Inniscarra 1-16 Mallow 0-15

INNISCARRA will meet Castlelyons in the quarter-finals of the PIHC after they defeated Mallow at Blarney on Saturday afternoon.

Owen McCarthy and Colm Casey led the line impressively for the Mid Cork outfit, who built on their momentum from their win over Ballinhassig to eliminate one of the favourites for the Premier Hurling title. Scarra won’t fear any team from here, in a grade that appears to be wide open, despite Fr O’Neill’s status as the team to beat.

Inniscarra opened the scoring with three minutes on the clock when Owen McCarthy split the uprights and it was a lead that they would hold until the final whistle.

They continued to dominate proceedings and by the tenth minute they scored the games’ only goal through Colm Casey, who hit a hat-trick against Hassig.

The number 14 secured possession on the end-line before he expertly drilled the sliotar past the keeper and into the far bottom-right corner of the net.

Mallow responded well to that setback as they scored their first couple of points through Darragh Moynihan and Cormac Murphy but their opponents soon regained control of proceedings and notched six of the next seven scores to lead 1-7 to 0-3 by the 24th minute.

A Seán Hayes brace and a superb Ryan Harkin score maintained Mallow’s interest in the contest but an accurate shot from Ciaran Lombard and two frees from Michael Coleman ensured Inniscarra led 1-10 to 0-6 at the half time break. Another couple of well-struck frees from Sean Hayes reduced their deficit to five points at the beginning of the second period.

Scarra threatened to pull away on three occasions but Mallow, to their credit, battled back each time to make the scoreboard read 1-13 to 0-11 midway through the second half.

Mallow added two more points to their tally thanks to another Sean Hayes free and a long-range strike from Cormac Murphy to put them within a goal of the opposition.

Inniscarra’s right half-forward McCarthy raised a white flag as the match ticked into added time but Mallow’s Kevin Sheehan again moved to within one score of an equaliser.

But the Blue and Whites held their nerve and despite a late 65 from Sheehan, further points from McCarthy and Padraig Holland proved to be enough to see Scarra through.

Scorers for Inniscarra: C Casey 1-2, M Coleman 0-4 f, O McCarthy 0-4, A McCarthy 0-2, C Lombard, S O’Donoghue, C Bennett and P Holland 0-1 each.

Mallow: S Hayes 0-8 f, C Murphy 0-3 (0-1 f), K Sheehan 0-2 (0-1 65), D Moynihan and R Harkin 0-1 each.

INNISCARRA: J O’Keefe; J O’Callaghan, B O’Mahony, J O’Sullivan; A McCarthy, C O’Leary, C Lombard; L Ryan, S O’Donoghue; O McCarthy, D O’Keefe, M Coleman; E O’Connor, C Casey, M O’Connell.

Subs: C Bennett for E O’Connor (37), S O’Mahony for D O’Keefe (54), P Holland for M O’Connell (58).

MALLOW: A Long; R Sheehan, F O’Neill, J Healy; D Moynihan, N O’Riordan, P Healy; P Lyons, R Harkin; C Carroll, D Hayes, C Murphy; K Mills, P Herlihy, S Hayes.

Subs: S O’Callaghan for D Hayes (54), R Mills for K Mills (58), K Sheehan for C Carroll (58).

Referee: Brian Murphy (Carrigtwohill).