Mahon on Sunday morning.
Martin O’Brien’s side have now won their first three games, joint top with St Finbarr's, while St Michael’s remain on two points.
This was a battle between the two newly promoted teams, but early on, it looked like the direction of travel was only going one way. The West Cork team led by 12 points after 20 minutes and it was extended to 13 points at the break.
It was a game of two halves. Clon were awesome in the first 30 minutes, but they won’t be happy with how it went after the break. They lacked aggression and the fast free-flowing football that was evident in the first half, wasn't on show for the majority of the second 30 minutes.
St Michael’s will take huge heart and plenty of positives from the second-half display. They probably did show their opposition too much respect early on, but a change of attitude meant Clonakilty were hanging on towards the end.
The Brewery Town outfit meant business in the early stages with a scoring burst in the first 10 minutes. Clonakilty hit 1-1 inside four minutes with Luke Griffin getting the scores. His goal was expertly taken after a clever pass by former Cork footballer Thomas Clancy.
The one-way traffic continued even if Clonakilty had a slight wind advantage. Conor Daly scored 1-1 as his team led 2-2 to 0-0 after eight minutes.
James Ryan did convert a point from a free for St Michael’s, but they were struggling all over the pitch against a very slick opposition. Two Daly efforts, Brian White (two-pointer) and Griffin gave the West Cork outfit a 2-7 to 0-1 advantage after 20 minutes.
The sides traded efforts before Brian White kicked his second two-pointer. Keith Hegarty did land a lovely two-pointer for St Michael’s, but a Daly free handed Clonakilty a 2-11 to 0-4 half-time lead.
A pair of Luke O’Herlihy points for St Michael’s on the resumption settled them before sub Liam O’Sullivan and Ryan (free) did reduce the deficit in a lively first six minutes of the new half from Pat Doyle’s team. They were showing much more urgency and attacking intent.
They hit four of the next five points to trail 2-12 to 0-12 with a quarter of the game remaining. Billy Cain’s effort the highlight.
Sub Liam O’Donovan then kicked over only Clonakilty’s second point of the second half.
The teams exchanged efforts as the game ticked into the last 10 minutes, 2-14 to 0-13.
A fisted Daly effort put seal on a Clonakilty win, but St Michael’s did finish well with an O’Herlihy two-pointer from a free and an Andrew Murphy effort, which left five points in it, 2-15 to 0-16.
The sides swapped points late on as Clonakilty did enough to claim the victory.
L O’Herlihy 0-6 (1 2pt f, 0-1 f), L O’Sullivan 0-3, J Ryan (0-2 f), K Hegarty (1 2pt) 0-2 each, A O’Callaghan, A Murphy, A Hennessy, B Cain 0-1 each.
C Daly 1-6 (0-2 f), B White 0-4 (2 2pt), L Griffin 1-2, S McEvoy, S White, R Mannix, L O’Donovan 0-1 each.
M Whelan; L Carroll, A O’Callaghan, F Leahy; Eric Hegarty, D Meaney, R Kavanagh; A Murphy, Eoin Hegarty; K Leahy, K Hegarty, S Murphy; A Hennessy, L O’Herlihy, J Ryan.
B Cain for R Kavanagh (15, inj), L O’Sullivan for S Murphy (h-t), R Ahern for F Leahy (57, inj).
M White; D O’Sullivan, D Peet, D Darragh; C Kenneally, T Clancy, J O’Mahony; B White, B Ridgeway; D Lowney, S White, S McEvoy; R Mannix, C Daly, L Griffin.
M Scally for D O’Sullivan (25, inj), L O’Donovan for S McEvoy (41), S McEvoy for C Kenneally (47), J Leahy for B Ridgeway (58).
Alan O’Connor (Ballygarvan).
App?
