{"id":49524,"date":"2025-09-07T17:44:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T17:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/49524\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T17:44:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T17:44:11","slug":"ballincollig-getting-better-with-every-game-as-they-blow-castlemartyr-away-in-final-group-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/49524\/","title":{"rendered":"Ballincollig getting better with every game as they blow Castlemartyr away in final group game"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ballincollig 3-22\u00a0<\/p>\n

Castlemartyr 0-18\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ballincollig are through to the knockout stages of the PIHC after an outstanding victory over Castlemartyr at Carrigtwohill on Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This was a real team performance from the victors with Cian O\u2019Driscoll and Brian Keating grabbing the headlines up front with 3-5 between them.<\/p>\n

Winning coach Ronan Curran has brought a tigerish attitude to the victors play and this Ballincollig victory was very much built on some outstanding defending where Jordan Murray, David O\u2019Sullivan, and Barry Coleman were outstanding.<\/p>\n

Before a huge crowd Castlemartyr almost goaled in the opening minute when Joe Stack slipped inside the cover, but his shot went agonisingly wide.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\" Ballincollig’s Brian Keating tries to get away from Castlemartyr’s Daragh Leahy, during their Premier IHC clash at Carrigtwohill.<\/p>\n

Ballincollig\u2019s Theo Morgan opened the scoring with a fine effort from out on the wing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Castlemartyr replied with a placed effort from ace free taker Mike Kelly. Ballincollig settled better and Cian O\u2019Driscoll clipped over a good point after some good link up play.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ballincollig\u2019s talisman Brian Keating converted another excellent point after a superb solo run down the middle. Kelly replied with an equally impressive effort over the shoulder.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ballincollig went in front courtesy of two well taken points from Stephen Wills after excellent link up play with his brother Adam.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Castlemartyr responded well and landed three points without reply through Kelly (free), Ciar\u00e1n Joyce and Billy McGann, 0-5 apiece after 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

Aided by the breeze Ballincollig dominated the second quarter and a terrific team move involving Steve Wills, Brian Dore, Cian Dorgan resulted in the lively Cian O\u2019Driscoll smashing to the net.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kelly replied for the Imokilly representatives but that was cancelled out by a lovely point from Tadgh O\u2019Connell. Ballincollig completely dominated the closing stages of the opening half with a magnificent brace from Barry Coleman and points from Cian Dorgan and their hugely impressive centre back David O\u2019Sullivan, 1-11 to 0-6 at the break.<\/p>\n

On resumption the impressive Dorgan landed a classy score from out on the wing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Castlemartyr responded well with a pair of frees from Mike Kelly and a well taken point from Cork star Ciar\u00e1n Joyce.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To be fair the Ballincollig defence dealt with the early onslaught with Brian Dore winning plenty of ball down his channel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\" Castlemartyr’s Ciaran Joyce is tackled by Ballincollig’s Theo Morgan, during their Premier IHC clash at Carrigtwohill.<\/p>\n

Brian Keating enjoyed a superb second half and he landed an excellent score to leave six between the sides, 1-14 to 0-11 after 41 minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The game was effectively ended as a contest when Brian Keating smashed a penalty low and hard to the net after O\u2019Driscoll had been fouled.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the game began to slip away Castlemartyr were reduced to fourteen men after Cathal Martin was given his marching orders after an off the ball incident.<\/p>\n

With scoring difference so important in this group Castlemartyr\u2019s Kelly kept the scoreboard ticking over with a placed effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ballincollig\u2019s substitute Mark Oldham made an impressive cameo, and he landed a beauty after showing a clean pair of heels out on the wing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Muskerry side got a third goal which was another excellent team move involving David O\u2019Leary, David O\u2019Sullivan, Brian Keating and was finished off by Cian O\u2019Driscoll who enjoyed a terrific afternoon.<\/p>\n

To their credit Castlemartyr finished out the game strongly and Joe Stack landed a couple of late consolation scores.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Ballincollig were not going to become unstuck and points from Brian Keating, Mark Oldham and midfielder Theo Morgan finished off a hugely impressive victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following a disastrous start to this campaign after a very heavy defeat to Ballinhassig this has been a remarkable turnaround for Ballincollig who have been defeated by Kilworth and Carrigaline at the semi-final in recent seasons.<\/p>\n

\" Castlemartyr’s Liam Martin tackles Ballincollig’s Theo Morgan, during their Premier IHC clash at Carrigtwohill.<\/p>\n

Scorers for Ballincollig: C O\u2019Driscoll 2-1, B Keating 1-4 (1-0 pen, 0-1f), B Coleman, A Wills 0-3 each , C Dorgan, , T Morgan, S Wills, M Oldham 0-2 each, T O\u2019Connell, D O\u2019Sullivan, C Dalton 0-1 each.<\/p>\n

Scorers for Castlemartyr: M Kelly 0-8 (3f), Billy Mc Gann 0-3, J Stack, C Joyce, D Joyce (2f) 0-2 each , L Martin 0-1.<\/p>\n

Ballincollig: J Linehan; F Denny, J Murray, B Dore; D O\u2019Leary, D O\u2019Sullivan, B Coleman; T O\u2019Connell; T Morgan; B Keating, S Wills, C Dorgan; A Wills, C O\u2019Driscoll, P Morris. Subs: S O\u2019Neill for P Morris (ht), M Oldham for S Wills (45), C Dalton for B Coleman (55), P Kelly for C Dorgan (55).<\/p>\n

Castlemartyr: D Bowens; C Martin, J Lawton, D Leahy; D Joyce, C Joyce, B \u00d3 Tuama; C Whyte, B Lawton; M Kelly, B McGann, J McGann; M \u00d3 Dwyer, J Stack, L Martin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sub: C Sice for L Martin (35)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Referee: D Daly (D Daly (Brian Dillons).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ballincollig 3-22\u00a0 Castlemartyr 0-18\u00a0 Ballincollig are through to the knockout stages of the PIHC after an outstanding victory…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[24,18,19,17,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-49524","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-cork-gaa","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49524","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=49524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}