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Cork County Club Senior Hurling Championship 2003 Round 1

CLOYNE 2-9 BALLYHEA 0-15 (10/05/03)
Played At | Kilworth.

After another tremendous contest between these two great clubs, once again they finished all square at a very well prepared Kilworth venue last Saturday night. In the end it took a spectacular long range free from Seanie Curtin in injury time to send the game to a replay, but this was a thrilling match all through. With Olly Morrissey, Brendan Daly, Diarmuid O' Riordan and Derek Mackessey all out injured and added to this the late withdrawl of Liam O' Connor through sickness a very young Ballyhea side took to the field, with Danny O' Donoghue and Owen O' Sullivan making their Championship debuts and John O' Riordan also making his debut during the game.

Ballyhea opened with a point from Darren Ronan after 5 mins but Cloyne took over with 2 Mike Naughton points and a Victor Cusack goal after 8 mins. Further points from Victor and Conor Cusack sandwiched by Neil and Ian Ronan points left Cloyne 1-4 to 0-3 ahead after 15 minutes. Ballyhea gradually whittled away at the East Cork lads lead, with some great team work and outstanding displays from Ian Curtin and Owen O' Sullivan. Points from Timmy Shanahan, Neil Ronan (2) and Darren Ronan saw us just trail by 2 points at half-time 1-6 to 0-7. We could have led but for a kicked effort from Darren Ronan and a well struck shot from Barry Condon both went narrowly wide just before the break.

Another Ian Ronan point early in the second half left just a point between the sides, but a Conor Cusack goal followed by another Cloyne points left us trailing by 5 points with 20 mintes remaining. The remainder of this game produced some tremendous passages of play from 2 very committed teams. A pointed free from Neil Ronan and a fine point from the excellent Aidan "chuck" O' Connor had us trailing by just a point 2-8 to 0-13 with 9 mins remaining. At this stage the Ballyhea defence was outstanding while at midfield and in the forward line our workrate was excellent. Neil Ronan pointed a 65 in the 59th minute only for Maurice Cahill to point a Cloyne 65 in the 60th min. Then came a moment of inspiration. Sean Curtins unbelievable strike from over 100 yards earned us a deserved replay.

Ballyhea finished the game with 5 minors playing which surely augurs well for the future but in the meantime everyone is looking forward to the replay and hopefully we can advance to the third round.

Scorers
Neil Ronan 0-8 (0-7 frees)
Ian Ronan 0-2
Darren Ronan 0-2
Timmy Shanahan 0-1
Aidan O' Connor 0-1
Seanie Curtin 0-1

Ballyhea Team
Danny O' Donoghue, Eamon Morrissey (capt), Ray Ronan, Owen O' Sullivan, Sean Curtin, Barry Coleman, Aidan O' Connor, Ian Ronan, AIan Curtin, Jonathon O' Sullivan, Neil Ronan, Barry Condon, Maurice O' Sullivan, Timmy Shanahan, Darren Ronan.

Ballyhea Subs
John O' Riordan (used)
Olly Morrissey, Eoin O' Keeffe, Johnny O' Sullivan, Patrick O' Connor, Kieran O' Riordan, Michael Morrissey, Hugh O' Leary, Derek Mackessey