Aghabullogue through to PIFC knock-out stages after Ilen Rovers win
Aghabullogue's Tom Long gets his pass away from Dan MacEoin. Picture: Denis Boyle
Aghabullogue are through to the knock-out stages of the McCarthy Insurance Premier IFC following their win over Ilen Rovers at Ballynacarriga.
With a game to spare both themselves and Iveleary have made the knockout rounds after their respective wins see them on four points.
Ilen Rovers and Aghada are both on zero so cannot make the knockout stages at this stage.
It now means that Aghabullogue and Ivyleary will take each other on in the final group top to see who tops the group.
Judging by their performance against Ilen the Coachford side will be tough to beat with impressive displays from the likes of David Thompson, Cialan O’Sullivan and Evan O’Sullivan. Matthew Bradley also never lets them down and it was the same this day out, as he scored two points.
The telling score came from the boot of Evan O’Sullivan after 19 minutes when he got the only goal, which put them into a 1-3 to 0-1 lead and they never looked back from here.
Credit to Ilen they played some good football with Peadar and Peter O’Driscoll driving them on, along with the likes of Dermot Hegarty and Adrian O’Driscoll, when he came on after eight minutes.
But in the end they were beaten by a better side on the day despite their best efforts.
David Thompson opened the scoring from a free for Aghabullogue, before they had their first goal chance.
Thompson played Cialan O’Sullivan in, but he shot wide with the goal at his mercy.
Points from Evan O’Sullivan and John Corkery put the winners 0-3 to 0-1 in front after 17 minutes.
O’Driscoll was on target for Ilen, but they will have been disappointed at this stage as they were playing with the strong wind and weren’t making the most of it.
Aghabullogue had another goal chance, this time Thompson shooting wide, again with the goal at his mercy.
However they did manage to raise that green flag after 19 minutes when Evan O’Sullivan got on the end of a sweeping move, involving Bradley, Thompson and Luke Casey.
Peter O’Driscoll pulled a point back for Ilen, before Aghabullogue missed another goal chance, this time Evan O’Sullivan missing the target.
Dan MacEoin hit Ilen third’s point with Casey getting the last score of the half to put Aghabullogue 1-4 to 0-3 up at half-time.
MacEoin got the first point after the restart, with Bradley replying for the winners. Thompson added another from a free, before it was Ilen’s turn to miss a goal.
Peter O’Driscoll played Simon O’Shea in, but his effort went narrowly wide.
John Corkery and Casey added points from Aghabullogue, to make it 1-8 to 0-4 with 10 minutes to go.
Ilen battled it out to the end with two from MacEoin narrowing the gap. But with three minutes left they were down to 14 when Kevin O’Driscoll was sent off for a second yellow card offence.
Bradley and Evan O’Sullivan added points for the winners, with MacEoin scoring late for Ilen, but it mattered little at that stage as Aghabullogue advance and Ilen must beat Aghada to avoid being involved in a relegation battle.
E O’Sullivan 1-2, D Thompson (f), J Corkery, L Casey, M Bradley 0-2 each.
D MacEoin 0-5 (0-3 f), A O’Driscoll, Peter O’Driscoll 0-1 each.
I O’Sullivan; C Smith, M Dennehy, P Dilworth; A O’Sullivan, T Long, B O’Sullivan; C Gillespie, D Merrick; C O’Sullivan, E O’Sullivan, J Corkery; M Bradley, D Thompson, L Casey.
S Tarrant for C O’Sullivan (46).
E Hourihane; S O’Shea, D Hegarty, S Carey; C O’Driscoll, J Collins, M Sheehy; K O’Driscoll, Peadar O’Driscoll; E O’Neill, Peter O’Driscoll, A O’Sullivan; B Collins, C Harrington, D MacEoin.
A O’Driscoll for E O’Neill (8 inj), S Minihane for S Carey (ht), D O’Sullivan for C Harrington (46).
Jack Forbes *Dohenys).
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