Cobh GAA Notes 29th July

Cobh Juniors triumph against a much fancied Sars team in the Junior ‘A’ quarter final of the East Cork Oil Sponsored Championship

A good start was vital to the men of Cobh and they did exactly that as they faced a well fancied Sarsfield team in the quarter final of the East Cork junior ‘A’ Championship. Sars, who were yet to play the second round of senior championship, had plenty talent on display however Cobh were in their faces from the off. Playing with a strong wind in the first half, Martin O’Connor knocked over some place balls to give Cobh the lead. The wind was was tough to deal with for both sides which saw Liam Greaney and Martin O’Connor missing frees that would have been scores on a calmer day. Sars had an excellent free taker in Cormac Duggan which was vital as both teams had to rely on placed balls to gain scores in the first half. Cobh’s first score from play came from Eoin Wilson who won possession on the wing and slotted over a well taken point. Brian Aherne was in good form at centre forward and caused the Sars defenders some hassle as Cobh looked to take the lead in the opening stages. Daniel Roche was in superb form at centre half back for the Sars side and he was doing as much as he could to prevent Cobh from gaining an advantage in this nervy affair in Carrigtwohill. The sides entered the break with Sars leading 0-7 to 0-6 with both teams feeling that this game was there for the taking.

Sars started the better of the two sides in the second period as they gained a two point lead after the break. Again Cormac Duggan was vital to the Glanmire side as he slotted over some great frees. However Cobh kept working hard and Martin O’Connor kept Cobh within touching distance as he slotted over his placed ball opportunities. Cobh’s half back line were superb throughout the day with captain Steve Kearney, Jamie Moynihan and the consistent Liam Greaney keeping the Sars fowards at bay. The game was still in the balance as no team was able to grasp hold of the reigns. With time running out Sars gained a four point lead with ten minutes to go and Cobh had a lot of work to do to pull this game out of the bag. It was then that Cobh needed their big players to shine and Adam McCarthy who hurled a tremendous amount of ball on the day stood up to the plate and delivered. Eoin Wilson delivered a great ball into the danger area which saw the ball break to Adam Mac and he slotted home a goal to bring Cobh right back into this challenge. Sars still had the advantage however and looked to add to their lead but unfortunately Cormac Duggan seemed to loose his accuracy in front of goal when it counted. Cobh’s full back line of Kieran Histon, Rory O’Connell and Darragh O Keeffe won some great ball in the dying stages to keep Cobh within reach of Sars. Cobh who trailed the Glanmire side by two points with seconds to go and knew that a goal was the only option if they were to progress in this championship. Aidan O Rourke caught a great ball form a Conor McDowell puck out and won a free on the wing for the Cobh men. Martin O’Connor floated a great ball into the square which saw Brian Aherne flick the ball past the devastated Sars keeper to clutch victory for the harbour and stun the Sars supporters.

That was to be the final moment of the game as the ref blew the final whistle on the resulting puck out which saw the Cobh men advance to the semi-final of the competition.

u14 hurlers advance to County Final with a distinguished win over Ahan Gaels

Cobh  8-11 Ahan Gaels 1-2

Our under 14 hurlers had another fine performance on a perfectly presented Ballincollig pitch on Saturday afternoon. Having just won the East Division on Wednesday night, our lads lined out again on Saturday, as we came to terms with the fixtures given to us, in order to keep the overall U14 championship on schedule.

Having lost the  toss we had to play directly against an unpredictable wind in the first half, on what was otherwise a perfect afternoon for hurling. Early exchanges went Cobh’s way and  within a five minutes we had a fortuitous 3-1 to no score lead all from centre forward Niall Spriggs. Ahan Gaels reorganised, and in what was a strange first half Cobh continued to dominate, but found it difficult to add scores, possibly affected by the unpredictable wind. Ahan Gaels got two points, and Cobh replied with one of the scores of the match when Neil  Harte picked out Dylan Higgins with a perfect pass, and Dylan promptly raised the white flag. Within a minute Dylan had scored another point bringing the half time score to 3-3 to 0-2. In a strange first half Cobh had had a lot of fortuitous scores, but were full value for their significant half time lead. In the second half Cobh’s dominance continued, and at this time the scores flowed and Cobh added 5 goals and 8 points, whilst Ahan Gaels managed a goal. All Cobh subs got  to play for the second game in a row, and in truth the game over as a contest, well before the final whistle. Overall our lads were a little tired from their East Division victory on the previous Wednesday night, but they still delivered a top class performance. Our keeper and full back line had a relatively quite game, due to the dominance of our half back line, and throughout the game, half backs David Coffey and Conor Hogan controlled this area of the pitch. Niall Spriggs, Ciaran Leahy, and Dylan Higgins led up front, with memorable touchline runs a feature of Ciaran’s game as the Cobh forwards, played the game wide, allowing space up the middle for our midfielders and centre forward to run at the Ahan Gaels defence.  Scorers on the night were Niall Spriggs 3-6, Dylan Higgins 1-2, Ciaran Leahy 1-1, David Coffey 1-1, Pádí Kearney 1-0, Sean Hilliard 1-0, and Neil Harte 0-1.

We now await the clash of East Division  runners up (Passage), and North winners (Ballygiblin) which happens on Wednesday night this week. The final is expected to be on Saturday next, the 4^th August. We are (at time of writing) awaiting detailed confirmation of the final fixture, and venue.