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McSweeney lands a knockout blow as Cobh progress to East Cork football final

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In a tight and closely contested semi-final Cobh snatched the lead in the 60th minute with an opportunist goal by Kevin McSweeney. Following a long Conor Farrell delivery toward the square, Sean Hilliard competed in the air with the keeper, and broke the ball in the direction of the goal. Kevin McSweeney timed his run well, and crashed the ball to the net, turning a two point deficit into a one point lead. Glenville responded with a fine pointed free to level, but Cian Spriggs sealed a Cobh victory with a well taken point from play.
Full Time Score an Cobh: 1-11(14) Glenville: 0-13(13)

Cobh had played against a brisk breeze for the first half. Glenville were first to score. Cobh levelled (Jack Ronan), and briefly took the lead (Kieran Histon), before Glenville again levelled. A Mark Foley point (f) nudged Cobh ahead, before Glenville hit three in a row to open a two point lead. Two Cobh points (Sean Hilliard, Cian Spriggs (f)) again levelled the game. First Glenville and then Cobh (Cian Spriggs) traded frees to again level the game. Glenville finished the half with a point from play to take a one point lead to the short whistle. Half Time Score an Cobh: 0-6(6) glenville: 0-7(7).
The first 5 minutes of the second half saw Glenville get 3 points in a row to open a four point lead. A Jack Ronan for Cobh point broke the sequence but in truth at this stage Cobh were on the ropes, and just holding on, to keep in the game. Our defence dug deep, and our full back line Padi Kearney, Darron Tallon and Declan O’Connell kept us in the game, with lots of hard work, and a fine save from keeper Eddie Walsh. Fresh legs and lots of hard yards around the middle from Allen Walley, Adam mcCarthy, Kieran Histon, began to get Cobh back into the game. A Cian Spriggs free was matched by a Glenville point from play to keep the difference at 3 points. As we entered the last 10 minutes Glenville thoughts turned to the finish line, and they began to play more defensively. Cobh remained calm and begun to create more opportunities, A second yellow was to cost Glenville a player, and both Cian Spriggs and Jack Ronan pointed from play to reduce the gap to just one. With just 5 minutes to go Kevin McSweeney replaced Jack Ronan. Glenville added another point to widen the gap to two. Kevin McSweeney then landed the knockout blow, and after Glenville levelled, Cian Spriggs sealed victory with our final point.

The victory means we progress to the east Cork final. The win was doubly sweet as we were also playing for County League points. With four wins out of four, in the county league we sit on top of the league. Our final game is away next weekend (August 2nd) against Naomh Aban (Ballyvourney) the only team that can catch us, but only if they win their final two games.

 

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