Division 5 FL Final: Mitchelstown's second-half blitz sinks Canovee
Shane Beston, Mitchelstown, breaks away from Gavin Coleman, Canovee during their Division 5 Football League final at Grenagh. Picture: Jim Coughlan.
After a lethargic first half in Grenagh, Mitchelstown switched on the afterburners in their McCarthy Insurance Group Division 5 Football League final on Thursday evening, scoring 1-15 in the latter half to seal a comfortable win.
They had trailed at the interval, 0-8 to 0-5, but with the quality of Seán Walsh and Cathail O’Mahony – they scored 0-12 on the spin, keeping their opponents scoreless for a total run of 29 minutes and 49 seconds.
When Mark Healy finally landed a second-half point for Canovee it was in the 56th minute, and the game had long since slipped away from them.
They ended the contest with a goal and another point, Conor Dodd slipping through in the 58th minute before finishing to the net with aplomb. Only then, Mitchelstown raced down the other end in reply, to grab a goal. It was a swift finish from Jason Cott – and an excellent ball from O’Mahony. He assisted 1-2 to go with the 0-13 he scored.
It was O’Mahony and Walsh that got their second-half rout underway, Walsh pointing immediately on the restart before forcing Canovee’s William Ahern to get back and make a superb tackle, denying a certain Mitchelstown goal with 35 played.
Cathal Walsh set up O’Mahony for their next point in the 36th minute, before Walsh kicked the first of three orange flags in a ten-minute period that put daylight between the teams. They went from one behind in the 39th minute to seven in front by the 49th, and would not be caught.
The first half was cagey, both sides were guilty of playing it a little too safe a little too often. Mitchelstown manufactured their own undoing, with cheap turnovers in the final third killing their scoring opportunities.
Canovee’s own failure in that period was their accuracy in front of the posts. Despite kicking three two-pointers to put themselves three ahead at the break, they ended the first half with seven wides to Mitchelstown’s five.
Cathail O’Mahony was denied a major after a scramble at the goal mouth in the third minute, though would set up Stephen Kenneally for the opening score after five minutes.
Canovee then hit back with two orange flags in two minutes, taking an 0-4 to 0-1 advantage with 11 played. Conor Dodd and James Moynihan with the scores, both firing over superb efforts from similar positions.
Unsurprisingly, O’Mahony was Mitchelstown’s greatest threat in the opening spell, but the north Cork side were way off the levels they would eventually bring in the next half hour.
They managed to draw level after O’Mahony raised a white and orange flag from frees, but, Canovee retook the advantage in the second quarter. Seán O’Connor would end up being the catalyst for his own two-pointer and Canovee’s third, working it to Ahern and Cillian Newman before getting the return pass and launching it over.
O’Mahony would notch one more before the break to leave three between it, but Mitchelstown brought a renewed intensity in the second half, stretching their unbeaten run to 10 competitive games and sealing some early season silverware.
C O’Mahony 0-13 (2 tpf, 1 tp, 0-2 f, 0-1 45), J Cott 1-0, S Walsh 0-3 (1 tp), C Keane, R Murphy, S Beston, S Kenneally 0-1 each.
C Dodd 1-3 (1 tp), S O’Connor 0-3 (1 tp), J Moynihan 0-2 (1 tp), G Coleman, M Healy 0-1 each.
F Condon; P Buckley, L Kelleher, E Cunningham; E McNabola, R Delaney, W Ahern; O O’Driscoll, C Newman; J Moynihan, S O’Connor, M Healy; G Coleman, C O’Driscoll, C Dodd.
P Healy for Moynihan (36), S Hughes for O’Driscoll (53).
L Hanna; L Finn, F Herlihy, E Geary; K Roche, R Murphy, Cathal Walsh; S Walsh, S Beston; S Kenneally, C Keane-Hyland, H Conway; D Reidy-Price, J Sheehan, C O’Mahony.
L Keane for Kenneally (36), J O’Sullivan for Conway (39), J Cott for D Reidy-Price (44), Conor Walsh for Sheehan (53), K Cotter for Cathal Walsh (56).
B Crowley (Castlehaven)
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