Carbery JAHC: O'Donovan and Ryan to the fore as Ballinascarthy regain title

Ballinascarthy 0-22

Kilbree 1-16

Ballinascarthy led all through as they regained the RCM Tarmacadam Carbery JAHC, but not without a good fight from Kilbree in Kilbrittain on Sunday.

Victory in the south-west division’s centenary year owed much to the displays of man of the match Brian O’Donovan and Jeremy Ryan as Bal never led by less than three points but Kilbree will rue 14 wides over the hour.

Ballinascarthy, aided by the wind in the first half, enjoyed a good start, leading 0-6 to 0-2. Jim Shanahan, who proved to be a handful, was the first to put Kilbree onto the scoreboard, and Darragh Coakley pointed three placed balls, steadying the ship for the Mark Prendergast-coached side.

The turning point for Kilbree came four minutes before the interval, with a long ball into the square, where Jim Shanahan made no mistake and got what proved to be the only goal of the game.

O’Donovan and Ryan responded well and put Ballinascarthy in a four-point lead, 0-14 to 1-7, at the break.

The score of the game came from Kilbree’s Don McCarthy four minutes into the second half, backed up by an inspirational score from Michael Keohane, just the start they needed.

Ballinascarthy will be disappointed not to have rattled the net early on in the second half, after O’Donovan’s shot dropped short, and then his second effort was blocked, though Ballinascarthy’s captain Luke Murray won a great free and O’Donovan was flawless from placed balls.

Dylan Coffey scored a monster free in the closing stages for Kilbree, who had a great performance from Liam O’Brien at full-back, but there was no more getting past Ballinascarthy’s shot-stopper Darragh Hennessy and Ballinascarthy took possession of the ‘Flyer’ Nyhan Cup again.

They will now look forward to a county JAHC quarter-final meeting with Kilshannig.

Scorers for Ballinascarthy: B O’Donovan 0-10 (0-6 f), J Ryan 0-5 (0-2 f, 0-1 65), T Cullinane, Connail Cullinane 0-2 each, C Ryan, C O’Neill, B Murray 0-1 each.

Kilbree: J Shanahan 1-7 (0-3 f), D Coakley 0-3f, E Shanahan, C Twohig, D McCarthy, M Keohane, J O’Donovan, D Coffey (f) 0-1 each.

BALLINASCARTHY: D Hennessy; J O’Brien, D Nyhan, G O’Leary; C O’Neill, C Nyhan, J Ryan; S Ryan, L Murray (captain); T Cullinane, C Ryan, Cillian Cullinane; Connail Cullinane, B O’Donovan, C O’Brien.

Subs: A O’Donovan for J Ryan (7-10, blood), A O’Donovan for G O’Leary (20), B Murray for C Ryan (half-time), E O’Driscoll for C O’Brien (47).

KILBREE: W Tyner; C Murphy, L O’Brien, J Bailey; S O’Donovan, K Keohane, D Coffey; B Deasy, M Keohane; D Coakley, J O’Donovan (captain), D McCarthy; E Shanahan, C Twohig, J Shanahan.

Subs: M O’Donovan for D McCarthy (43), B O’Donovan for E Shanahan (47), G McCarthy for M Keohane (54).

Referee: O Doyle (Bandon).