Éire Óg 1-28 Meelin 0-13

NO doubting the better side in Mallow on Sunday afternoon as Éire Óg powered past Meelin to secure their place in the knockout stages of this season’s IAHC with three wins from three.

In perfect conditions for championship hurling the Ovens’ side impressed from start to finish never taking their collective foot off the Meelin throat in 60 minutes of genuinely impressive hurling.

The Ovens side, led in the scoring stakes by Eoin O’Shea, Joe Cooper, and Lar Considine, were in no mood to cut their Duhallow opponents any slack as they got off to an impressive 0-9 to 0-1 lead by the quarter-hour mark and pushed that out to 0-16 to 0-6 at the break thanks in the main to O’Shea and Considine’s contributions.

Joe Cooper at wing forward also impressed as did Diarmuid Dineen and Mark Kelleher at the rear.

For Meelin, James Forrest kept the scoreboard tipping over with their keeper Stephen O’Sullivan doing all he could to keep the scoreboard respectable from a Meelin perspective.

O’Sullivan, noted to be one of the best shot-stoppers in the Duhallow division did end up getting beaten once however, he made six top-quality saves during an afternoon that saw him have to puck the ball out well over 40 times.

Things did not get any better for the men in green after the break as Éire Óg started to cruise with the first eight points of the half to lead by 17, 0-24 to 0-7 by the second drinks break. A late goal from John Cooper rounded off a great day for Muskerry men as they march on while for Meelin, a date in the relegation playoff match was already assured prior to this one — a game they will need to get back up for sooner rather than later.

Scorers for Éire Óg: Joe Cooper 1-5; E O’Shea 0-8 (0-5f); L Considine 0-7 (0-1f); John Cooper 0-3; D McCarthy 0-2; B Hurley (0-1f), F O’Rourke, D Dineen 0-1 each.

Meelin: James Forrest 0-8 (0-7f); L Collins 0-2; W Murphy, John Forrest, C Curtin 0-1 each.

ÉIRE ÓG: D Desmond; B Corcoran, D O’Herlihy, C McGoldrick; J Mullins, M Kelleher, D Dineen; E O’Shea, R O’Toole; Joe Cooper, John Cooper, D McCarthy; B Hurley, F O’Rourke, L Considine.

MEELIN: S O’Sullivan; S Curtin, M O’Keeffe, J Moynihan; TJ Brosnan, TJ Twomey; B O’Sullivan, Joseph O’Sullivan; W Murphy; L O’Sullivan, L Collins; Jason O’Callaghan; James Forrest, N Linehan, J Curtin.

Subs: M O’Callaghan for Jason O’Callaghan (inj)(20), John Walsh for TJ Twomey (half time), C Curtin for L O’Sullivan (50), John Forrest for J Curtin (50), D Buckley for N Linehan (55), T Callaghan for Joe O’Sullivan (55).

Referee: J Murphy (Castletownroche)