LUKE CONNOLLY POWERED champions Nemo Rangers to the last four on the Cork senior football stage as he fired 3-3 in their quarter-final success over Ballincollig tonight.
Connolly was at the heart of Nemo’s goal-scoring spree as they fired home five to set up a semi-final tie with Duhallow next Sunday – a repeat of the 2019 decider – after engineering this 5-7 to 0-14 success.
Mark Cronin and Ronan Dalton also found the net for Nemo with that proving the crucial ingredient as they held off a Ballincollig side that impressed at stages with Cian Dorgan and Darren Murphy in excellent point-scoring form.
In a clash at Páirc Uí Rinn that was played at a relentless high pace, Connolly struck for his first goal in the 9th minute after being set up by Barry O’Driscoll. Dorgan hit four first-half points for Ballincollig and Murphy scored two, his second tying the teams at 1-4 to 0-7 approaching half-time.
However Nemo hit the net twice before the interval in a crucial burst as Connolly and Dalton combined to set Cronin up to drill home the first and then he turned creator to play in Peter Morgan, who was fouled and Connolly slotted the resultant penalty.
Nemo’s 3-4 to 0-7 advantage gave them something to protect but Ballincolling struck three of the first four points registered in the second half. Then they were hit by a third Connolly goal in the 40th minute as he capped off a superb team move and Dalton struck the fifth in the 54th minute.
- Scorers for Nemo Rangers: Luke Connolly 3-3 (1-0 pen, 0-2f, 0-1 ’45), Mark Cronin 1-2, Ronan Dalton 1-1, Paul Kerrigan 0-1.
- Scorers for Ballincollig: Cian Dorgan 0-5 (0-2f, 0-1 ’45), Darren Murphy 0-4, Cian Kiely 0-2, Colin Moore, Evan Cooke, Dara Dorgan 0-1 each.
Earlier in Tipperary there was glory for Clonmel Commercials in their senior football decider with Michael Quinlivan’s brilliant goal helping fashion success by 1-16 to 1-15 against Loughmore-Castleiney.
Quinlivan’s strike arrived in the closing stages to push Clonmel ahead 1-15 to 1-13 and while Loughmore drew level, Jack Kennedy nailed the winning point.
It was a tough outcome for Loughmore-Castleiney to absorb just seven days after they had lost the hurling decider in dramatic fashion late on in extra-time against Kiladangan.
Clonmel Commercials were picking up a fifth title since 2012 here and their first time doing two-in-a-row in that time frame. They raced in front 0-13 to 0-7 at the interval but Loughmore – football kingpins in ’13, ’14 and ’16 – countered with Conor McGrath’s goal helping their third quarter revival. They trailed 0-15 to 1-11 by the second-half water break before kicking on in the final quarter only for Quinlivan to grab that crucial goal.
- Scorers for Clonmel Commercials: Jason Lonergan 0-5 (0-2f), Michael Quinlivan 1-1, Sean O’Connor 0-3 (0-3f), Jack Kennedy, Seamus Kennedy 0-2 each, Conal Kennedy, Colman Kennedy, Ryan Lambe 0-1 each.
- Scorers for Loughmore-Castleiney: Conor Ryan 0-6 (0-5f), Conor McGrath 1-0, John McGrath, Evan Sweeney, Joseph Nyland 0-2 each, Ciaran Connolly, Aidan McGrath, Liam Treacy 0-1 each.
And in Waterford it was Rathgormack who booked their senior football final place with a 3-15 to 0-10 success over Gaultier in today’s semi-final. They’ll face Ballinacourty or The Nire, who meet in a refixed game in the Fraher Field on Wednesday night.
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