Bishopstown pushed all the way by new-look Clyda Rovers

Bishopstown 2-8 Clyda Rovers 0-11

WHILE obviously disappointed with the result, Clyda Rovers can take a share of positives from their performance in a lively county senior ‘A’ football encounter with Bishopstown at Blarney last Saturday

Weakened by a raft of departures from last year’s panel, and with current squad members Eoin Walsh and Cork senior Conor Corbett also unavailable at the moment, it was always on the cards the Mourneabbey men would be hard-pressed to begin their campaign on a winning note.

Yet, they forced Bishoptown to battle all the way for a threepoint victory, secured primarily because the city side managed to make a major breakthrough in the early stages of both halves.

Michael Nunan poached the first goal for the winners after midfielder Conor Dunne had pumped a speculative delivery into the danger-zone in the seventh minute. It pushed Bishopstown 1-1 to 0-2 in front where they were to remain for the rest of the hour.

Trailing by 1-5 to 0-4 at the interval, Clyda were dealt another hammer-blow when Conor Dunne bagged Bishopstown’s second goal within a minute of the resumpion.

No doubt, the majority of the fair-sized crowd would have been convinced the deal was done and dusted after that, but Clyda soon showed they were in no mood to give up the ghost, displaying admirable resilience and resolve to keep their hopes of an unlikely success alive until the very last whistle.

Little wonder Clyda manager Karyn Graham was pleased with what her tender-aged charges produced in a gallant bid to upset the odds that only just fell short.

“I couldn’t be any prouder of them, because they put in such a savage effort, and, for such a young team, I thought they were outstanding,” she said.

“We’re having a wretched season in terms of injuries, so we knew it would be a tough battle since we’re missing a lot of bodies from last year, but, to be honest, I was still hopeful enough coming here today.

“We had a lot of work done, the lads, most of whom I’ve trained at under-age level as well, were eager to line out for our small club, so I was satisfied we’d give it a good shot.

“We certainly did that, but, as the saying goes, goals win games and Bishopstown got two today, we didn’t get any, and that made the difference,” Graham concluded.

After Conor Flanagan and David Cooney shared a brace of points, both of which were out of the top drawer, to make it 0-2 to 0-1 in the seventh minute, Clyda didn’t score again until wingback Cormac O’Reilly landed another beauty, following good work Kevin Graham and Flanagan 15 minutes later.

In the interim, Bishopstown had put another 1-2 on the board, and they tacked on two more points in reply to a Cian O’Sullivan effort for Clyda before the break.

It was Conor Dunne who completed the first-half scoring for Bishopstown from a free, resulting from a snappy counter-attack after Clyda corner-back Darragh Buckley had stormed upfield only to have an intended pass intercepted when a score looked likely.

It was obvious Clyda’s mettle was severely tested following the concession of a second goal, but they weren’t found wanting, responding with points from substitute Niall Hanley, Kevin Graham and Cian O’Sullivan inside 37 minutes.

Behind by 2-5 to 0-7, Clyda had a chance to cut the gap to the minimum at the three-quarter stage when Aidan Kelly and Kevin Graham combined to send Conor Flanagan through, but the latter ballooned the opportunity high and wide.

That the resultant kick-out led to an attack completed by a point from Bishoptown’s Patrick Casey served to compound Clyda’s frustration, but they continued to battle heroically until the finish.

In what was a gutsy team effort, such as Kevin Graham, Aiden Kelly, Darragh Buckley,

David Cooney, Garry Deane and Cian O’Sullivan stood out for the losers, who pressed hard in the dying minutes when Bishoptown opted to employ all fifteen players defensively in order to keep the North-Cork side at bay.

In the final analysis, this has to go down as an encouraging performance from Clyda ahead of their next outing in the group against Knocknagree – victors over Newmarket in their opening assignment last weekend. BISHOPSTOWN: C O’Driscoll; P Casey 0-1, M Murphy, L Hogan; K Murphy, E Byrne, J Murphy; C Dunne 1-5 (5f), D O’Connor; D Holland, P Honohan, M Nunan 1-0; B Clifford 0-2, K McFadden, D Lester. Sub, S Sheridan for Honohan (injured), 30

CYLDA ROVERS: S Dennehy; C Kenny, P Ryan, D Buckley; A Walsh, G Deane, C O’Reilly 0-1; K Graham 0-1, C Flanagan 0-1; D Walsh, C Walsh, C Kelly; C O’Sullivan 0-2, D Cooney 0-5 (4f), A Kelly. Subs, T Barrett for A Walsh, ht, N Hanley 0-1 for C Kelly, 37, A Walsh for O’Reilly, 53, M Forde for Ryan, 53

REFEREE: R Whelan (Gleann Na Laoi)