Knocknagree push on in fourth quarter to send Fermoy into relegation decider
Daniel O'Mahony, Knocknagree, getting the better of Padraig De Roiste, Fermoy in their McCarthy Insurance Group SAFC match at Buttevant. Picture: Dan Linehan
Knocknagree move onto a quarter-final with Kanturk but Fermoy must beat O'Donovan Rossa to avoid relegation – the narrow margins of the SAFC there for all to see in Buttevant on Sunday afternoon.
Knocknagree, as one might expect with the strong wind opened the scoring first – a big two-point effort from Michael McSweeney opened the tie. Niall O'Connor was next on the board with a point after Liam Coleman had made a brilliant save when a goal looked certain.
Some last-ditch defending from Peter Murphy and James Molloy saved Fermoy from going further behind, a free from David Lardner ensured they wouldn’t go in at the turn with nothing on the board.
Knocknagree still looked comfortable and despite losing David Twomey for 10 minutes, the Duhallow lads started to pile on the pressure. Two superb two-pointers from Anthony O’Connor and Eoghan McSweeney pushed the men in blue and white up by seven – all signs pointed to a big Knocknagree win but Fermoy continued to push and got themselves back in the tie on 25 minutes.
A brilliant run the length of the field from Molloy released Darragh Daly, who set up Gary O’Callaghan and the full-forward finished superbly.
Fermoy’s Pádraig De Roiste also made a significant intervention before the break – clearing off the line: 0-8 to 1-1.
Knocknagree scored first after the break but now aided by the strong wind, Fermoy started to rally. A two-point free from sub Ben Twomey was followed by another Twomey free and a Lardner goal – just a point between the sides.
Credit must go to Knocknagree for the way they dug this one out and a dominant last few minutes saw them bag 1-3 late on – Eoghan McSweeney’s major on the stroke of full time sealed it.
E McSweeney 1-2 (1 2pt), A O’Connor 0-5 (1 2pt), D O’Connor, M McSweeney (1 2pt), N O’Leary 0-2 each, G Looney 0-1.
B Twomey 0-4 f (1 2pt f, 0-2 f), D Lardner 1-1 (0-1 f), G O’Callaghan 1-0.
P Doyle; M O’Mahoney, K Buckley, G O’Connor; G Looney, D O’Mahony, D O’Mahoney; D O’Connor, D Twomey, N O’Connor, E McSweeney, K Cronin; D O’Connor, A O’Connor, M McSweeney.
T O’Connor for D Mahoney (h-t), T O’Mahony for D Twomey (55).
L Coleman; L Aherne, J O’Brien, J Molloy; G Larder, T Clancy. P Murphy; J Hutchings, P De Roiste; D Kelly, D O’Carroll, D Lardner; D Daly, G O’Callaghan, M Brennan.
B Twomey for M Brennan (h-t), A Aherne for D Kelly (43), D O’Callaghan for D O’Carroll (55), J Ring for D Daly (inj 58).
J Ryan (Macroom).
App?
