Kilshannig 1-14

Ballinascarthy 0-13

NOEL HORGAN REPORTS

THE picture looked promising from Ballinscarthy’s perspective midway through the second half of the county junior A hurling championship quarter-final encounter with Kilshannig in Coachford on Saturday.

Although they led by just a point at that stage, they had recovered from an extremely sluggish start, and their defensive dominance after half time was hugely encouraging.

Nearing the three-quarter mark, however, Kilshannig finally broke their second-half duck through Eanna O’Hanlon, who then supplied the delivery that led to the game’s defining moment.

It came in the form of a goal from Kilshannig substitute Colin Ruby, who, in tacking on two tasty points in the last quarter, certainly proved a trump card for the Avondhu kingpins.

Ballinascarthy's Timmy Cullinane bursts past Kilshannig's Killian O'Hanlon.

Ballinascarthy manager JC O’Flynn agreed the Kilshannig goal had a crucial bearing on the outcome.

‘They got it at the right time, because we appeared to be in a great position after the lads really went at Kilshannig in the second quarter. We continued to go well after half time. I thought we had the chances to go three or four points ahead, but we just couldn’t put the ball over the bar, and then they got the goal which was a killer,’ he said.

Ballinascarthy were slow to settle, although Connall Cullinane, fed by Cillian Cullinane, opened the scoring for the Carbery standard-bearers.

Kilshannig more or less ran the show during the first quarter, going 0-7 to 0-3 up, despite having accumulated the bulk of their nine first-half wides in this period.

Employing Aidan O’Donovan, selected at centre-forward, as an extra defender helped to bolster the Ballinscarthy rearguard in the second quarter, while their greater economy in attack enabled them to nibble away at the deficit.

Timmy Cullinane, ace free-taker Brian O’Donovan and Cillian Cullinane carried the main threat up front for Ballinascarthy, with the latter landing an inspirational score from out near the right touchline to nudge them ahead before Kilshannig’s Paddy Walsh equalised from a free, making it 0-10 apiece at the interval.

Kilshannig's David Guiney is dispossessed by Ballinascarthy's Cian Ryan.

Brian O’Donovan, with a fine point from play, drew first blood for Ballinascarthy on the resumption, and their defence, in which Daniel Nyhan, Ciarán Nyhan and Ciarán O’Neill were particularly unyielding, looked rock-solid in the third-quarter.

The Kilshannig goal from Colin Ruby changed the complexion of the contest significantly, as Ballinascarthy – with their five-man attack finding it increasingly difficult to make headway – were unable to regain the initiative in the wake of it.

Trailing by 1-13 to 0-11 inside the last five minutes, the South-West men kept battling hard, pulling a point back through Cillian Cullinane before Sean Ryan, who had a fine game at midfield, threatened to rekindle their hopes in the 58th minute.

Their fate was sealed after Ryan’s rasping shot from the edge of the square was stopped by Kilshannig corner-back Conor Murphy, who, along with Colm O’Shea and Bill Curtin, were the leading lights in defence for the winners overall.

JC O’Flynn suggested the reason for Ballinascarthy’s uncertain start was that they probably gave Kilshannig too much respect.

‘I thought we stood off them too much, but we showed we were every bit as good as them in the second quarter.’

He said winning out in Carbery will do little to ease the pain of this defeat for the players and management.

‘We've won four or five divisional titles in seven years, so this group really wanted to target a county, and today’s loss is particularly disappointing because of that,’ O’Flynn admitted.

Scorers

Kilshannig: C Ruby 1-2; P Walsh 0-3 (2f, 1 65); E O’Hanlon, J Twomey 0-2 each; C O’Shea, R Crowley, D O’Sullivan, K Twomey (f), J Kearney 0-1 each.

Ballinascarthy: B O’Donovan 0-8 (6f); Cillian Cullinane 0-3; Connall Cullinane, E O’Driscoll 0-1 each.

Kilshannig: D Kearney; D Guiney, C O’Shea, C Murphy; E Burke, B Curtin, K Twomey; D O’Sullivan, P Walsh; K O’Hanlon, J Twomey, J Kearney; R Crowley, E O’Hanlon, S Lyons.

Subs: M Twomey for Lyons (ht), C Ruby for Crowley (46).

Ballinascarthy: D Hennessy; J O’Brien, D Nyhan, P Cullinane; C O’Neill, C Nyhan, J Ryan; S Ryan, L Murray; T Cullinane, A O’Donovan, Cillian Cullinane; Connail Cullinane, C Ryan, B O’Donovan.

Subs: B Murray for C Ryan (45), E O’Driscoll for J Ryan (47).

Referee: N Hayes (Blarney).