Aghada set up PIFC quarter-final clash with Cill na Martra

Aghada 0-12 Castletownbere 1-8

AGHADA will play Cill na Martra in the Bon Secours Cork Premier IFC quarter-final after their victory over Castletownbere in Enniskeane. 

In a game that went right to the wire, the east Cork men needed to up their performance in the second half. And that is exactly what they did after trailing 1-4 to 0-5 at the short whistle.

When the scores were deadlocked nearing full time (1-7 to 0-10), it was none other than 42-year-old Pearse O’Neill who landed a mighty point for them to lead. It was followed by a free from Fintan Cody to go two up.

Gary Murphy pegged one back for Castletownbere, but Aghada had done enough in this Group B where Bantry Blues progressed to the semi-final.

It was a frenetic finale with both sides finishing with 13 players.

Castletownbere’s Joe O’Neill received a straight red card for an incident five minutes from time. Soon after, Aghada’s Ronan Power was shown a black card.

Castletownbere’s Trevor Collins then got a second yellow, and deep in stoppage time, Aghada’s Jamie O’Hanlon was black-carded.

Conditions were difficult due to a crosswind. It slightly favoured Castletownbere in a first half where they went 1-3 to 0-1 up after 20 minutes - a goal and two points came from Fintan Fenner.

Aghada outscored the west Cork men four points to one, three from captain Danny Creedon, to trail by two at the interval.

While they only scored one point in the third quarter, Aghada battled back to lead for the first time in the 54th minute, 0-10 to 1-6.

Whilst a draw would have been adequate, they used all of their experience to claim the narrowest of wins.

Scorers for Aghada: D Creedon (0-5, 0-4 f), F Cody (0-3, 0-2 f), T Hartnett, S Bennett, A Berry and P O’Neill (0-1 each).

Castletownbere: F Fenner (1-4, 0-1 f), G Murphy (0-3 f), J Harrington (0-1).

AGHADA: C O’Shea; E Leahy, R Power, J Colbert; J Tynan, J O’Donoghue, K O’Shea; M Russell, A O’Connell; T Hartnett, D Creedon (c), S Bennett; A Berry, P O’Neill, F Cody.

Subs: J O’Hanlon for S Bennett (50), D Collins for J Tynan (60)), D Leahy for A O’Connell (62), C Terry for A Berry (64 inj).

CASTLETOWNBERE: C O’Donoghue; L Harrington, T Collins, J Rosales; J O’Neill, S McCarthy, O Murphy; A O’Sullivan, O Byrne; F Fenner, J Harrington, D Hanley; G Murphy, D Hegarty, L Kelly.

Subs: J Walsh for D Hegarty (half-time), B Murphy for O Byrne (44), T Murphy for J Harrington (47), D Dunne (Capt) for D Hanley (57), R Dillane for O Murphy (62).

Referee: Shane Scanlon (Newcestown).