![\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/4789709_2_articleinline_LC_20pihc_2006.jpg\" "\\"")
Mallow defenders Gearoid Daly and Garrett Linehan under pressure from Billy McGann, Castlemartyr. Picture: Larry Cummins<\/p>\n\n Castlemartyr 1-19 Mallow 0-19\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
Mallow fell to a second successive relegation in three years as Castlemartyr saved their bacon in a nervy Premier Intermediate play-off.<\/p>\n
The North Cork town were left to rue 17 wides as their final-quarter charge from seven points behind came up just short.<\/p>\n
Derek Bowens\u2019 flying save from Pa Herlihy proved the crucial moment, while a couple of other openings should\u2019ve given the keeper more work.<\/p>\n
Mallow\u2019s frustration with Niall Fahy\u2019s refereeing decisions boiled over after full-time, with red cards for Gear\u00f3id Daly and Kevin Sheehan.<\/p>\n
In attack, Castlemartyr\u2019s chief saviours were Joe Stack, Brian Lawton, and Mike Kelly, who each recorded four points from play.<\/p>\n
After Paul Lyons pointed from the throw-in, Castlemartyr reeled off six unanswered points across the next seven minutes.<\/p>\n
Ciar\u00e1n Joyce helped to overwhelm Mallow\u2019s long puck-outs, playing a role in points for Kelly (free) and Stack. Kelly tagged on two more from play and another free, while Lawton arched over the remaining score.<\/p>\n
Se\u00e1n Hayes looked a major threat at full-forward for Mallow. He carved out a goal chance, only for Joyce to flick away the final pass. The centre-back soon cannoned over a point of his own.<\/p>\n
Hayes kept on trucking to open his account from play before doing it all \u2013 winning a turnover, drawing a free, and slotting it over \u2013 for his next. Pa Healy brought them back within striking distance.<\/p>\n
Castlemartyr then struck for 1-1. After Kelly\u2019s third point, Joyce won a hard-earned free. His brother, Darragh, belted it long, and Jack McGann broke it for his brother, Billy, to shoot. Padge Buckley dived to his left to save, but Martin was on hand to tuck in the rebound. Seven between them, 1-8 to 0-4.<\/p>\n
Mallow defenders Gearoid Daly and Garrett Linehan under pressure from Billy McGann, Castlemartyr. Picture: Larry Cummins<\/p>\n
Mallow hit five of the final seven points before half-time. Dan Sheehan, Mark Tobin, and Luke Buckley cancelled out the goal. When Lawton and the high-fielding Stack responded, their scores were also nullified by Tobin and Healy. 1-10 to 0-9 at half-time.<\/p>\n
Mallow swapped Se\u00e1n Hayes out to the 40, while moving Denis Hayes onto the edge of the square. They connected early to create a goal chance for Sheehan, who couldn\u2019t get his shot off under pressure from Ciar\u00e1n Joyce.<\/p>\n
Mallow had the first three wides of the second half, taking them into double figures, before Se\u00e1n Hayes pointed a 65.<\/p>\n
A terrific Billy McGann point was followed by Lawton\u2019s third, but Hayes hit a pair in response.<\/p>\n
Castlemartyr reached a higher gear to clip five of the next six points, through Jack McGann, Kelly (0-2), Lawton, and Stack. They led 1-17 to 0-13 with 14 minutes remaining.<\/p>\n
Mallow showed their fitness with a powerful late surge. Both midfielders, Healy and Lyons, plus Hayes (0-2), found the target. Even when the free-taker threw in a mishit, it fell perfectly for Herlihy\u2019s goal chance, saved by Bowens. Hayes slotted the 65 to leave it 1-18 to 0-18.<\/p>\n
However, the wides continued to accumulate in the closing stretch. Simon Leneghan was blocked by Darragh Joyce, while Herlihy fumbled the next goal opportunity.<\/p>\n
Stack scooped over the insurance score, cancelled out by a Hayes free, but time had run out on Mallow\u2019s chase.<\/p>\n
\n Scorers for Castlemartyr: M Kelly 0-8 (0-4 f), B Lawton, J Stack 0-4 each, E Martin 1-0, C Joyce, B McGann, J McGann 0-1 each.<\/p>\n
\n Mallow: S Hayes 0-10 (0-5 f, 0-2 65s), P Healy 0-3, P Lyons, M Tobin 0-2 each, L Buckley, D Sheehan 0-1 each.<\/p>\n
\n CASTLEMARTYR: D Bowens; C Whyte, D Joyce, D Leahy; C O\u2019Neill, C Joyce (jc), J Lawton; B \u00d3 Tuama, M O’Dwyer; Brian Lawton, M Kelly (jc), J Stack; E Martin, B McGann, J McGann.<\/p>\n
\n Subs:\u00a0L Martin for E Martin (36), C Sice for O\u2019Dwyer (57), A Kelly for Stack (59).<\/p>\n
\n MALLOW: Padge Buckley; B Kingston, G Daly, E Kelleher; G Linehan, R Sheehan (c), E Walsh; P Healy, P Lyons; K Sheehan, D Hayes, L Buckley; M Tobin, S Hayes, Dan Sheehan.<\/p>\n
\n Subs: P Herlihy for L Buckley (h-t), B Murphy for Walsh (48), M Kelleher for Linehan (51), S Leneghan for D Sheehan (55).<\/p>\n
\n Referee: N Fahy (Brian Dillons).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Castlemartyr 1-19 Mallow 0-19\u00a0 Mallow fell to a second successive relegation in three years as Castlemartyr saved their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,24,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-76131","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-cork-gaa","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-latest-news","18":"tag-latestnews","19":"tag-main-news","20":"tag-mainnews","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-top-stories","23":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76131","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=76131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}