2 weeks Ago By Irishexaminer.com
Cork SAFC final: Carrigaline 0-16 Knocknagree 1-11 It’s never about how you fall, it’s how you get back up. On Sunday, Carrigaline showed what they were about as they earned their return to the top rank in Cork football at the first attempt with a two-point win over Knocknagree in the Cork SAFC Final. They didn’t do it the easy way, either.
They haven’t all year. When Anthony O’Connor intercepted a Callum Dungan kickout in the 20th minute and floated it into the net, Knocknagree led by 1-6 to 0-3. That Carrig outscored Knocknagree by 0-13 to 0-5 from there tells its own story.
Their captain, Jack McCarthy, led by example all through, and he was taking in everything afterwards. “Yeah, what a feeling. It’s hard to put into words when you have it here after the long year and after a tough year last year with the relegation.
It’s never easy to bounce straight back. But what a group we have, and we showed that today, and we’re back where we belong, thank God. “It’s just one of those games where tactics go out the window and you show what heart you have, what kind of team you have.
Back your subs, back everyone, and let’s go out and play and play like we know you can. That’s what we did, we never stopped.” If anything, that goal seemed to wake them up.
Brian O’Driscoll, Brain Coakley and Éanna Desmond had it cancelled out within five minutes, but they still trailed by 1-7 to 0-6 at the interval after Denis R O’Connor pointed a free for Knocknagree. Desmond then caught fire on the restart, kicking three in a row to make it a one-point game. Anthony and Denis R O’Connor countered for Knocknagree, but then their scores dried up, and Carrigaline, just as McCarthy said, never stopped, kicking the next five scores to take the lead for the first time.
Brain Coakley had his fourth, Desmond his fifth, O’Driscoll his second while Niall Coakley clipped over the lead scores. Then the occasion took over, as both teams raged and rallied and dug in. David Griffin traded scores with Eoghan McSweeney and there were two in it with two to play.
Carrig seemed to have the wind in their sails, but a magnanimous Knocknagree manager, John Fintan Daly, understood the peril of two-point leads. “They’re a good team and they wore us down, sort of, and we picked up a few injuries to key men as well. But we never gave up, and we threw everything at it.
Anthony got injured there at the end, and he’s one guy who would get a goal for you. We put in good subs; it was only a two-point game at the end. “Most of these finals are tight, and it could have gone either way.
I’m not going to complain and say we were unlucky. I don’t think we were. I think on the balance of play they were probably the better team.
But we could have got a draw quite easily, we could have got a goal at the end quite easily. That’s the way it is!” Eoghan Landers extended that lead to three in the first minute of added time before another Denis R O’Connor score made it two again a minute later. Knocknagree peppered the Carrigaline square, but full-back Niall Quirke was inspirational, and the goal never came.
The Kevin McTiernan trophy will reside in Carrigaline over the winter, and Knocknagree will look to bring it their way once more in 2025. Scorers for Carrigaline: E Desmond (0-5, 0-2 frees), B Coakley (0-4, 0-2 ‘45s), N Coakley (0-3, 0-2 frees), B O’Driscoll (0-2), E Landers and D Griffin (0-1 each). Scorers for Knocknagree: A O’Connor (1-3, 0-1 free), N O’Connor (0-1 Mark), DR O’Connor (0-1 Mark, 0-2 frees) (0-3 each), E McSweeney (0-2).
CARRIGALINE: C Dungan; C O’Herlihy, N Quirke, K McCarthy; D King, D Griffin, J McCarthy (c); B O’Driscoll, C Barry; L Pope, B Coakley, E Ryle; E Desmond, N Coakley, K O’Reilly. Subs: A Cohalan for Ryle (40), R Delaney for Pope (45), E Landers for B Coakley (inj, 54), N O’Keeffe for O’Reilly (59) KNOCKNAGREE: P Doyle; M Mahoney (c), K Buckley, G O’Connor; G Looney, D O’Mahony, T O’Connor; T O’Mahony, David O’Connor; K Cronin, E McSweeney, M McSweeney; DR O’Connor, N O’Connor, A O’Connor. Subs: M Dilworth for N O’Connor (inj, 44), D Mahoney for M McSweeney (49), F O’Connor for T O’Mahony (52), JF Daly for Cronin (56), D Twomey for A O’Connor (inj, 58).
Referee: James Bermingham (Bride Rovers)..
