Gaultier 1-9 ;St Saviours 0-9
It was a lucky first half goal from team captain Gearoid O’Connor which proved to be the difference between the sides in this Quarter-Final Play-Off played in Kilmacthomas last Tuesday evening. In truth this was a forgettable hour’s football and Gaultier will have to improve greatly if they are to overcome Ballinacourty in the Quarter-Final.
Gaultier were the first side to become accustomed to playing under the lights and raced into an early lead with two early points. The first was a neat finish from Paul Maher after a pass from JJ Hutchinson. The second point came from Hutchinson himself after he anticipated a clever dummy from Anthony Fitzgerald.
St Saviours got off the mark in the 10th minute through a Sean Corcoran free.
Gaultier re-asserted their authority on the game in the 12th minute when Gearoid O’Connor caught a kick out and surged through the heart of the St Saviours defence. From twenty yards, he attempted to slot the ball over the bar but did not connect properly with his kick. Fortunately for Gaultier, O’Connor’s kick deceived Paul Houlihan in the St Saviours goal and dipped under the crossbar and into the back of the net.
The city side then enjoyed their best period of the game. Their complete domination around the centre of the field allowed them to score four points on the trot. The first of these came from Adam Brophy, the second, a Michael English fly-kick, could have gone anywhere. Sean Corcoran then added his second point of the night to leave just two points between the sides. In the 27th minute, Corcoran grabbed his third of the night and second from placed balls to leave the minimum between them.
Following thirteen minutes without scoring, Gaultier then broke their duck with a Paul Maher free from 25 yards out. A minute later, the barony men scored again. Thomas Dunphy picked out veteran corner-forward Paul Fitzgerald with a long free and Fitzgerald knocked over Gaultier’s fifth point of the night.
St Saviours had the final score of the half when Michael O’Brien found rampaging midfielder John-Paul Jacob with a clever hand-pass. Jacob fired at goal but his effort clipped the top of the cross-bar and went over.
Shortly afterwards, referee, Alan Kissane sounded the half-time whistle with Gaultier leading by 1-5 to 0-6.
See The Munster Express newspaper for full story.
