Avondhu hurlers showed their class in second half to see off Carbery

AVONDHU are up and running in the Co-Op SuperStores Cork Premier SHC divisions and colleges section.

The North-Cork side opened their 2023 championship campaign with a win over Carbery in the opening round on a scoreline of 1-24 to 2-13 at Cloughduv last week.

It wasn’t all plain sailing on Tuesday evening for the eventual winners, Carbery had the better of it in the first half as they led 1-9 to 0-8 after 28 minutes.

But Avondhu have shown a never say die attitude many times over the years and this particular game was no different.

They didn’t panic and despite trailing by a point at half-time they were much better in the second half as they progress to the last four. The North Cork side have some very good players all over the field, Ben Carey, Bill Curtin and James Keating are excellent defenders. Joseph O’Sullivan is a stylish hurler in the middle of the park, while up front, Colin O’Brien, Brian Murphy, Eoin Carey and Stephen Condon all know where the posts are.

Avondhu manager Joe O’Brien was naturally pleased with the win after a slow start.

“Delighted with the victory. A sense of relief really, we only pulled away in the last 15 minutes.

“We just didn’t click in the first half, we are used to having fast starts. In fairness to Carbery, they played very well, used the ball effectively and caused us a lot of problems.

It’s great to get the win but make no mistake about it, we have a lot of work to do before we play the semi-final in a couple of weeks."

O’Brien says there were strong words dished out in the dressing room at half-time despite trailing by one point at the break having being down four points after 28 minutes.

“As a management team, we were very disappointed at half-time. If we play like that again we will be in big trouble. We had a few harsh words to say and thankfully it worked." 

The second half, in particular the first 10 minutes of the new half, were excellent.

“The lads really upped and ante and we got over the line."

NOT IDEAL

Preparations weren’t ideal for Avondhu leading up to the game on Tuesday, but the North Cork boss is hopeful the team can get together on a more frequent basis over the next couple of weeks.

“This time last year we had about seven challenge games played but we just haven’t been able to get the team together as often as we would have liked prior to this game.

“The players have been very busy with their clubs playing games every weekend. I am optimistic things will improve in the coming weeks."