Éire Óg overcome by the fight in Cocks
Captains Liam Sheppard (Fighting) Cocks) and Eoin Maddock (Éire Óg) along with the match officials before this evening's Talbot Hotel Intermediate Football Championship tie in Fenagh Photo: Ger McNally
Fighting Cocks continue to settle into life at Intermediate level quite nicely after last year’s heroics at Junior level.
After hitting four goals in an opening round win over Clonmore, Garry Nolan’s team bagged three this evening in Fenagh as they saw off Éire Óg in a game where they were comfortable for at least three quarters of it.
There won’t be many teams around the country fielding that year’s county goalkeeper in the Intermediate level but such is the riches that Éire Óg enjoy, that is the case with Ben McCarron as Johnny Furey is preferred for the senior team’s duties.
However, the young goalkeeper, who was so impressive for Carlow on their way to winning a historic Division 4 title, was picking the ball out of his net three times in the opening 20 minutes.
Not that any of the blame for those goals, scored by Glenn O’Rourke, Cillian Fagan and Jack McDonald, could be laid at his door but his evening didn’t get any better when he was forced off through injury late in the game. He may still have been feeling the effects of a heavy collision with McDonald during the first half.
Those goals helped Cocks into a 3-5 to 0-5 lead and they continued to look comfortable through the third quarter, where Cillian Fagan kicked four points in a row, including a superb two-point effort.
An element of complacency did creep into their game in the final quarter. One player not affected by that was corner-back Sean McGrath, who made two superb goal-saving blocks in quick succession midway through the second-half.
But that goal was coming and it duly arrived in the 46th minute when Corey Harmon, who had started the game’s scoring with a two-pointer, fired home at the back post.
An Éire Óg onslaught never truly materialised, but Cocks did leave the door ajar, and with a bit more care with their finishing, the county town team could have applied more pressure.
Their second goal was neatly scored in the 58th minute by Dermot Lawlor to cut the lead back to six points.
Things could have got rather unnecessarily nervy for Cocks if Éire Óg found a third goal in the five minutes of injury time that were played but their last two attacks were thwarted by fine defending from McGrath and Dylan Ruane respectively.
It leaves Cocks manager Nolan in the perfect position going into the third round. They have two wins under the belt but that drop off in the final quarter gives the manager justifiable reason to crack the whip in training before their next game.
Cocks, however, are a well-balanced team with plenty of pace and scores in them and on the basis of their opening two games, they could be a side to watch in their first year back in the Intermediate Championship.
Darragh Byrne; Sean McGrath, Eoin O’Byrne, Dylan Ruane, Alex Gordon 0-1, William Kelly, Billy Nolan; Cormac McElligott, Liam Sheppard; Niall Fitzpatrick, Glenn O’Rourke 1-1, Emmet Moran 0-1, Cillian Fagan 1-4 (1tp), Jack McDonald 1-1, Aaron Dowling 0-4 (1f). Subs: Matthew English Hayden for O’Byrne, 37; Padraig Eustace for Fitzpatrick, 46; James Hickey for Gordon, 46; Cian O’Byrne for McDonald, 55; Michael Shanahan for Nolan, 59.
Ben McCarron; Ryan Donnelly-Finn, Daire Dooley, Evan Kelly, Cillian McGrath, David Dunphy, Ryan Fitzgerald; Eoghan Byrne, Ruarc Murray; Eoin Maddock, Corey Harmon 1-2 (1tp), Dermot Lawlor 1-2, Ivan Murphy 0-2, Ronan Quinlan 0-3 (2fs), Jack Feehan. Subs: Kelvin Chatten for Murray, 49; Mark Daly for McGrath, 55; Evan Kearns for McCarron, 56; Luke Murphy for Byrne, 60.
Jonathan Murphy.
