UCC bowed out of this year’s Junior B Football Cup following a nine point defeat to a much improved Naval Services side in game played in Shanbally on Monday evening.
UCC lost the toss and played against the first half facing a very stiff breeze and up the substantial slope of the second pitch of Shamrocks fine grounds in Shanbally. In spite of this UCC started brightly and full forward Willie Fahy kicking a fine point. Unfortunately most of the play was at the other end of the field for the rest of the half and this proved to be UCC’s sole score of the opening period.
A very strong Naval Services team dominated possession and kept UCC pinned into their own half of the field. In response the UCC full back line defended resolutely with full back Sean O’Leary marshalling those around him.
UCC struggled under Diarmaid Hallissey’s kick-outs and this gave a steady stream of possession to the Naval Services attack. It is a credit to the UCC defence that few goal chances came the way of the Navy and all their scores in the first half resulted in the white flag being raised by hard-working umpire, Conrad Donovan.
UCC created a small number of chances throughout the first half and should had added to their tally when a close-range free ballooned wide. The Naval Services kicked nine scores in the first half and met the half time whistle with an eight point lead. This was not an insurmountable lead as UCC now had the breeze and the slope to their advantage.
The second half began at a much livelier pace with the work rate and effort off all UCC players upped considerably. This was rewarded with a number of fine points with Willie Fahy adding to his tally, Tom Byrne kicking a fine free from distance and the dangerous Don O’Connell working a fine individual effort.
At this stage the game’s stand-in referee became the focus of increased ire from both sides as a number of heavy challenges went unpunished. Naval Services responded to UCC’s early challenge and kicked two points from play, as the breeze softened late in the evening.
UCC responded to the physical challenge in the middle of the field and Dave Stafford and Olan Casey thundered into the game with Anthony Walsh moving quickly onto the breaking ball. A high ball won in the middle of the field was played quickly into the square by Stafford and an intelligent knock down by Willie Fahy was finished to the net by the onrushing Don O’Connell. With 15 minutes left, UCC were now back in the game and added another point from play from corner forward Seamus Coffey to cut the lead to three points.
However, UCC did not build on this position and instead of continuing the tactic of playing the ball first time to the full forward line began to over elaborate in the middle third of the field. One such occasion saw UCC lose possession and a couple of passes later the ball flashed past Diarmaid Hallissey in the UCC goal and Oliver Bradley raised the green flag.
From the resultant kick out Naval Services won the ball and a high speculative ball into the square someone found it’s way directly to the net and the UCC challenge was effectively ended as the Naval Services had built up a nine point advantage.
From here until the end the teams exchanged two points each with Tom Byrne and Jerry Reen hitting the UCC scores. Although the non-watch-wearing referee had been told from the sideline that the second half'’s 30 minutes had elapsed there was still time for UCC to be awarded a late penalty as Don O’Connell could only be hauled to the ground as he burst through on goal.
Once the newly introduced GAA penalty spot was finally determined, O’Connell dusted himself off and his excellent struck shot was superbly saved by the bottom of his right-hand post by the Naval Services keeper. There was no time for the resultant ‘45’ and the Naval Services recorded a deserved victory on a scoreline of 2-12 to 1-06.
Team: 1 Diarmaid Hallissey 2 Micheal O’Shea 3 Sean O’Leary 4 Anthony Walsh 5 Robert Phelan 6 Olan Casey 7 Niall Hanley 8 Dan O’Regan 9 Dave Stafford 10 Don O’Connell (1-00) 11 Jerry Reen (0-01) 12 Tom Byrne (0-03, 2f) 13 Denis Lynch 14 Willie Fahy (0-02) 15 Seamus Coffey (0-01)
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