Tipperary teens battle hard to beat Cork side in entertaining showdown

Rockwell College battled hard to overcome Mallow (Cork) in the opening round of the Munster Senior B Football Championship at Ballyporeen recently. 

Rockwell, playing with a strong breeze, scored the first two points through the boot of Ryan O’Sullivan. 

Mallow replied on six minutes with a point and three minutes later rattled the back of the Rockwell net. However, Rockwell gathered their composure and once again Ryan O’Sullivan scored two slick points. Rockwell added a further 2-2 in the first half to leave them 2-6 to 1-2 ahead at the break.

Playing against the wind in the second half, Rockwell took the initiative and scored 1-6 in the first 14 minutes. Jack Harney commanded the half back line superbly and was instrumental in carrying the ball into Mallow’s defence on a number of occasions, linking with Cian Mullane for Mark Heffernan to boot the ball into the back of the net. 

In the first half Jake Flannery and Conal Kennedy had dominated midfield but in the final quarter of the game Rockwell started to lose their way in this sector. This was to be Mallow’s purple patch where they scored 3-2 to peg the Rockwell lead back to two points.

Some great play in the dying minutes through Jack Harney, Jake Flannery, Cian Mullane and Sean O'Connor resulted in a Rockwell goal and victory by five points. 

Rockwell: Dylan Cusack, Jack Holohan, Stephen Grogan, Tadgh Broderick, Alex Ryan, Jack Harney, Conor McKenna, Jake Flannery, Conal Kennedy, Sean Cotter (0-2), Conor O’Brien, Cian Mullane (1-4), Mark Heffernan (1-0), Ryan O’Sullivan (1-5), Cathal Kelly (0-1). Subs used:  John O’Dwyer, Shane Maher, Sean O’Connor (1-1), Michael Walsh, Eoin Heffernan.