Uibh Laoire Triumphs Over Bantry Blues in McCarthy Insurance PIFC
Uibh Laoire are safely through to the knock-out stages of the McCarthy Insurance PIFC, and they’ve done it with a statement win. Last year’s runners-up cut loose in Ballingeary on Saturday, seeing off Bantry Blues in an open, breathless contest that left one side dreaming of semi-finals and the other staring at relegation trouble.
Bantry arrived under pressure after losing to Rockchapel. They left with none of that pressure eased.
At the heart of it all was Cork star Chris Óg Jones. He ran the show, finishing with 1-8, dictating the tempo and punishing every lapse. When Uibh Laoire needed a score, he was there. When they needed a leader, he was that too.
He wasn’t alone. Brother Ian Jones and the lively Cathal Vaughan tormented Bantry throughout, constantly asking questions of a defence already missing Cork man Dara Sheedy through injury.
Goals from the off
The game exploded into life inside 40 seconds. Bantry’s Arthur Coakley reacted quickest when Billy Sheehan’s shot was saved by Joe Creedon, pouncing on the rebound and burying it. Uibh Laoire were stunned, 1-0 down before they’d even settled.
Jack Sheedy, brother of the absent Dara, clipped over a point and Bantry were three clear. Then Uibh Laoire woke up.
With three minutes gone, Sean O’Leary sliced open the Bantry defence and slipped in Ian Jones, who finished clinically for their first goal. That settled them. Points from Chris Óg and Vaughan followed, and suddenly it was 1-2 apiece with just five minutes played.
The momentum had swung. A minute later, Sam Pickering broke through and teed up Chris Óg for Uibh Laoire’s second goal. Bantry answered through Sheedy, but Pickering struck again at the other end with a two-pointer to keep the Muskerry men in charge.
By the quarter-hour mark, it was 2-4 to 1-5 after points from Kevin Casey and Ruairí Deane for Bantry. Uibh Laoire nudged away again with two more from Chris Óg, only for Sheehan and Coakley to drag the West Cork side back into it.
Then came Bantry’s big punch.
With 24 minutes gone, Mark Óg O’Sullivan played a neat one-two with Sean O’Leary and drove home their second goal. In a flash, Bantry were back in front, 2-7 to 2-6. Briefly, the game belonged to them.
Chris Óg levelled. Ian Jones pushed Uibh Laoire ahead again. But Bantry refused to go away, and Coakley’s late first-half point meant the sides went in level, 2-8 each, after a frantic opening 30 minutes.
Vaughan’s goal breaks Bantry resistance
The second half opened with Uibh Laoire intent on killing off the contest. J Sweeney clipped the first score after the restart, and Pickering landed his second two-pointer to stretch the lead and turn the screw.
Bantry still battled. Coakley and Conor Cronin hit back to make it 2-12 to 2-10 with 37 minutes gone. The game was still alive, the gap still bridgeable.
Then it wasn’t.
Two minutes later, Vaughan struck for Uibh Laoire’s third goal. His effort took a touch off a Bantry defender on the way in, but the net rippled and the scoreboard told the story: 3-12 to 2-10. From there, the mountain for Bantry became a cliff face.
They did carve out two lifelines. Arthur Coakley and Kevin Coakley both went close with goal chances, Arthur’s in particular looking gilt-edged, but each effort drifted narrowly wide. Those misses felt decisive.
Uibh Laoire, by contrast, were ruthless. Two more points from the unrelenting Chris Óg stretched the gap further. Coakley and Paddy Cronin replied for Bantry, but the fight was already ebbing away.
Ian Jones made it 3-16 to 2-12, and fittingly, it was Chris Óg Jones who applied the final touches, tagging on the last two points of the game to close out a 3-18 to 2-12 victory and confirm their place in the knockouts.
The road ahead
For Uibh Laoire, back-to-back wins after beating Glanmire mean the pressure is off and the stakes are now higher: win their final group game and a semi-final spot comes sharply into view.
For Bantry Blues, the picture is stark. Two games, two defeats, no points. The relegation playoffs are looming, and unless they can rediscover their edge in front of goal, this campaign could yet get a lot more uncomfortable.
