Ross Oil Junior A Football Championship

Donoughmore                            0-11

Dripsey                                         1-08

Defending Champions Donoughmore ,  fought back to earn a replay  with Dripsey in a thrilling  opening round of the Ross Oil Junior A football championship at Coachford last night.    Shane Healy was the hero on the night, as he kicked three excellent points to salvage a draw for Donoughmore in the final ten minutes of the game.

This was a repeat of last year's mid-Cork final and Dripsey made full use of the elements in the opening half and held a decent advantage, 0-6 to 0-2 at the break.   They were denied a goal early in the second half by a superb save from Evan Forde. Following their goalkeeper's heroics, Donoughmore clawed their way back and they dominated the closing stages of the game.

Dripsey enjoyed a good start to this exciting contest following a well taken score by David O'Sullivan. Mark O'Sullivan dominated the midfield battle and his excellent point ensured Dripsey enjoyed an early lead.   Donoughmore always looked dangerous on the break and Dripsey goalkeeper Ray Moynihan made an excellent save to deny Aidan O'Shea.   John Carey landed a superb point and the impressive David O'Sullivan landed another to ensure Dripsey led by four at the break. 

Donoughmore reduced the gap to three in the opening minute of the second half following an excellent score from Shane Healy. A well worked move involving a number of players resulted in a second point for Mark O'Sullivan.  A placed effort from Aidan O'Shea kept Donoughmore in touch, 0-7 to 0-4 after 37 minutes.

Minutes later O'Sullivan looked certain to find the net but Evan Forde made a real inspirational save. Donoughmore took great heart from this and scored four points in quick succession from, A O'Shea (2), Stephan O'Connor and Shane Sexton.   Dripsey responded with a magnificent goal from John Carey to lead, 1-7 to 0-8 after 46 minutes. Donoughmore survived a goalmouth scramble and Healy kept his cool to land a brace in the closing minutes of an enthralling contest.

Scorers for Donoughmore: S Healy 0-4, A O'Shea 0-4, (O-2frees), S Sexton 0-2(0-1f) S O'Connor 0-1.

Scorers for Dripsey:  J Carey 1-1, D O'Sullivan 0-3, , M O'Sullivan 0-2,  D Buckley, A Buckley(free), 0-1 each.

 

Donoughmore: E Forde; D O'Connell, J Honohan, B Crowley; S Sexton, A Corkery, D O'Sullivan; T Daly, C Kelleher; S O'Connor, O Murphy, S Healy; G Ó Rourke, C O'Callaghan. Subs: S Daly for G O'Rourke, D Forde for Ollie Murphy, A Horgan for A O'Shea.

Dripsey: R Moynihan; S Murray, C Hayes, J O'Riordan; J Carey, P O'Riordan, D Buckley; T Ahern, M O'Sullivan; S Burke, D O'Sullivan, J Buckley; D Buckley, D O'Riordan, A Buckley. Subs: S Manley for J Carey, J Carey for J Buckley.

Referee: T Hayes (Éire Óg).