Early goals power Duhallow to Div/Col Football Championship title win over Muskerry

Duhallow 4-9 

Muskerry 0-13 

Duhallow proved far too strong for Muskerry in Tuesday evening’s McCarthy Insurance Group Divisions/Colleges Senior Football Championship final, cruising to a 4-9 to 0-13 win in torrential rain at Ballydesmond.

While Muskerry had rattled the net seven times in their semi-final win over Carbery, they never looked like replicating that attacking form here. Duhallow were sharp from the off and had effectively put the game to bed with three first-half goals.

Despite a late black card to Seamus Hickey and only scoring 1-2 after the break, the North Cork division were never troubled. Muskerry finished with nine wides to Duhallow’s four and managed just seven points from play – not nearly enough against such clinical opposition.

Duhallow laid down a marker early. Luke Murphy was electric in the opening minutes, hitting three points inside six minutes. Donncha O’Connor added a 45, followed by a Chris Óg Jones free for Muskerry, but two more Murphy efforts left it 0-6 to 0-1 after 16 minutes.

Muskerry briefly rallied through frees from Liam O’Connor and Jones, narrowing the gap to three. But Duhallow soon cut them open.

Darragh Cashman powered through for a well-taken goal after 23 minutes – capping a superb display from wing-back.

Their second goal came courtesy of Gerry O’Sullivan, who finished off a slick move involving Hickey, O’Connor, and Conor O’Callaghan. Muskerry’s second point from play arrived close to half-time, but they were rocked again before the break when Jack Curtin smashed home a third Duhallow goal after being set up by clubmate Hickey.

Muskerry had the wind in the second half but couldn’t break through Duhallow’s defensive wall. The first score after the restart came on 42 minutes, as Muskerry’s Chris Óg Jones was set up by Ian Jones, but Duhallow responded instantly via Donncha O’Connor to keep the scoreboard ticking.

Even after Hickey was shown a black card, Muskerry couldn’t capitalise, managing just one point while Duhallow again found an answer.

Darragh O’Leary did produce a superb two-pointer late on, and Liam O’Connor added another from a tight angle in the 64th minute – but any hope of a comeback was dashed almost immediately.

From the resulting restart, Hickey led a rapid counter and teed up Murphy, who finished with power to bag Duhallow’s fourth goal and seal a commanding win.

Scorers for Duhallow: L Murphy 1-6 (0-2 f), D Cashman 1-1, G O’Sullivan, J Curtin 1-0 each, D O’Connor 0-2.

Scorers for Muskerry: C Óg Jones 0-4 (0-3 f), L O’Connor 0-3 (0-2 f), D O’Leary 0-3 (tp), A O’Sullivan, C O’Donovan, I Jones 0-1 each.

DUHALLOW: F O’Connor (Cullen); J O’Connor (Kiskeam), S Meehan (Kiskeam), D Buckley (Boherbue) (jc); K Cremin (Boherbue), J Murphy (Dromtarriffe), D Cashman (Millstreet); S Hickey (Rockchapel), D Linehan (Castlemagner); G O’Sullivan (Boherbue), T Casey (Kiskeam), C O’Callaghan (Dromtarriffe) (jc); D O’Connor (Ballydesmond), J Curtin (Rockchapel), L Murphy (Cullen).

Subs: AJ O’Connor (Kiskeam) for Murphy (41), C Walsh (Cullen) for Linehan (48), L Moynihan (Boherbue) for O’Sullivan (54), C Curtin (Rockchapel) for J Curtin (59).

MUSKERRY: J Creedon (Uibh Laoire); M Corrigan (Macroom), N Lordan (Ballinora), W Ronan (Kilmurry); K Manning (Uibh Laoire), P Ring (Aghabullogue), A Quinn (Macroom); C O’Donovan (Macroom), C Gillespie (Aghabullogue); A O’Sullivan (Aghabullogue), C Óg Jones (Uibh Laoire) (c), D O’Leary (Naomh Abán); D Kelly (Naomh Abán), L O’Connor (Inniscarra), I Jones (Uibh Laoire).

Subs: E O’Leary (Macroom) for Corrigan, B O’Sullivan (Aghabullogue) for Manning (both 36), D O’Mullane (Kilmurry) for Kelly (40), C Dodd (Canovee) for O’Leary (47-52 temp), Dodd for O’Donovan (52), O’Donovan for I Jones (54 inj).

Referee: Ciarán Murphy (Glanworth)