Cobh GAA Notes26th June

u14 Football Championship – Cobh 5-6 : Glenville 2-8
Our U14´s  had their fourth home championship outing in 2 weeks, and following  three hurling victories, on this occasion it was U14 footballers who tasted victory. So far this year our footballers have struggled to produce the form they are capable of, and with just two wins from six early league matches, this team was not carrying a lot of momentum into their championship challenge. Preparations for football were limited by  the series of 3 hurling championship games in the last two weeks, and many thanks from  the panel and the mentors to  Brendan Meaney took the footballers training, whilst those U14´s who played hurling concentrated on hurling.  Our opponents were Glenville, a traditionally strong football club. However we produced our best performance in a while, and ended up winners by 7 points on the night.

Glenville had a lot of early possession, and threatened to score, and when an early penalty was awarded  to  Glenville, it seemed they were about to get their first score. But our lads didn´t panic and  almost expected goalkeeper David Coffey to  save it, which he duly did, and  this lifted our lads confidence greatly. At our scoring end of the pitch we also seemed to find inspirational scores and in the first half we scored 3-2 to Glenville´s 2-3. Early second half action was close with the sides trading scores, until Pádí Kearney provided the hand pass for Midfielder Niall spriggs to blast in a goal from all of three metres. Pádí also had a role in later second half goal which sealed the result. With corner forward Neil Harte racing  toward goal, full forward Pádí stepped out of the penalty area forcing the fullback to chose between staying with  Pádí or
meeting the onrushing  Neil. The Glenville full back hesitated for a moment, but by then Neil had crashed the ball to the net to score his third goal of the night, and the decisive score of the match. Overall highlights
of the night, was the confident performance of David Coffey in goals with several great saves and always long and accurate kick outs and clearances, the play reading skills of Jeffrey McCarthy at right half back, the attacking down the left wing through the combined efforts of Neil Harte and  the tireless Charlie Fleming, and the unselfish and smart play of Pádí Kearney (described above) at full forward toward the end of the game.
Well done also to Eoghan O´Flynn who made his first championship start for Cobh GAA at full back, and for a new comer to the game, he coped extremely well with a series of very competent full forwards for Glenville.  The night was an education for Eoghan about the many styles of full forwards you experience in Gaelic football, and he grew to manage very well with each. Scorers on the night were Neil Harte 3-2, Niall Spriggs 1-1, Adam  O´Donovan1-0, Pádí Kearney 0-2, and Charlie Flemming 0-1.

Next up for the footballers is an away trip to Shanagarry, to face Russell Rovers, who beat Kinsale on the same night. Russell Rovers are in the other U14 A football league and their league form is similar to ours with two wins from  their six games. But, as we proved in beating Glenville, league form is not always a good guide to championship form, and we expect a close game, assuming we play to our potential. The match  is a Quarter Final and is at 6:30pm in  Shanagarry on Thursday 28th June. All Cobh support would be appreciated. Thanks. At time of writing we have no further news on  our Hurling championship semi final fixture.

East Cork Oil Sponsored Junior ‘A’ Hurling Championship Result: Cobh 1:20 Cloyne 1:10
Cobh made the short journey to Ballinacurra to face East Cork Rivals Cloyne in the opening round of the East Cork Oil sponsored ‘Jamesy Kelleher’ cup and were delighted to come away with a professional victory.

The Cloyne men made the better start with Cobh finding it hard to make a mark on the game during the opening ten minutes. Dave Ring was allowed scoring opportunities from dead ball situations and he grasped them with open arms with some lovely long range frees. Brian Aherne and Aidan O’Rourke settled the Cobh men’s nerves as they got well taken points on the board for the harbour side. Martin O Connor was then given the opportunity to show his free taking skills as the Cobh forwards were fouled in the scoring zone of the pitch, O Connor pointed some lovely scores to give Cobh a hard fought three point lead at half time.

Cobh settled into a nice rhythm coming out into the second half and this was as a result of Cobh dominating the half forward, midfield and half back lines which they found difficult to do in the first half. Scores from Aidan O’Rourke, Brian Aherne, Darren Tallon and Adam Mc Carthy gave Cobh a comfortable lead midway throughout the second half and when Dave Mac struck goal for the Cobh men it was hard to see Cloyne getting back into this game. All credit to Cloyne, they scored a goal straight after conceding as the Cobh defense failed to claim a high ball into the box. Cobh finished stronger again though as Martin O Connor scored from more dead ball situations, eventually scoring a total of nine points on the day. In the end it is the Cobh side who will enter the third round draw while Cloyne will have to go the back door route.

Junior Hurling Cavanaghs of Fermoy Sponsored League Result: – Cobh 3-22 Harbour Rovers 2-7

u16 League Hurling Result: Cobh 4-7 Donoughmore 2-9, Good win as the lads warm up for C’ship on Sunday July 1st v Cloughduv in Caherlag at 6:45