Aghada 5-9 

Fermoy 1-10.

AGHADA opened their Cork Ladies Football Senior Championship Group C campaign in impressive style as they convincingly defeated Fermoy by 5-9 to 1-10 in Fermoy on a gloriously sunny Bank Holiday Monday afternoon.

A stunning performance from former Cork Senior Footballer Emma Farmer, which saw the full-forward net a second-half hat-trick, helped inspire the talented East Cork side to a huge 11 point winning margin.

The home side was looking to bounce back following their opening game defeat to other team in this group - Inch Rovers - by a scoreline of 3-9 to 1-7.

The two sides were locked at 0-4 apiece by the time the first, and much needed, water break was called for while they both also hit a couple of wides each in the process.

Fermoy’s Aoibhe Carey split the uprights with another excellent effort moments after the resumption but their opponents went into the half time break in front thanks to a clever goal from Amanda Bennett, 1-4 to 0-5.

They would stay in front for the remainder of the game and after Farmer slotted over the bar, half-forward Mary Leahy coolly rolled the ball into the far bottom-right corner of the net following a surging run.

The hosts battled until the very last minute with Abbie Scannell, who passed a late fitness test to feature for her club, notching a fine goal and a point late on.

But all they did was add some respectability to the scoreline as by that stage Aghada had already sealed the win to set up a group C decider against Inch.

The story of the second was dominated by Farmer as she claimed a quickfire hat trick, with two calm finishes and a superbly dispatched penalty to secure a significant triumph for her team.

Scorers for Aghada: E Farmer 3-5 (1-0 pen, 1f), A Bennett 1-2, M Leahy 1-0, C McInnes and M Phelan-Sweeney 0-1 each.

Fermoy: A Scannell 1-1, S Moore 0-3 (2f), A Carey 0-3, M Bailey 0-2, A O’Sullivan 0-1.

AGHADA: S Walsh; C Tynan, K O’Farrell, S Phelan; S McAllister, S O’Driscoll, C Walsh; S Leahy, H Looney; M Leahy, C Moran, R Leahy; K Smith, E Farmer, A Bennett.

Subs: M Phelan-Sweeney for C Moran (37), C McInnes for A Bennett (43), L Lenihan for K Smith (56), E Rose-Boylan for S Phelan (56), L O’Connell for M Leahy (61).

FERMOY: D Creed; R Coffee, E Buckley, M O’Sullivan; S O’Sullivan, M Parker, A Kouwenberg; A Hutchings, S Moore; L Geary, I Pyne, A Scannell; A O’Sullivan, L Twomey, A Carey.

Subs: T Murphy for S O’Sullivan (21), M Bailey for L Twomey (40), K O’Flynn for A Kouwenberg (51).

Referee: Chris Cronin (Kinsale).