BY BRENDAN KENNEALLY

THE semi-final pairings in the MJK Oils Junior A Hurling Championship were decided after the latest round of action. In the last four, Ballinora will play Inniscarra, while Group 1 table-toppers Donoughmore take on Grenagh.

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Blarney 2-13     

Donoughmore 1-16

Donoughmore were already semi-final bound before the ball was thrown in, while Blarney needed to win to retain their hopes of advancement with scoring difference then to come into effect.

As it transpired, the draw made scoring difference immaterial as Blarney finished third in the table and so exited the competition.

Donoughmore came into the contest with full points in Group 1 but are always very wary of their neighbours. The game was a very tight affair, Blarney benefitting from an early Cian Dunlea goal. Donoughmore led at half time by 1-8 to 1-6 after a Colm O’Callaghan goal in the 23rd minute.

Thus the pattern continued. Luke Kendellen boosted his side’s hopes with a second goal for the Blarney men. They led by a point after a Jack O’Keeffe point from the sideline in injury time but a late free for Donoughmore preserved their unbeaten record and they now play neighbours Grenagh in the Mid Cork semi-final.

Scorers

Blarney: Cian Dunlea 1-6 (5f); Luke Kendellen 1-0; Ben Ahern (1f), Jack O’Keeffe (1 sl) 0-2 each; Joe Cronin, Mark Cummins, Cian Lawless 0-1 each.

Donoughmore: Adam Dinan 0-6 (4f); Colm O’Callaghan 1-1; Mark Lucey, David O’Connell, Gavin O’Sullivan, Shane Healy (1f) 0-2 each; Kevin O’Connell 0-1.

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Inniscarra 1-19     

Ballincollig 1-13

The last slot in the semi-finals was not filled until the last of the group stage games at Cloughduv on Sunday evening. A draw would have sufficed for

Ballincollig, but Inniscarra needed to win, which they did in the end after a tough battle.

The teams were level at 0-3 each after ten minutes before Ballincollig broke the deadlock with a cracking goal from Shane Murphy. Inniscarra cut the gap to the minimum but Eoin Dwyer’s point for Ballincollig made it 1-5 to 0-6 in his side’s favour on 21.

Ardal O’Connell and Conor Sexton exchanged scores, as did Ciarán Buckley and Jerry Roche, the latter’s flick over the advancing goalkeeper’s head just going over the bar. Ardal O’Connell’s third point and another from David Enright brought Inniscarra level before the interval, 0-10 to 1-7 and they were improving at that stage.

With the lights on, there was an excellent half hour’s hurling in the second half. The sides were level at 0-13 to 1-10 on 47 and still locked together at 1-12 to 0-15 with eight minutes to go.

Inniscarra were on top in the closing phase. Ardal O’Connell, Colin O’Leary, Jack O’Mahony, Conor Geoghegan all on target to open up a three-point gap with Eoin Dwyer providing the only reply for The Village. Deep into time-added Michael Murphy wrapped up the victory with a ferocious drive to the net to help his side to a semi-final place.

Scorers

Inniscarra: A O’Connell 0-9; M Murphy 1-2; C O’Leary, D Enright 0-2 each; M O’Connell, J Roche, J O’Mahony, C Geoghegan 0-1 each.

Ballincollig: E Dwyer 0-5 (3f); S Murphy 1-1; C Sexton, C Buckley 0-2 each; J Murray, D Bowen, B O’Brien 0-1 each.

Inniscarra: Kieran Rice; Seán Ahern, Colm Herlihy, Trevor O’Reilly; Mark Linehan, Shane Buckley, Jack O’Dwyer; Colin O’Leary, Michael O’Connell; Jack O’Mahony, Jerry Roche, Michael Murphy; Jack Shine, David Enright, Ardal O’Connell.

Subs: Liam Buckley (42), Conor Geoghegan (47), Seán Quinlivan, Conrad Desmond (58).

Ballincollig: Ronan Cambridge; Ronan Power, Darragh Lee, Cillian Power; Cian O’Connor, Diarmuid Ward, Brian O’Sullivan; Shane Murphy, Conor Sexton; Dave Bowen, Brendan O’Brien, Eoin Dwyer; Jack Murray, Karl Rodgers, Ciarán Buckley.

Subs: Kevin O’Leary (29), George Howard (40), Rory O’Doherty (55), Tadgh Murphy (55).

Referee: Diarmuid Kirwan (Éire Óg).

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Ballinora  2-17     

Grenagh 0-11

BALLINORA were a transformed outfit on their return to Ovens on Saturday in the final round of Group 2 games in the MJK Oils Mid Cork Junior Hurling Championship.

Two weeks earlier Ballinora, chasing their fifth Mid Cork title in a row, were shocked by the intensity of a Dripsey side fighting for their championship survival and went under by a 12-point margin.

This time round, Grenagh were the unbeaten side and Ballinora were fighting to remain in contention for the play-offs. There could be no faulting their commitment, which earned them a victory by a sufficient margin to top the table on scoring difference.

Grenagh also qualified as group runners-up with Dripsey the unlucky team, equal on points with the two qualifiers but with an inferior scoring to both.

Ballinora inflicted damage on Grenagh in the opening minutes with two goals inside three minutes, as James Keohane and Shane Kingston both goaled. Ballinora never lost control thereafter.

Grenagh got an opening point from a Dan Twomey 65. but Keohane answered from play. When Grenagh scorer-in-chief Twomey pointed again, Liam Lyons and Keohane fired over for the champions to give them a 2-3 to 0-2 lead after ten minutes, despite playing against the wind. This pattern continued up to half time, as Ballinora led 2-7 to 0-5 at the interval.

Shane Morey opened the second half with a Grenagh point, but Ballinora hit back through Alan O’Shea, who proved a constant threat. Ballinora pushed clear and, with scoring difference in mind, never relented. Twomey and Joyce replied for Grenagh, only for O’Shea to add two more, 2-12 to 0-9 at the three-quarter stage. Danny Burns and Liam Lyons stretched the lead, while Ben Mayer struck twice late on. Morey had the last word, but Ballinora celebrated a semi-final place as Grenagh awaited Dripsey’s result.

Scorers

Ballinora: A O’Shea 0-6 (4f); L Lyons 0-5; J Keohane 1-2; S Kingston 1-0; T Burns, B Mayer 0-2 each.

Grenagh: D Twomey 0-6 (3f, 1 65); S Morey 0-2; D Kenny, K Cummins (f), S Joyce 0-1 each.

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Dripsey  2-12     

Éire Óg  0-12

When Dripsey faced Éire Óg at Kilmichael on Sunday afternoon, the task facing them was known: win and by a margin of ten points to get ahead of Grenagh on scoring difference.

Dripsey succeeded in their first task but came up short on the second front and so bowed out of the championship.

Dripsey got off to the perfect start with a goal from Eoghan Maher in the first minute. They had a gale-force wind behind them but seemed to panic at stages and at half time led by a mere 1-5 to 0-5 having missed a number of scorable chances from frees and from play.

The second half was well contested but Éire Óg, who knew that they had no hope of progression, fought to the end.

The Ovens side never looked like scoring a goal but it took a penalty by Mike O’Riordan late in the game to yield a second goal for Dripsey. Their margin of victory was to prove insufficient to deny Grenagh a semi-final spot.

Scorers

Dripsey: M O’Riordan 1-6 (4f, 1-0 pen); E Maher 1-2;  R Canavan 0-2 (f); D O’Riordan (f), David O’Sullivan 0-1 each.

Éire Óg: D Kirwan 0-3 (1f); J McCarthy 0-3 (f); B Thompson 0-2; D Coakley, K Beechinor, M Sheehan, J Sheehan 0-1 each.

Dripsey: Diarmuid O’Riordan; John Carey, David O’Sullivan, Cathal O’Connell; Dean O’Sullivan, Shane O’Riordan, James Cotter; Colm O’Connell, Mark O’Connell; Shane Burke, Eoghan Maher, George Feeney; Michael O’Riordan, Mark O’Sullivan, Charlie O’Callaghan.

Subs: Ronan Canavan (43), Kevin Rock (55).

Éire Óg: Éoin O’Shea; Colm Clifford, John Kelleher, Kevin Cooper; Chulainn Malone, Kevin Beechinor, Micheál Sheehan; David Kirwan, Eoin Kelleher; Fintan O’Leary, Jack Sheehan, Brian Hurley; Josh McCarthy, Darragh Coakley, Brian Thompson.

Sub: Daniel Dineen (49).