Premier JHC: Cloughduv breeze past Barryroe to book knockout spot

Cloughduv: 1-25 

Barryroe: 1-9 

Cloughduv had too much for Barryroe in this Co-Op SuperStores Premier JHC tie at Páirc Uí Rinn on Friday evening.

A lot was on the line for both in this final group encounter in Group 2, but it was the Muskerry men who have progressed to the knockout stages following a 16-point victory.

Cloughduv did it in style too as they march into the quarter-finals as they seek to make an immediate return to the Intermediate A grade following relegation last year.

The Mid-Cork outfit had this game pretty much wrapped up in the early stages. They led 1-9 to 0-2 after 18 minutes and despite their opposition battling to the bitter end, any likelihood of a dramatic comeback never looked on the cards.

Barryroe head for the relegation play-off.

The West Cork side hit the first score after 22 seconds through Olan O’Donovan, better known for his exploits with the big ball. That would be as good as it would get from their point of view.

Backed by a large and vocal crowd, Cloughduv settled with Aidan O’Leary playing a big part in his side’s first two scores. The forward set up Aodh Twomey for a great point before he raised his own white flag.

The Muskerry men were doing all the hurling at this stage, hitting three of the next four points with Mark Walsh’s effort the pick of those scores, 0-5 to 0-2 after eight minutes.

Two minutes later, Cloughduv took a firm grip on proceedings when Mark Verling gave an inviting ball to Aidan O’Leary and the latter finished calmly to the back of the net.

Tim Barry-Murphy’s men were in complete control in every sector. They tacked on four unanswered points to lead 1-9 to 0-2 with 12 minutes to the short whistle.

Barryroe’s first score in some 17 minutes was timely when Adam McSweeney, only his side’s second scorer so far, probably got the score of the game with a point from a difficult angle.

With 23 minutes played, Barryroe were struggling to make any inroads into the deficit. The teams did exchange the next four white flags before Brian Verling extended Cloughduv’s lead out to 10 points.

The West Cork side never at any stage wilted and a gorgeous Brian O’Donovan effort was a highlight for them, 1-12 to 0-6 at half-time.

The one-sided nature of the contest did continue on the resumption, a pair of Mark Verling frees buttressed his side’s commanding advantage.

Barryroe did give their opposition something to think about when Olan O’Donovan finished smartly to the net after 35 minutes, 1-14 to 1-6.

They couldn’t build on it though. Cloughduv tacked on three quick-fire points courtesy of Max O’Leary and two efforts from Brian Verling.

The teams traded points as the game got scrappy, 1-18 to 1-7 with a quarter of the game remaining.

The winners were 13 points ahead with five minutes to go as the fizz went out of the contest, 1-21 to 1-8.

A pair of Brian Verling frees and a pair of efforts from sub Colm O’Leary rounded off the scoring for the winners.

Seán O’Riordan did convert a 65 for Barryroe, but they were soundly beaten.

Scorers for Cloughduv: B Verling 0-8 (0-4 f), M Verling 0-6 (0-4 f), A O’Leary 1-1, M Walsh, C O’Leary, A Twomey 0-2 each, O O’Driscoll, E McNabola, M O’Leary, A Murphy 0-1 each.

Barryroe: O O’Donovan 1-2 (0-1 f), D Ó Buachalla 0-3, R O’Donovan, B O’Donovan, S O’Riordan (65), A McSweeney 0-1 each.

CLOUGHDUV: S O’Donoghue; J Moynihan, P O’Driscoll, L Kelleher; O O’Driscoll, E Clifford, M O’Leary; A Elliott, M Walsh; E McNabola, A Murphy, M Verling; B Verling, A Twomey, A O’Leary.

Subs: O McDonald for A Twomey (45), C Canty for M Verling (48), C O’Leary for A Murphy (52), S Barry for O O’Driscoll (53), S Curzon for M Walsh (57).

BARRYROE: M Whelton; D Moloney, C Sheehy, S O’Riordan; J O’Brien, J Moloney, T Ó Buachalla; C Dineen, R O’Donovan; D Ó Buachalla, C Madden, B O’Donovan; O O’Donovan, A McSweeney, M Walsh.

Subs: S Holland for M Walsh (h-t), D McCarthy for C Madden, P Moloney for B O’Donovan (both 45), D O’Sullivan for R O’Donovan (50).

Referee: Jimmy Smiddy (Castlemartyr).