Sun June 14 - Inter Football: Christopher's v Cork

Christopher’s 2-12 Cork 1-8

Having come up empty in their first two games, Christopher’s scored an impressive win against Cork Sunday afternoon.  Christopher’s enjoyed more or less total dominance in the first half, and in the second did enough to hold a resurgent Cork effort at bay.  Fionnan O’Shea at corner forward did well in the first, and tallied a goal and 3 points while in the second James Horgan kicked a couple of wonderful points when Christopher’s needed a measure of relief from the Cork pressure as the rebels tried to close the gap.

Fionnan O'Shea finds his spot with a first half goal for Christopher's.

Christopher’s dominated the first half and had a stranglehold on Cork for the 30 minutes.  The sides were level early on with a point each, but for the remainder of the half it was Christopher’s in total charge.  The midfield of Ian O’Callaghan and James Horgan helped keep the flow of play headed towards the Cork goal, while the defence were ready for any attack that Cork mounted and did well to intercept threatening moves.

Mike Carolan beats O'Shea to this ball.

After Fionnan O’Shea put Christopher’s into a one point lead, Dan Kenneally finished a well worked move to slot the ball under the keeper and into the net.  More points came from the corner forwards, O’Shea and Ken O’Reilly, before goal number two was delivered from O’Shea.  Christopher’s showed patience in working the ball into a scoring position and O’Shea hit the far corner from inside the 21.  The difference might have been greater if not for some wayward shooting by Christopher’s, but they had the comfort of a healthy lead and could afford it.  At the half it was a 2-5 to 0-1 advantage for Christopher’s.

Cork lifted their game immediately after the restart.  Tiernan Rushe entered the fray at corner forward and was impactful.  The County Down native had two points on the board for the rebels within 5 minutes, and Nick Mullane a third.  The second half was a mirror image of the first with Cork enjoying the lion’s share of possession and now we wondered would Christopher’s rue those missed first half chances.  Christopher’s, however, were able to keep the points column ticking over to maintain some distance between the sides and slow to Cork comeback.

Rushe added another fine score for Cork, and a goal eventually come from Darragh Murphy to take a big bite out of the Christopher’s lead.  Christopher’s needed something to reestablish themselves at this stage, and James Horgan put two massive points over with the left foot to rouse his side.  Cork kept up the pressure however, and almost had another goal but Mark Molloy did well to parry a Murphy pile driver over the bar.  With the clock running out on Cork Tom Kinsley and Ian O’Callaghan put the finishing touches on a very well deserved first win for Christopher’s in the intermediate championship. 

Christopher’s: Mark Molloy, Gerry Bannon, Martin Coppinger, James Higgins, Shane Power, Tom Kinsely, Ian O’Callaghan, James Horgan, Paudie Kenneally, Mark Delaney, Jerry Kenneally, Ken O’Reilly, Fionnan O’Shea.

Cork: Kieran McEnrey, Mike Carolan, Paddy Clarke, Frank Dillon, Mark Dalton, Jack Lacey, Jack Lynch, William Finnegan, Emmet Smith, Darragh Murphy, Nick Mullane, Ian Caffrey, Jack Barrett.

By Rory O'Donnell