Barryroe GAA

21 June, 2023

Report by John O'Sullivan Southern Star 21/06/2023

Barryroe 2-11 Kilbrittain 0-15

As Barryroe gave their survival hopes a huge boost, they ended their neighbour Kilbrittain’s ambitions of promotion from Division 6 of the county hurling league.
Goals win games and so it was at fog-shrouded Kilbrittain when a brace of majors, one in each half, by visitors Barryroe helped the Blues edge out their great rivals and ease their own relegation worries somewhat.

Promotion-chasing Kilbrittain, considering their bright first-half performance, will ponder how they let the initiative slip so much as the game progressed. They cannot have any complaints as their ball control and first touch deserted them to an alarming extent in the face of a highly competitive Blues outfit. This loss ended Kilbrittain’s chances of finishing in the top two, with Ballygarvan and Tracton too far ahead. Barryroe sit third from bottom, outside the relegation spots, with Meelin and Na Piarsaigh below them.

Barryroe manager Danny Murphy was pleased they had picked up a second brace of league points, their only other victory being against Meelin after four straight defeats.
‘We are in relegation trouble so this was a very important win; we had a couple of decent performances recently but the overall results had been poor. We were missing our regular free-taker today but Donal Ó Buachalla stepped up to the plate and hit some superb scores,’ explained an upbeat Blues boss.

The portents did not look positive for the men from the Barony of Ibane in the opening sequences as an energetic Kilbrittain hit them with a tsunami of white flags from Maurice Sexton (2), Josh O’Donovan, Mark Hickey, Conor Moloney and Colm Sheehan. The home side led 0-6 to 0-1 after ten minutes, the Blues sole reply coming from Donal Ó Buachalla.
However, in the second quarter there was a noticeable slackening off in the Seasiders momentum, with Barryroe defenders James and Patrick Moloney and their defensive cohort Seán O’Riordan tightening up considerably while up front the quality of ball to Ó Buachalla, Robbie Kiely, Ryan O’Donovan and Daniel O’Driscoll much improved thanks to the industry of midfielders Adam McSweeney and David Murphy.

A delightful delivery by Ryan O’Donovan was flicked to the net by the impressive Daniel O’Driscoll in the 13th minute. Ó Buachalla converted a 65, but regaining their composure Kilbrittain finished the half on a high with quality points by Philip Wall, Cashman and Mark Hickey, the latter forcing Barryroe shot-stopper Micheál Whelton into a superb save in the 26th minute. Ryan O’Donovan delivered from an acute angle to leave the interval reading 0-11 to 1-4, as the winners cranked up the pressure.
The unlucky Adam McSweeney was forced off with an injury leaving Ryan O’Donovan coming out to partner David Murphy in Barryroe’s middle third. When Conor Moloney split the posts, it looked like normal service was resumed. Far from it, as Barryroe tore into the fray. With the mercurial Ó Buachalla on a scoring roll his colleagues upped the ante. The Kilbrittain scoring well was now drying up to a bare trickle as swashbuckling Barryroe outscored them by 1-7 to 0-4 in the closing half.

Substitute Ryan Kilbane made his presence felt on the scoreboard but Ó Buachalla hoovered up the remainder bar a speculative drive from distance by substitute Sean Holland that ended up in the Kilbrittain rigging in the 54th minute. This proved to be the turning point as Barryroe stormed home to an important victory.

Barryroe: Donal Ó Buachalla 0-9 (7f, 1 65); Daniel O’Driscoll 1-0; Sean Holland 1-0; Ryan O’Donovan, Ryan Kilbane 0-1 each.

Kilbrittain: Mark Hickey 0-5 (2f); Maurice Sexton, Conor Moloney, Ross Cashman (1f) 0-2 each; Philip Wall, Sean Sexton, Colm Sheehan, Josh O’Donovan 0-1 each.

Barryroe: Micheál Whelton; Stephen Madden, Cathal Sheehy, Michael Ryan; Seán O’Riordan, James Moloney, Patrick Moloney; Adam McSweeney, David Murphy; Michael Walsh, Daniel O’Driscoll, Donal Ó Buachalla; Ryan O’Donovan, Robbie Kiely, Gavin Sweetnam.
Subs: Darren McCarthy for Adam McSweeney (inj, ht), Ryan Kilbane for Gavin Sweetnam (ht), Seán Holland for Michael Ryan (50), Conor O’Regan for Michael Walsh (51), Mark Mythen for Daniel O’Driscoll (53).

Kilbrittain: Aaron Holland; Eoin O’Neill, Nick O’Donovan, James Hurley; Ross Cashman, Tomás Sheehan, Eoghan Byrne, Conor Moloney, Josh O’Donovan; Conor Ustianowski, Sean Sexton, Maurice Sexton; Colm Sheehan, Philip Wall, Mark Hickey.
Sub: Conor Hogan for Mark Hickey (51).

Referee: Stephen Murphy (Bandon).