Tuesday Night:
Corkbeg 4-0 Springfield
Corkbeg kicked off their Murphys Stout Premier AUL campaign off with an empathic victory over East Cork rivals, Springfield on a beautiful summers evening in Whitegate.
Having just pipped Springfield to the Premier A title last season, the first meeting between the two sides was always going to be a cracker.
The away side started the better of the sides, and should have been one up after just one minute. Springfield’s number 9 had his close- range effort deflected onto the post, and safely into Ray Savage’s hands. Shortly after, Springfield went close again, with their number 8 shooting over the crossbar, following a loose ball from a corner.
Corkbeg opened the scoring on the 16th minute, when a misplaced kick by the Springfield keeper was intercepted by Bobbi Donoghue, who neatly turned, and slotted the ball into the bottom corner. The home side doubled their lead twenty minutes later.
An inswinging Jordan Ryan corner caused chaos at the back post and was eventually bundled over the line, by Shane Bennett. Two minutes later, it was nearly three. A brilliant Daragh O Mahony cross was headed just wide by Donoghue. It was 2-0 at the interval.
Corkbeg started brilliantly after the break, and soon they added another goal. A superb long ball by Savage was taken down by Alan Hogan, who beat his man and crossed a great ball across the deck to Donoghue, who made no mistake as he fired home to make it 3 nil.
Just moments later, it was 4-O Mahony’s deflected effort fell kindly for Hogan who buried home, to put the game to bed.
Donoghue nearly had his hat-trick, when he sweetly struck O Mahony’s cross, but a fine stop from the away keeper kept the deficit at 4. Up the other end, Savage was called into action, with a smart save, at his near post, to deny the number 8.
With 15 minutes to go, Shane Bennett had an effort just sail over the bar, and shortly after, Keelan Kennedy had an effort narrowly miss the target.
The Beg saw out the rest of the game, and kept a clean sheet, with some great defending by the back 4 of Alan Horgan, Chris Cotter, Jordan Tynan & Kieron Murphy.
Corkbeg: R Savage, K Murphy, J Tynan, C Cotter, A Horgan, S Bennett, D O Mahony, K Kennedy, A Hogan, B Donoghue, J Ryan
Subs: A Berry for A Hogan (55), R O Regan for J Ryan (55), D O Neill for B Donoghue (67), C Smith for K Murphy (67) & M Ahern for S Bennett (75)
Sunday Morning:
Temple United 1-3 Corkbeg
Corkbeg travelled to Knocknaheeney on Sunday morning to take on northsiders, Temple Utd.
The away side started brilliantly and went one nil up after just 2 minutes. An in-swinging corner broke loose, before Shane Bennett’s effort was blocked on the line, but Keelan Kennedy was there to poke home the ball to put the Beg one up. Minutes later, Bobbi Donoghue had a shot saved by the Temple keeper.
On the 7th minute Aaron Berry broke through on goal, one-on-one with the keeper, but Berry’s effort clipped the outside of the post and went wide. On the quarter of the hour mark, an incredible run by Alan Hogan from his own 18 yard box, saw him end up in the opponents box, when he then squared the ball across to Berry, who then shot, but remarkably the Temple keeper got a foot out to block his effort.
Moments later, another huge chance went astray, as Donoghue rounded the keeper with incredible pace and skill, but he was too fast for himself, as the ball trickled over the line and out for a kickout. The away side should have been 4 up at this stage. Shortly after, Bennett had a goal ruled offside, so it remained 1-0.
The game started to slow down now, with Temple starting to find their feet in the game, but offered no real threat, as such. It was 1-0 at halftime.
Just after the restart, Temple equalised. Their big number 9 tucked his long-range effort into the bottom corner, to level things up. Corkbeg looked to regain their lead, but the ball kept breaking down in the final third for the away side.
A moment of brilliance by Donoghue on the 70th minute put the Beg 2-1 up. He scored a screamer with his left foot into the top right hand corner, from 25 yards out. A great goal, much to the delight of the Whitegate men.
A quick throw by Corkbeg saw Hogan break the last line of defence, but his effort hit the side netting. Two minutes later, Donoghue had another effort well saved by the right foot of the home sides keeper.
Since their goal, Temple had no real effort on goal, but on the 80th minute, they did have an effort, but it was off target. Temple’s big threat was from set pieces.
Corkbeg put the game to bed in stoppage time, with another superb goal. This time it was Bennett as he roulette flicked the ball around the keeper, before rolling the ball into the empty net to seal the game.
It finished 3-1 to the Beg. On another day, it could’ve been a wider margin. Nonetheless, another 3 points sees the Beg with 2 wins from 2 now in their first ever season as a Premier team. Man of the Match goes to Keelan Kennedy who had a superb game at the back.
Corkbeg: R Savage, K Murphy, J Tynan, K Kennedy, A Horgan, S Bennett, D O Mahony, A Berry, A Hogan, B O Donoghue, J Ryan
Subs: R O Regan for J Ryan (60) & M Ahern for A Hogan (78)
