Rampant Aghabullogue deliver goal spree to sink Boherbue in IAFC semi 

Aghabullogue 4-10 Boherbue 1-7

A ruthless Aghabullogue rattled off a comprehensive victory on overcoming reigning Junior A champions Boherbue to a one-sided Bon Secours Cork County IAFC semi-final at Millstreet on Saturday.

From a game decorated with fine passages of football from the winners, the sheer intensity of Aghabullogue’s effort proved decisive, helped by a first-half blitz that yielded four goals. 

Over the hour, Aghabullogue had a number of individuals who made significant contributions from an impressive team performance.

Opponents Boherbue lacked fluency, the sharper and more organised Aghabullogue were up for the job, all told a terrific showing but a much stiffer challenge awaits the Coachford men in the county final against Kilshannig.

A competitive contest looked on the cards, Boherbue enjoyed the perfect start once Jerry O’Connor pointed within 15 seconds of the throw in. Soon a breeze assisted Aghabullogue steadied into a steady rhythm, David Thompson gained parity before they grabbed a lead goal in the fourth minute, good work by John Corkery placed Cialan O’Sullivan to net.

Central to Aghabullogue’ s superiority was the commanding play of Shane Tarrant and Paul Ring in defence with Ryan Dennehy, Brian Dineen and Evan O’Sullivan putting on an authoritative stamp in the middle third. 

Going forward, Aghabullogue threatened at every opportunity, in the eighth minute, O’Sullivan turned provider for Corkery to raise a green flag to help secure a 2-4 to 0-1 grip.

Boherbue broke a barren 15 minute run for Jerry and David O’Connor delivered much needed points. 

Still Aghabullogue remained dominant, yielding a third goal in the 20th minute, quick thinking by Matthew Bradley, a short free found the isolated Thompson to deliver a massive blow to their opponents.

Indeed Boherbue’s problems mounted, ‘keeper Kevin Murphy picked up a black card for a foul on Dennehy, Thompson tucked away the resultant penalty past substitute ‘keeper Dermot Cremin to allow Aghabullogue enjoy a sizeable 4-5 to 0-4 advantage at half time.

On the restart, the sides swapped points to Thompson and David O’Connor, the tempo had dropped yet Aghabullogue extended their position thanks to additional points from Thompson and Corkery. 

Throughout the hour, Boherbue seldom functioned with their usual fluency, not helped by missed chances, turnovers and mistakes and for the best part, they failed to penetrate a teak tough Aghabullogue defence.

In fairness, Boherbue never gave up, rewarded on a consolation goal from Gerry O’Sullivan. 

However, the scoreboard remained very much one-way traffic.

Aghabullogue held the better-staying power, points from Dennehy and substitute Paraic O’Sullivan rubber-stamped a passage to the decider.

Scorers for Aghabullogue: D Thompson 2-3 (1-0 pen, 0-2f), C O’Sullivan 1-2, J Corkery 1-1, M Bradley 0-2 (0-1f), R Dennehy, P O’Sullivan 0-1 each.

Boherbue: D O’Connor 0-4 (0-3 f), J O’Connor 0-3 (0-2 f), G O’Sullivan 1-0.

AGHABULLOGUE: J Buckley; P Dilworth, S Tarrant, C Smyth; B Casey, P Ring, D Quinlan; R Dennehy, B Dineen; J Corkery, M Bradley, A Murphy; D Thompson, E O’Sullivan, C O’Sullivan. 

Subs: L Casey for D Quinlan (40), P O’Sullivan for M Bradley (45), N Barry Murphy for J Corkery (55), J Murphy for B Casey (57), T Long for P Dilworth (58).

BOHERBUE: K Murphy; M O’Gorman, Andrew O’Connor, C O’Keeffe; G O’Sullivan, D Buckley, J Corkery; B Murphy, K Cremin; J Daly, J O’Connor, Alan O’Connor; L Moynihan, A Murphy, D O’Connor. 

Subs: C J O’Sullivan for Alan O’Connor (23), D O’Sullivan for C O’Keeffe (23), D Cremin for L Moynihan (25), K Murphy for D Cremin (35), O Healy for M O’Gorman (46).

Referee: R Whelan (Aghada).