Ballinhassig's game management and Patrick Collins 'class' pleases manager John O'Sullivan

As first championship outings go, it possibly couldn’t have gone much better for Ballinhassig.

They defeated Ballincollig on a scoreline of 4-13 to 0-19 in the Co-Op SuperStores PIHC Group 2 Round 1 contest at Church Road on Friday evening.

There might have only been six points in it at the end, but it was comfortable for the Blues in truth. They conceded the first two points, and it would be the only time they would trail.

Ballinhassig manager John O’Sullivan, whose sons Darragh and Adam were in top form, was satisfied, but knows there’s plenty of work to do going forward in a group that also includes Castlemartyr and Kilworth.

“It's nice to get a win first day out,” he said post-match.

“In our first game last year against Dungourney, we lost that game by the narrowest of margins. So obviously, it’s great to get a win, but in terms of performance, look, we scored 4-13 in total, I think we only scored 3-2 in the second half.

“We're happy with the result. I wouldn't say we're overly happy with the entire performance. I think there's more in us.

“Scoring four goals was pleasing because I think we're a team that's not really noted for scoring goals. We probably shoot a lot more points, but look, it's great. I think, to be fair to the goals that we scored, they were kind of well worked, other than the penalty itself, which is obviously a dead ball.” 

Ballinhassig’s game management was noteworthy, their opposition made a flying start to the second half, hitting three unanswered points to reduce the deficit to two points. The Carrigdhoun outfit always had the answers.

“Ballincollig did come at us, to be fair to them. They scored 19 points, which is a decent return,” O’Sullivan says.

“Once we got the goals, the backs took command, in terms of just who should be marking who. It was opening up a little bit in the second half, so we had to pay attention and we did.

“Up front, Brian Lynch was holding up the ball well, Evan Cullinane was holding up the ball the same way. All the forwards did well to hold the ball up, and allowed the backs to get reset all the time. We managed the game very well.

Patrick Collins inside in goal is different class. 

"We obviously don't see him in the first half of the year because he's just tied up with Cork all the time, so we got him back this week, which is brilliant, and look, we have another two weeks now to work solely with Patrick.

“He'll improve us, and we'll keep him ticking over as well, as we go into the Castlemartyr game.” 

GROUNDED

The group itself is a daunting one in general. The pressure is off to a certain extent following this six-point victory for Ballinhassig, but knowing Castlemartyr and Kilworth are around the corner, that will keep everyone grounded. 

“There’s a lot of work to be done. It's a quick enough turn around, Castlemartyr in a fortnight. They'll obviously be smarting from the loss to Kilworth. They'll be looking to recover from it, we'll be looking to maintain what we've just done, and improve again. If we can get a result there, we'll be in a good spot.”