Colm O'Neill shines for Glanmire but Rockchapel grab late leveller to remain unbeaten
Colm O'Neill scores a free during his Cork days. Picture: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
For the second year in a row, Glanmire and Rockchapel finished level in the McCarthy Insurance Premier IFC after a competitive clash on Sunday at Buttevant.
Former Cork star Colm O'Neill, now a goalie, slammed over a late two-point free that looked to have secured a victory for Glanmire. However, after a patient Rockchapel move, Ciarán Curtin was fouled and picked himself to convert the placed ball before the final whistle sounded.
For Rockchapel boss Liam Collins, his side are now unbeaten before facing high-flying Uibh Laoire.
"We're now on three points and need a draw in our last game to be sure to go through. We lost a key player through injury and were down to 14 players for a while due to the black card.
"Our panel is tight but we have nearly a month now to get right for our last game. We knew Glanmire would be good, we drew with them again last year."
Glanmire coach Wayne O'Donnell was disappointed overall.
"We had 13 wides to just three for Rockchapel. We had four U19 players starting and it took them a while to get going.
"We dominated the last quarter but our accuracy left us down. We have Bantry Blues in our last game and we need a win to have a chance of progressing."
Glanmire opened well and used the short passing to great effect. Their wing-backs Shane O'Driscoll and Darragh Murray making some very good runs while the long-serving Daniel Molden on the edge of the square was a threat.
Molden opened the scoring and good play by Brian Galvin and Darragh Murray led to a Billy O'Mahony point. Colm O'Neill kicked a free outside the arc and they were four clear.
Rockchapel grabbed their first score after eight minutes when Ciaran Curtin put John Walsh through for a two-pointer. Glanmire were denied a goal when Harry Browne's effort struck the bottom of the post.
Good play for the Duhallow side by Shane Curtin and John Walsh led to the first of three fisted points by impressive Mikey McAuliffe.
Moden replied after good work by Cian O'Donovan and Jeremy Kingston. After 15 minutes, Seamus Hickey and Ciaran Curtin levelled at 0-6 apiece.
A long-range free by Conor Casey found Mikey McAuliffe who edged his side ahead. By now, Rockchapel were well in contention with Ewan Murphy, Seamus Hickey, Ciaran Curtin, John Walsh and McAuliffe in great form.
Further pressure saw McAuliffe add points that opened up a decent lead, 0-10 to 0-6. Rockchapel were reduced to 14 players in the closing moments before the break with a black card.
On the resumption, Glanmire had the aid of the cross breeze. Billy O'Mahony reduced the lead before he was provider for Harry Jones, who pointed: 0-10 to 0-8 after 42 minutes.
'Rock' steadied and Donagh Linehan, who had just come on, kicked a massive point after good play from Seamus Hickey and John Walsh. Entering the final quarter, Jones kicked another point from a Darragh Murray assist.
Glanmire keeper O'Neill made a massive save from Seamus Hickey before Jimmy McAuliffe edged the Duhallow side 0-12 to 0-9 clear.
Glanmire dominated the last 13 minutes but hit too many wides. Browne and Billy O'Mahony did score to leave it 0-12 to 0-11. In the 56th minute, O'Neill edged Glanmire ahead with a massive two-pointer free.
Rockchapel battled to the end and were rewarded with Curtin's levelling free.
C O'Neill 0-5 (2 2pt f, 0-1 45), B O'Mahony 0-3, D Molden, H Jones 0-2 each, H Browne 0-1.
M McAuliffe 0-4, S Hickey 0-3, J Walsh 0-2 (1 2pt), Ciarán Curtin 0-2 (0-1 f), J McAuliffe, D Linehan 0-1 each.
C O'Neill; R McSweeney, B Ó Murchú, D Kenneally; D Murray, C Hackett, S O'Driscoll; J Kingston, T Hourihane; H Cogan, B Galvin, C O'Donovan; B O'Mahony, D Molden, H Browne.
C Neligan for D Kenneally, D O'Brien for J Kingston, H Jones for C O'Donovan, C Crowley for H Cogan, J Crowley for D Molden.
C Casey; B Carroll, E O'Callaghan, P Curtin; J Walsh, S Curtin, M O'Keeffe; E Murphy, Ciarán Curtin; J Curtin, S Hickey, F Murphy; A Carroll, M McAuliffe, J McAuliffe.
D Carroll for J Curtin, Cormac Curtin for A Carroll.
Colm Maher (Buttevant).
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