Bantry Blues hurlers upset the guidebook with a well deserved victory over Gabriel Rangers in the Bandon Co-Op Carbery GAA Junior B Hurling Championship semi final on Sunday afternoon last.

Gabriels entered the game as red hot favourites, having had a strong season so far.Having gone undefeated in the Co Championship round Robin series to lose out by 2 points at the qtr final phase & followed this up with another clean sweep in the West Cork Junior B Championship Round Robin phase to reach this semi final. The blues with two wins out of three were definite underdogs.

The game started at a frantic pace, with teams looking to get an early advantage.

After 15 minutes the Blues were ahead 4points to 3 , having had 4 different scorers in the qtr, with Dara McCarthy, Arthur Coakley & Shane Keevers scoring from play and the sniper precision of Jack Sheedy adding a free.

Gabriel’s who were not used to trailing teams upped the ante and hit five points for the second qtr of the opening half. The blues were kept in touch by the free taking of young Sheedy , who added two more before the break leaving the blues trailing by two.

HT; Bantry Blues 0-06 V 0-08 Gabriel Rangers.

Rangers came out fighting at the start of the second half scoring two quick points to extend their lead to four. The blues responded well with some great attacking out of defence by the Whiddy warriors Jimmy & Connie Oleary and Robyn McCarthy feeding Conor Cronin and Eoghan Minehane and Killian Osullivan forcing foul play by the Rangers which Sheedy continued to punish. The midfield pairing of Dara McCarthy & Michael Odonovan, worked hard, covering the whole pitch to create scoring opportunities for the blues & to close down Rangers attackd. Goalkeeper Alan Osullivan , made some great clearances in this qtr, one finding Jack McCarthy, who fielded excellently and shot to split the posts to bring the game level on 13 points apiece at the 15min mark in the half. Going into the final qtr teams traded points with Jack matching every point Rangers registered and added one on the 21st minute to put the blues ahead. Players were now beginning to tire and the blues brought on Kieran Collins for Sean Cronin on the the 25th minute, and on his first involvement lobbed the keeper for a wonder goal to go four ahead.With five minutes remaining both teams continued to press for further scores with Gabriels hitting two, but the blues hitting three, one from Shane Keevers and young Sheedy hitting two. The blues ended with a five point advantage, which was well deserved for the underdogs. One notable memory for the game was the lineup of the McCarthy family , with dad Eamon & sons Robyn & Dara all playing the full game.

FT Bantry Blues 1-17 V 0-15 Gabriel Rangers

Next up for the blues will be Ballinascarty in the West Cork final , provisionally scheduled for the weekend of the 14th Oct

Bantry Blues Sponsored by The Boston Bar