U21 footballers advance to East Cork Final.

Following their impressive victory over neighbours Carrigtwohill last week, our young U21 footballers maintained their momentum with a sometimes-tight victory against Bride Rovers. We started very well and with three early attacks we scored 1-1, with a pointed free by Eoin Meaney and a well taken goal by Odhran Kidney Power. Things were looking good after those early three minutes, but Bride rovers settled, and over the remainder of the first 20 minutes Bride rovers outscored us by 0-7 to 0-1, with several frees conceded and mistakes by Cobh contributing to the Bride Rovers dominance in this period. At this stage, Bride Rovers led by 0-2 and their bigger players were dominating play. A point on 23 minutes by midfielder David O’Connor restored the Cobh confidence, and became a key turning point. For the remainder of the first half Bride Rovers were limited to just one point, but Cobh were much more confident and competitive, with three scoring attempts that were unfortunately wide of the mark.  Half time score Cobh 1-3 : Bride Rovers 0-8.

Following a half time discussion, (and some tactical changes) the Cobh team dominated the first fifteen minutes of the second half. From the throw in an immediate attack was unlucky when Keith Donachie hit the post, but it set the tone for the third quarter. After six minutes a great early ball found Sean Hilliard and with just the goalie to beat he calmly found the net. Six minutes later another goal attempt hit the crossbar but Odhran Kidney Power followed up to find the net for his second time. Two more pointed frees from Eoghan Meaney in this period meant Cobh had taken a five-point lead. A Bride rovers pointed free then cut the gap to just four points. At the 50-minute mark Cobh conceded a penalty, but to great applause,  goal keeper Michael McCall Walsh saved the penalty and this rejuvenated the now stretched Cobh team. Eoghan Meaney pointed from play and the always hard-working Ciaran Leahy scored a point with the outside of his right boot to stretch the lead to six points. The final 5 minutes’ saw Bride Rovers press hard to recover the deficit, and they scored 0-3 from four attempts to keep everyone on their toes for the last five minutes. Final Score Cobh 3-7, Bride Rovers 0-13 a great three-point win for Cobh.

The final is expected in two weeks’ time. In the final, Cobh will play Carraig na bhFear, who had a comfortable 4-9 to 0-6 over Lisgoold in their semi-final today. We will post the details as soon as they are available. We done lads ! It’s great to be competing in finals this early in the season.