Óg Jones Leads Uibh Laoire Past Bantry Blues in PIFC Clash
Uibh Laoire 3-18
Bantry Blues 2-12
Óg Jones inspires Uibh Laoire as Bantry slide towards relegation fight
Uibh Laoire are safely through to the knock-out stages of the McCarthy Insurance PIFC, but they didn’t stroll there. They had to ride out an early storm in Ballingeary before finally shaking off a stubborn Bantry Blues side on Saturday afternoon.
Last year’s runners-up, already buoyed by their win over Glanmire, now have a shot at topping the group and a possible semi-final berth if they can take their final game. Bantry, by contrast, are staring straight at the relegation play-offs after back-to-back defeats to Rockchapel and Uibh Laoire. No points. No margin for error.
At the heart of it all stood Cork forward Chris Óg Jones. He ran the show up front, finishing with 1-8 and dictating the tempo whenever Uibh Laoire needed a steady hand. His brother Ian and the lively Cathal Vaughan gave Bantry headaches all day, constantly dragging defenders into the wrong places and punishing every lapse.
Bantry were already up against it before the ball was thrown in, missing Cork player Dara Sheedy through injury. They still burst from the blocks.
The game was only 40 seconds old when the net shook. Billy Sheehan’s shot was blocked by Joe Creedon, but Arthur Coakley reacted first, pouncing on the rebound and rifling home. Moments later, Jack Sheedy – brother of the absent Dara – clipped over a point. Uibh Laoire hadn’t even settled and were 1-1 down.
That changed quickly. With three minutes gone, Sean O’Leary sliced open the Bantry defence and slipped in Ian Jones, who buried Uibh Laoire’s opening goal. Points from Chris Óg and Vaughan followed, and suddenly it was 1-2 apiece after just five frantic minutes.
The chaos continued. A minute later, Sam Pickering turned provider, feeding Chris Óg for Uibh Laoire’s second goal. Bantry answered through Sheedy, but Pickering then struck a two-pointer at the other end to keep the Muskerry men in the ascendancy.
Bantry refused to fold. Points from Kevin Casey and Ruairí Deane cut the gap, leaving it 2-4 to 1-5 after 15 minutes. Two more from the unerring Chris Óg stretched the lead again, before Sheehan and Coakley landed scores to keep the West Cork side in touch.
Then the momentum swung. With 24 minutes gone, Mark Óg O’Sullivan surged forward, played a sharp one-two with Sean O’Leary and drilled in Bantry’s second goal. From nowhere, they were back in front, 2-7 to 2-6.
Uibh Laoire leaned again on their talisman. Chris Óg levelled, Ian Jones nudged them ahead, but Bantry had the last say of the half as Coakley split the posts to leave it 2-8 each at the break. Level on the board, nothing between them in attitude either.
The restart belonged to Uibh Laoire. J Sweeney fired the first point of the second half, and Pickering struck his second two-pointer soon after, a hammer blow that stretched the gap and shifted the tone of the contest.
Bantry tried to cling on. Coakley and Conor Cronin replied with points, and with 37 minutes gone the scoreboard read 2-12 to 2-10 in Uibh Laoire’s favour. Still a game. Just about.
Then came the turning point.
Two minutes later, Vaughan burst through and went for goal. His effort took a deflection off a Bantry defender and flew in. 3-12 to 2-10. From that moment, the uphill climb for Bantry became a mountain.
They still carved out two golden chances to haul themselves back into it. Both fell to the Coakleys. Arthur dragged the easier one narrowly wide, Kevin also missing by a whisker. Those misses sucked the belief from Bantry’s challenge.
Uibh Laoire showed no such mercy. Two more points from the relentless Chris Óg widened the gap again, with Coakley and Paddy Cronin doing what they could at the other end to keep the scoreline respectable.
Ian Jones pushed it out to 3-16 to 2-12 as the clock ticked down, and fittingly it was Chris Óg who applied the final flourish, tagging on the last two points of the afternoon to close out a 1-8 personal haul and seal Uibh Laoire’s passage to the knockouts.
Bantry now head for the relegation play-offs, bruised and empty-handed, while Uibh Laoire march on with their forward line humming and last year’s disappointment still fresh in the memory. The question is no longer whether they’ll contend again – it’s whether anyone can stop them this time.
