Collig's Senior Football Championsionhip Progression
August 27, 2015
BALLINCOLLIG moved a step closer to retaining their senior football championship title after their win over Valley Rovers on Saturday night.
Once they got going, coming from two points down, they never looked like losing in what was a superb team performance. The confidence in the squad after last year’s win, is there to be seen, but also the work-rate of all their players shows just how determined they are not to give up the title easily.
-- Echo Extract from TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2015 by Rory Noonan --
Once they lose possession, from their full-forwad line back, they work hard to regain possession and in the end were deserving winners by 0-13 to 0-8.
Valleys are never an easy side to beat, as Carbery Rangers, found out in the first round, but Ballincollig defenders John Paul Murphy and Noel Galvin, were massively influential in curbing the threat of their opponents frontline. At midfield the twin towers, of Sean Kiely and Ciaran O’Sullivan, are going to prove formidable opponents for any they come up against and up front the likes of Cian Dorgan, George Durrant and John Kelly will trouble any defence. John Kelly
And of course you have the superb Patrick Kelly pulling the strings from centre-forward, a player that is simply class.
After the game theiir manager, Michael O’Brien, was delighted to have come through what he knew was going to be a tough game.
“It was a very good performance as we knew this game wasn’t going to be easy, Valley Rovers are a great club and they have gone exceptionally well over the last few years. They have enjoyed U21 sucess and are still in with a chance of winning it this year and their hurling is going strong, similar to us.
“We had a good win against Aghada and are into a quarter-final next weekend, so it was a great performance and we knew it was going to be a tough battle and there wouldn’t be much in it. But we had that five point lead at half-time and the focus was to keep that lead in the second-half and that’s what we did in the end, winning by that margin.
“Defensively I thought we were strong tonight and these guys are championship players and when they cross that white line they give it everything. John Paul Murphy was carrying an injury and he epitomised the attitude of the squad with his performance. But whe it comes down to it we are into the quarter-final and no more than that. It’s a step closer to retaining the title, but we won’t be looking any further than the quarter-final where it’s going to be another really tough tie against either the Barrs or Castlehaven,†concluded Michael. Kiely
Captain of their side, Stephen O’Donoghue, didn’t finish the game as he went off injured with a knock to his calf, but he too was delighted to have won.
“We knew it was never going to be easy against Valley Rovers as they are a good side and we are delighted to have come through. We were up by a couple of points at half-time and it was important to keep that cushion for the second-half as we knew they were going to come back at us.
“Our defence had to be on the ball as we knew they were going to play a lot of high ball in and to be fair to the lads they were fairly sharp.
“We are through to the quarter-final and that’s the important thing to take from tonight, but it’s going to be a few busy weeks for the club, with hurling next week and then back to football, so we will be taking it one game at a time and can’t afford to look beyond the next one.
“But it’s great to be in action at this time of the year and that’s what all clubs want and hopefully we can drive on from here,†concluded Stephen.
Once they got going, coming from two points down, they never looked like losing in what was a superb team performance. The confidence in the squad after last year’s win, is there to be seen, but also the work-rate of all their players shows just how determined they are not to give up the title easily.
-- Echo Extract from TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2015 by Rory Noonan --
Once they lose possession, from their full-forwad line back, they work hard to regain possession and in the end were deserving winners by 0-13 to 0-8.
Valleys are never an easy side to beat, as Carbery Rangers, found out in the first round, but Ballincollig defenders John Paul Murphy and Noel Galvin, were massively influential in curbing the threat of their opponents frontline. At midfield the twin towers, of Sean Kiely and Ciaran O’Sullivan, are going to prove formidable opponents for any they come up against and up front the likes of Cian Dorgan, George Durrant and John Kelly will trouble any defence. John Kelly
And of course you have the superb Patrick Kelly pulling the strings from centre-forward, a player that is simply class.
After the game theiir manager, Michael O’Brien, was delighted to have come through what he knew was going to be a tough game.
“It was a very good performance as we knew this game wasn’t going to be easy, Valley Rovers are a great club and they have gone exceptionally well over the last few years. They have enjoyed U21 sucess and are still in with a chance of winning it this year and their hurling is going strong, similar to us.
“We had a good win against Aghada and are into a quarter-final next weekend, so it was a great performance and we knew it was going to be a tough battle and there wouldn’t be much in it. But we had that five point lead at half-time and the focus was to keep that lead in the second-half and that’s what we did in the end, winning by that margin.
“Defensively I thought we were strong tonight and these guys are championship players and when they cross that white line they give it everything. John Paul Murphy was carrying an injury and he epitomised the attitude of the squad with his performance. But whe it comes down to it we are into the quarter-final and no more than that. It’s a step closer to retaining the title, but we won’t be looking any further than the quarter-final where it’s going to be another really tough tie against either the Barrs or Castlehaven,†concluded Michael. Kiely
Captain of their side, Stephen O’Donoghue, didn’t finish the game as he went off injured with a knock to his calf, but he too was delighted to have won.
“We knew it was never going to be easy against Valley Rovers as they are a good side and we are delighted to have come through. We were up by a couple of points at half-time and it was important to keep that cushion for the second-half as we knew they were going to come back at us.
“Our defence had to be on the ball as we knew they were going to play a lot of high ball in and to be fair to the lads they were fairly sharp.
“We are through to the quarter-final and that’s the important thing to take from tonight, but it’s going to be a few busy weeks for the club, with hurling next week and then back to football, so we will be taking it one game at a time and can’t afford to look beyond the next one.
“But it’s great to be in action at this time of the year and that’s what all clubs want and hopefully we can drive on from here,†concluded Stephen.