Bride Rovers outclass Inniscarra to return to Senior A Hurling semi-final

Bride Rovers 2-23 

Inniscarra 1-18 

It was business as usual for Bride Rovers in Pairc Ui Rinn on Saturday. 

A mere blip was the Watergrasshill defeat. Booking a fifth consecutive Senior A HC semi-final appearance was their response.

Two weeks ago, Bride Rovers fell by nine points to Watergrasshill in their final group outing. 

It represented their first group defeat in three years, 10 months, and 27 days.

The perennial challengers for Cork’s second-tier crown just don’t do group stage setbacks. 

It cost them direct progress to the last four of the championship.

The rare group phase defeat proved no setback at all. 

Their quarter-final answer was to completely overwhelm Inniscarra in the opening half and eventually quell their second-half comeback. Carrigtwohill they’ll stand opposite next time out in what will be their fifth semi-final involvement in succession.

After Joseph Enright (free) opened the scoring for Inniscarra on three minutes, Bride Rovers reeled off the quarter-final’s next eight scores. 

Many hands contributed early and often. When Kieran Kearney finished a slick passage of play involving David Barry and Ronan O’Connell to push Bride 0-10 to 0-2 clear on 19 minutes, he became their seventh name on the scoresheet. 

The six before him were Brian Roche, Adam Walsh, David Barry, Conleith Ryan, goalkeeper Cian Hogan (free), and Ronan O’Connell.

Their lead hit another first-half growth spurt 21 minutes in. Cormac O’Sullivan’s ball in was collected by Adam Walsh, the half-forward holding off the closest blue and white shirt before firing to the net. 1-11 to 0-3. An 11-point lead.

Joseph Enright (free), Niall Buckley, Daniel Murphy, and Padraig Holland all rose white flags to pare that gap back to nine, 1-13 to 0-7, at the break. 

The gap was eroded further when midfielder Frank Horgan goaled within 32 seconds of the restart.

The third quarter belonged almost exclusively to Inniscarra. Five-in-a-row from Enright (0-3, two frees), Darragh O’Brien, and Holland (free) left the scoreboard reading 1-14 to 1-12 on 41 minutes. 

It was the first of three occasions in quick succession where the Mid-Cork outfit closed to within two.

Following the third and last of those occasions, Padraig Holland cut through a crowd of bodies for an Inniscarra goal chance. 

It wasn’t a clearcut green flag opening, but an opening nonetheless. Holland pulled the trigger, half-back Shane O’Connor executing the sort of textbook hook you’d show to a group of U10s starting out.

It was the first swing of momentum back towards the Bride corner. Many more swings followed. 

An Adam Walsh free pushed them out to three ahead. Conleith Ryan’s burst ended with a Brian Roche goal on 48 minutes. 2-17 to 1-14 now read the scoreboard.

Inniscarra sub Shane O’Mahony fired his hurley in Roche’s direction as the latter fired for goal. 

O’Mahony received a yellow for his indiscretion. Two minutes later, his flick on Cillian Tobin bought him a second yellow. 

The resulting Adam Walsh free pushed the difference out to eight, 2-19 to 1-14.

Eight was still the difference at the finish. A fifth semi-final in-a-row for Bride Rovers. 

They lost the previous four. Is 2025 to be the outlier?

Scorers for Bride Rovers: A Walsh (1-9, 0-8 frees); B Roche (1-2); D Barry (0-3); C Ryan, K Kearney, R O’Connell (0-2 each); C Hogan (free), C Barry, L Roche (0-1 each).

Scorers for Inniscarra: J Enright (0-7, 0-5 frees); P Holland (0-5, 0-2 frees); F Horgan (1-0); S O’Donoghue (0-2, 0-1 free); N Buckley, D Murphy, D O’Brien, C Lynch (0-1 each).

BRIDE ROVERS: C Hogan; J Peters, E Roche, D Cashman; C Hazelwood, C Tobin, S O’Connor; K Kearney, C O’Sullivan; C Ryan, B Roche, P O’Flynn; D Barry, A Walsh, R O’Connor.

SUBS: J Mannix for Kearney (48); L Roche for O’Connell (55); C Barry for O’Flynn (56); J Ahern for C O’Sullivan (59).

INNISCARRA: E O’Neill; D Keane, L Ryan, C O’Leary; B Daly, S O’Donoghue, S Sheehan; C Dineen, F Horgan; J Enright, A McCarthy, N Buckley; D Murphy, P Holland, D O’Brien.

SUBS: S O’Mahony for Keane (HT); C Lynch for McCarthy (35); J O’Sullivan for Enright, M Nagle for O’Brien (both 52); S Murphy for D Murphy (55).

Referee: C O’Regan.