East Cork Junior Football League Division 1 in Carrigtwohill on Thursday, 18th May

Carrigtwohill 2-10 Youghal 4-08

Youghal travelled to West End needing a win to avoid a relegation battle. Carrig had already qualified for the league final. To be fair to the seaside town, this scenario was probably reflected in the slightly greater urgency in their play, in particular towards the latter stages of the match.

The first half was very evenly contested with not more than two points in it at any stage. The match was level midway through the half, on 1-02 apiece. A Liam Gosnell free and a super Jay Horgan effort from distance opened Carrig’s account before Ollie Baverstock goaled with a well-taken goal. Liam Scriven and Gozzy added to the points tally before Youghal scored their second goal to go a point up. A minute later, Joel Joseph pounced to score an opportunist goal to put Carrig ahead by two points. Youghal raised a white flag late in the half to make it a one point game, 2-04 to 2-03, in favour of the hosts.

The game continued in much the same vein in the second half, with the teams trading scores and it being no more than a two point game for most of the half. The score was level on 47 minutes at 2-09 to 2-06; Gozzy, Joel, Baver, Seán Ahern and Brendan Twomey chipped in with a point apiece. Youghal finished the game stronger, scoring 1-2 to a single Pat O’Sullivan point for Carrig.

Well done to the panel of players and their coaches/mentors on what has been a successful round-robin section of the league campaign, despite finishing with a loss. With five wins out of seven matches, Carrig have finished second in the table and will play Carraig na bhFear in the league final. Interestingly, the teams are also pitted against each other in the Junior A football championship. The football panel has shown very good commitment this year; for example, Ollie Baverstock travelled down from Kilkenny for the game. The new young additions to the team have made a big difference. Peader Downey made a rare appearance for Carrig in a football match and hopefully it will not be his last one!

Carrigtwohill Team: David Rooney, Seán Ahern (0-1), Peadar Downey, Brendan Twomey (0-1), James Mulcahy, Jay Horgan (0-1), Jack Scully, Joel Joseph (1-1), Pat O’Sullivan (0-1), David Joseph, Liam O’Sullivan, Cormac Flynn, Liam Gosnell (0-3; 0-1f), Oliver Baverstock (1-1), Liam Scriven (0-1). Subs (All Used): Jonathan Spillane, Daragh Hannigan.

Management: Clive Cremen (manager), Frank Flannery, Niall Kidney.

Referee: Rory O’Connell (Cobh).