Stephen Nyhan lands stunning late leveller as Courcey Rovers draw with Ballinhassig

Ballinhassig 0-23 Courcey Rovers 0-23 

Ballinhassig were denied a winning return to the Co-Op Superstores SAHC as a sensational, last-gasp point from goalkeeper Stephen Nyhan earned Courcey Rovers a draw at Kilbrittain on Saturday night.

Given it was a derby, a tight, tense, end-to-end battle was always to be expected. And that is what the huge crowd in attendance witnessed in the first half as the sides were level on 10 different occasions, with the scoreboard settling at 0-13 to 0-13 at the break.

Ballinhassig would have a slight 6-4 lead in terms of the wide count at the break and playing with the wind in the first period, they opened the scoring in the second minute thanks to a converted free from Ger Collins.

His brother, and Cork goalkeeper Patrick, soon landed the first of his three monster frees – it was also his furthest from his own 20 metre line – but on the four occasions Hassig raised a white flag in the opening 12 minutes, Courcey’s hit back with an equaliser.

Rovers finished the first quarter strongly with three unanswered points – Daniel O’Donovan firing two of those over from tight angles – but Ballinhassig started the second quarter with three points without reply themselves to make it 0-7 apiece by the 19th minute.

From there, the teams swapped scores until the referee blew for intermission and when the action resumed it was Courceys who took control with two quickfire points from frees from Nyhan and Richard Sweetnam, who finished with 11 points overall including 10 from placed balls, after the restart.

Again the rivals traded blows with Courceys quickly restoring their two-point lead on the four occasions Ballinhassig managed to reduce the deficit to the minimum throughout the third quarter.

But the Blues finally ended that sequence thanks to two frees from the lethal Ger Collins before substitute Diarmuid O’Sullivan made his mark and made it 0-20 to 0-19 with six minutes remaining, plus injury time.

And the eight minutes of injury time would prove to be crucial as it gave sub Tom Madden the opportunity to grab what looked like the winner with a calm strike in the 66th minute.

But Ballinhassig would be made to rue a couple of late wides as Nyhan stepped up and split the posts from a long way out - the 15th time the teams would be level - to ensure the two old foes opened their campaign with a share of the spoils.

Scorers for Ballinhassig: G Collins 0-7 (0-5 f), S O’Neill 0-4, P Collins 0-3 f, J Grainger, E Cullinane 0-2 each, C Grainger, M Collins, S Lombard, T Madden, D O’Sullivan 0-1 each.

Courcey Rovers: R Sweetnam 0-11 (0-9 f, 0-1 65), S Nyhan (0-2 f), D O’Donovan 0-3 each, J O’Neill 0-2, R O’Callaghan, D Cosgrave, M O’Donovan, T O’Sullivan 0-1 each.

BALLINHASSIG: P Collins; E Lombard, K Maguire, P O’Leary; C Kirby, D O’Sullivan, C Desmond; C Grainger, B Lynch; J Grainger, S O’Neill, E Cullinane; M Collins, G Collins, S Lombard.

Subs: R Lombard for B Lynch (34), J Lyne for P O’Leary (40), D O’Sullivan for M Collins (44), T Madden for S Lombard (56).

COURCEY ROVERS; S Nyhan; B Ryan, F Lordan, D Collins; C Roche, M Collins, R O’Callaghan; DJ Twomey, D Cosgrave; J O’Neill, S Twomey, M O’Donovan; D O’Donovan, R Sweetnam, T O’Sullivan.

Subs: J Coakley for F Lordan (43), J Harrington for M O’Donovan (50), C Crowley for J O’Neill (58), D Lordan for S Twomey (62).

Referee: Simon Stokes (Tullylease).