Senior Football County Champions At Last
October 23, 2014
Senior Football County Champions At Last
A special day for our club resulted in victory in the County Final on Sunday. On behalf of the senior section we would like to thank everyone who travelled to support the team for this historic victory. The whole parish united behind the club and we are extremely grateful for that support. A huge congratulation to manager Michael O’Brien and his management team as well as everyone of the squad. This has been a huge effort from everyone across the club but special mention goes to Club Chairman Seamus O’Callaghan, Richie Hickey and Frank Mc Carthy who all did fantastic work behind the scenes.
We had supporters who travelled from across the world including Con O’Connell (from New Zealand), and Noel Coomey from America. Finally, as everyone knows the occasion was tinged with sadness following the loss of our great friend Johnny Flynn. Ballincollig Gaa Club would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the Flynn family.
Ballincollig 1-13 Carbery Rangers 1-10
An unbelievable second-half fight back saw Ballincollig claim our first Cork senior football title at Páirc Uà Chaoimh on Sunday. Having trailed by seven points at one stage in the first half, six points in a row meant we only trailed by the minimum at half-time. A 32nd-minute goal from Carbery Rangers’ Séamus Hayes was a killer blow, but Ballincollig would concede just one more point for the remainder of the match. It was the day of days for our club.
John Kelly’s goal in the 40th minute drew us level and from there we finished strongly. Playing with the stiff wind in the first half, Carbery Rangers scored six points in the opening 11 minutes of the game as we struggled to find any kind of a rhythm. A pair of frees from Cian Dorgan got us off the mark.
A close-range John Hayes free, a point from his brother Séamus and a ’45 from full-back Brian Shanahan made it 0-9 to 0-2 for Carbery Rangers and they appeared to be cruising. However, our lads have showed fantastic character all year and we grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck. In the eight minutes between then and half-time, we scored six points in a row as Ballincollig effected a near-total transformation.
Cian Dorgan, with a point from play, kick-started the fight back and he scored two more with Seán Kiely, Niall Allen and Luke Prendergast also landing inspirational scores. Within two minutes of the restart Carbery Rangers found a goal which brought us all back down to earth pretty quickly. Pádraig Hodnett was allowed to maraud forward and though his crashing shot came back off the bar, Seámus Hayes was able to fist home.
Ballincollig heads didn’t drop, though. John Paul Murphy set up Ciarán O’Sullivan for a point and then Patrick Kelly’s quick free allowed George Durrant to find John Kelly and his finish was brilliant, low across Paul Shanahan to level at 1-9 apiece.
Carbery sub Seán O’Neill put his side ahead again on 43 but they wouldn’t score again. In contrast, Ballincollig kept our composure and points from sub Ian Coughlan (two), Cian Dorgan and Cian Kelly out us three points ahead going into injury time. There was late drama but a ’45 was the decision and Ballincollig held out. We can now look forward to a Munster championship semi-final against either Austin Stacks or Dr Crokes on November 16.
BALLINCOLLIG – D Lordan; L Prendergast, L Jennings, N Galvin; JP Murphy, S O’Donoghue, C Kiely; S Kiely, C O’Sullivan; N Allen, P Kelly, G Durrant; J Kelly, C Dorgan, J Miskella. Subs: A Donovan for S Kiely (42, inj), I Coughlan for J Kelly (47), S Kiely for Allen (50), R Noonan for C Dorgan (60, BC).
Scorers – C Dorgan 0-6 (4f), J Kelly 1-0, I Coughlan (2f), C Kiely 0-2 each, L Prendergast, S Kiely, N Allen, C O’Sullivan 0-1 each.
A special day for our club resulted in victory in the County Final on Sunday. On behalf of the senior section we would like to thank everyone who travelled to support the team for this historic victory. The whole parish united behind the club and we are extremely grateful for that support. A huge congratulation to manager Michael O’Brien and his management team as well as everyone of the squad. This has been a huge effort from everyone across the club but special mention goes to Club Chairman Seamus O’Callaghan, Richie Hickey and Frank Mc Carthy who all did fantastic work behind the scenes.
We had supporters who travelled from across the world including Con O’Connell (from New Zealand), and Noel Coomey from America. Finally, as everyone knows the occasion was tinged with sadness following the loss of our great friend Johnny Flynn. Ballincollig Gaa Club would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the Flynn family.
Ballincollig 1-13 Carbery Rangers 1-10
An unbelievable second-half fight back saw Ballincollig claim our first Cork senior football title at Páirc Uà Chaoimh on Sunday. Having trailed by seven points at one stage in the first half, six points in a row meant we only trailed by the minimum at half-time. A 32nd-minute goal from Carbery Rangers’ Séamus Hayes was a killer blow, but Ballincollig would concede just one more point for the remainder of the match. It was the day of days for our club.
John Kelly’s goal in the 40th minute drew us level and from there we finished strongly. Playing with the stiff wind in the first half, Carbery Rangers scored six points in the opening 11 minutes of the game as we struggled to find any kind of a rhythm. A pair of frees from Cian Dorgan got us off the mark.
A close-range John Hayes free, a point from his brother Séamus and a ’45 from full-back Brian Shanahan made it 0-9 to 0-2 for Carbery Rangers and they appeared to be cruising. However, our lads have showed fantastic character all year and we grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck. In the eight minutes between then and half-time, we scored six points in a row as Ballincollig effected a near-total transformation.
Cian Dorgan, with a point from play, kick-started the fight back and he scored two more with Seán Kiely, Niall Allen and Luke Prendergast also landing inspirational scores. Within two minutes of the restart Carbery Rangers found a goal which brought us all back down to earth pretty quickly. Pádraig Hodnett was allowed to maraud forward and though his crashing shot came back off the bar, Seámus Hayes was able to fist home.
Ballincollig heads didn’t drop, though. John Paul Murphy set up Ciarán O’Sullivan for a point and then Patrick Kelly’s quick free allowed George Durrant to find John Kelly and his finish was brilliant, low across Paul Shanahan to level at 1-9 apiece.
Carbery sub Seán O’Neill put his side ahead again on 43 but they wouldn’t score again. In contrast, Ballincollig kept our composure and points from sub Ian Coughlan (two), Cian Dorgan and Cian Kelly out us three points ahead going into injury time. There was late drama but a ’45 was the decision and Ballincollig held out. We can now look forward to a Munster championship semi-final against either Austin Stacks or Dr Crokes on November 16.
BALLINCOLLIG – D Lordan; L Prendergast, L Jennings, N Galvin; JP Murphy, S O’Donoghue, C Kiely; S Kiely, C O’Sullivan; N Allen, P Kelly, G Durrant; J Kelly, C Dorgan, J Miskella. Subs: A Donovan for S Kiely (42, inj), I Coughlan for J Kelly (47), S Kiely for Allen (50), R Noonan for C Dorgan (60, BC).
Scorers – C Dorgan 0-6 (4f), J Kelly 1-0, I Coughlan (2f), C Kiely 0-2 each, L Prendergast, S Kiely, N Allen, C O’Sullivan 0-1 each.