Gary Holland explodes from bench as Bishopstown move into SAFC knockout stages
Bishopstown's Simon Collins on the attack as Dylan Hourihane gives chase during the McCarthy Insurance Premier Senior Football Championship game in Clonakilty. Picture: Martin Walsh.
If you had to pick a team from the McCarthy Insurance Group Cork SAFC who would be the first to qualify for the knockout stages, not many would have chosen Bishopstown before a ball was thrown in.
If one were asked who the only team on four points after the opening two rounds would be, not many would have picked the southsiders either.
And yet, there they are on top of Group 3, with two wins to their name, with safe passage to the last six secured. They were full value for this victory over O’Donovan Rossa at a sun-splashed Ballinascarthy this afternoon. Opening half goals from Odhran Foley and Simon Collins nullified the advantages of the breeze and slope that Rossa enjoyed in the first half.
A superb defensive performance in the second half that saw them hold Rossa scoreless from Kevin Davis’s thirty-eighth minute free to Dylan Hourihane Senior’s sixty-first minute penalty also played its part. However, it was the introduction of Gary Holland just after Davis’s free that really tipped the scales in their favour.
They trailed by 0-13 to 2-4 when he arrived, within 16 minutes they led by 2-10 to 0-13, Holland with all of the scores. The first two were lovely, clipped scores from inside the arc. The next two came from outside of the arc as Holland showed the full range of his significant talent.
Bill Cahill stretched their lead to four with two to play, but then Rossa got a lifeline when the outstanding Daragh O’Connor brought down Skibb’s Ciarán Coombes. Hourihane converted, just about, but Brian Clifford replied immediately before young Curtin made the game safe with his fourth point.
Brian Cuthbert’s dedication to Bishopstown is well known. You can see how much he enjoys being involved with this team. The energy it gives him, the club as a whole. He put Holland’s performance into perspective.
“Gary hasn’t played in six months. He’s been injured. So today was his first game since the second round of the league.
"We’ve been watching him since he’s been small, and he’s a very, very good player but he’s a lot of growing to do yet. He’s only 18.
“But today he was immense when he came in, I thought he was absolutely outstanding. I think that coming into a game like that is hard. We brought him on with 22 or 23 minutes to go. We didn’t have momentum, but as soon as we got momentum back his scores just won the game for us, really.”
This is a new Bishopstown team, a young team and while Cuthbert knows they will make mistakes, they will learn from them. Foley struck for 1-1, Collins palmed home the second goal after making the first with Kieran McFadden tapping over the Town’s only other first-half score.
They had other chances, though.
“The two goals gave us a huge buffer, massive buffer, but at the same time I would have felt there were definitely three or four chances we could have easily popped over for points. And it would have just moved the scoreboard on, make the second half more about control rather than chase. And the second half was a game of chase in the end.”
It was a game of chase that they won. That they were behind was thanks to Rossa’s better efficiency in front of the posts. Kevin Davis had 0-5 from frees, including two from outside the arc, Brian Crowley had a beauty of a two-pointer from play while Elliot Connolly and Thomas Hegarty also pointed to leave them 0-9 to 2-2 up at the break.
They stretched that lead after the interval, despite playing into the elements as Davis popped over another couple of frees while Kevin Hurley and David Shannon also got in on the act. All the Town had in response was an orange flag from Cahill, but then, in came Holland to turn the game on its head.
Rossa can still fall back on the point they earned in drawing with Béal Átha 'n Ghaorthaidh in Round 1 for comfort. A win over Dohenys in Round 3 would give them a chance of qualification. However, they will need the Town to beat Béal Átha.
Why not? If the city side’s journey has taught us anything to date, it’s to give them the credit they’ve earned.
G Holland 0-6 (2 tpt), O Foley 1-1, B Cahill 0-4 (1 tpt), S Collins 1-0, K McFadden, B Clifford 0-1 each.
K Davis 0-7 (2 tpft, 0-3f), D Hourihane Snr 1-0 (pen), B Crowley 0-2 (tpt), K Hurley, T Hegarty, D Shannon, E Connolly 0-1 each.
C O’Driscoll; N Gough, E Byrne, M Murphy; M Power, H Wixted, O Foley; K Murphy, D O’Connor (c); P Casey, C Dunne, J Murphy; B Cahill, K McFadden, S Collins.
G Holland for Murphy (blood, 3-7), D O’Donovan for Gough (inj, h-t), G Holland and B Clifford for Casey and Collins (both 38).
R Price; D Hourihan Jnr; F Hurley, P O’Neill; C Coombes, K Hurley, L Connolly; L Harte, D Daly (c); B Crowley, K Davis, N Daly; T Hegarty, D Shannon, E Connolly.
D Hourihane Snr for L Connolly (inj, h-t), O Lucey and I Harte for L Harte and Shannon (both 50).
Pat O’Leary (Banteer/Lyre).
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