{"id":103593,"date":"2025-10-05T03:48:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T03:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/103593\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T03:48:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T03:48:12","slug":"bride-rovers-secure-long-awaited-senior-a-final-as-carrigtwohill-comeback-falls-short","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/103593\/","title":{"rendered":"Bride Rovers secure long awaited Senior A final as Carrigtwohill comeback falls short"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Bride Rovers 3-14 Carrigtwohill 1-14\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

At the fifth time of asking, Bride Rovers have finally broken through. After four consecutive semi-final defeats, the Rathcormac-Bartlemy men finally cracked the glass ceiling, toppling Carrigtwohill on Saturday evening at P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh. Courtesy of two second half goals, they’ve reached the Senior A county final, where they\u2019ll face the winner of Blarney and Castlelyons.<\/p>\n

Years of frustration give way to possibility now \u2013 one more step and they will be champions.<\/p>\n

The game itself was a scrap against the elements as much as the opposition. The wind was a constant companion, howling down the field and dictating the first half in particular. Even with it at their backs, Rovers turned only four clear at the break, 1-9 to 1-5.<\/p>\n

Every time Carrig threatened in the third quarter, Rovers met fire with fire. At 1-13 to 1-10 with 15 to go, there was the faintest hint of anxiety about them \u2013 but then came the lift.<\/p>\n

Cork senior Brian Roche cut inside from the flank, brushed past Aaron Walsh Barry\u2019s challenge, and finished with authority to stretch it to six. It was the score that finally bent the game their way.<\/p>\n

Carrig, to their credit, refused to wilt. They kept nibbling away, James Mulcahy denied a superb goal chance on 51 minutes by a brilliant Cian Hogan save, and by the 55th minute, the margin was down to three.<\/p>\n

Then came the swing \u2013 Adam Walsh missed a free he would normally bank, Se\u00e1n Walsh nailed his at the other end, and a two-point gap felt suddenly perilous.<\/p>\n

\"Carrigtwohill'sCarrigtwohill’s Laim Gosnell shoots from Bride Rovers’ Conor Hazelwood. Picture; Eddie O’Hare<\/p>\n

But Rovers first score since the goal was timely. A mistake from Shane Devlin, punished by Paddy O\u2019Flynn put them three clear again in the 61st minute, 2-14 to 1-14.<\/p>\n

Carrig pressed desperately for a goal, forcing passes that weren\u2019t there. Rovers intercepted, broke quickly \u2013 Walsh to David Barry, Barry lofting over the top to Ronan O\u2019Connell \u2013 and O\u2019Connell buried it to seal victory.<\/p>\n

It was a gut-wrenching end to an otherwise impressive season for Carrigtwohill, but there was no stopping Bride Rovers this time. Their moment had finally come.<\/p>\n

The wind was the loudest voice in the first half, howling through P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh and carrying two outrageous efforts from Rovers\u2019 centre-back Cillian Tobin straight over the bar. Yet for all the gale\u2019s persuasion, Bride Rovers only turned around four ahead, 1-9 to 1-5.<\/p>\n

Carrigtwohill had begun the better of the two, sharper in touch and cleaner in finish. Twelve minutes had passed before they even struck their first wide, by which time they led 1-4 to 0-3.<\/p>\n

Cian O\u2019Riordan and Patrick Walsh clipped fine scores from play, Se\u00e1n Walsh added two frees, and it was he brothers who buried the game\u2019s opening goal from the spot \u2013 Patrick Walsh having floated a teasing delivery onto Liam O\u2019Sullivan, who was felled by Conor Hazelwood.<\/p>\n

\"Carrigtwohill'sCarrigtwohill’s Aaron Walsh Barry wins the sliotar from Bride Rovers’ Adam Walsh. Picture; Eddie O’Hare<\/p>\n

But the Rovers\u2019 response was instant. Within a minute, Tobin had sprinted back pitch to deny O\u2019Sullivan a second Carrig goal, and immediately after, Brian Roche and Walsh combined to release Conleith Ryan, who lashed home his fifth of the campaign to cut the margin to one.<\/p>\n

Carrig still shaded it by 1-5 to 1-4 after 18 minutes, but Rovers soon found a gear. Five points without reply \u2013 two of them Tobin specials from distance \u2013 had them dictating by the break, wind and all.<\/p>\n

Carrig were tidy and determined after the restart, but they never got closer than two. When Roche hit the net in the 46th minute, Rovers weren\u2019t going to be stopped.<\/p>\n

\n Scorers for Bride Rovers: B Roche 1-3, P O\u2019Flynn 0-3, C Ryan, R O\u2019Connell 1-0 each, A Walsh (2 fs), C Tobin, D Barry 0-2 each, K Kearney, J Ahern 0-1 each.<\/p>\n

\n Scorers for Carrigtwohill: S Walsh 1-6 (0-4 f, 1-0 pen, 0-1 65), M Barrett 0-3 (0-2 f), L Gosnell 0-2, P Walsh, L O\u2019Sullivan, C O\u2019Riordan 0-1 each.<\/p>\n

\n BRIDE ROVERS: C Hogan (c); J Peters, E Roche, D Cashman; C Hazelwood, C Tobin, S O\u2019Connor; D Barry, K Kearney; P O\u2019Flynn, B Roche, C Ryan; R O\u2019Connell, A Walsh, J Ahern.<\/p>\n

\n Subs: C O\u2019Sullivan for Kearney (52), L Roche for Ryan (56), C Barry for O\u2019Flynn (60+2-FT temp).<\/p>\n

\n CARRIGTWOHILL: S Devlin; B Twomey, A Walsh Barry (c), P O\u2019Sullivan; D Murnane, S de B\u00farca, J Horgan; M Barrett, J Oke; P Walsh, L O\u2019Sullivan, C O\u2019Riordan; L Gosnell, S Walsh, J Mulcahy.<\/p>\n

\n Subs: S Brennan for O\u2019Riordan (48), C Barry for P Walsh (59).<\/p>\n

\n Referee: C Walsh (Nemo Rangers)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bride Rovers 3-14 Carrigtwohill 1-14\u00a0 At the fifth time of asking, Bride Rovers have finally broken through. After…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[1263,24,18,129,19,17,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-103593","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-cork-sport","9":"tag-cork-gaa","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-hurling","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}