IAHC: Erin's Own book their place in knockout stage with win over Blackrock

Having won county titles for the past two years, Erin’s Own are the only side in the Co-op SuperStores IAHC with a knockout place secured with a game to spare.

The junior A champions of 2022 and premier junior winners of 2023 followed their opening win over Kildorrery with a 2-18 to 1-17 Group 2 win over Blackrock at Shanbally on Saturday.

The Caherlag side’s goals came from Kieran Murphy and Cian O’Callaghan while Alan Bowen laded six points. Eoin O’Farrell got eight points for Blackrock, for whom Tadgh Deasy scored a goal from a penalty while John O’Sullivan and Richie Laide were also on the scoresheet.

In the other game in that section, Kildorrery were 2-14 to 1-14 winners against Bandon in Watergrasshill. The North Cork bounced back from their opening loss as James Keating and Kieran Hurley each found the net and James McEniry scored four points. Of the Bandon tally, 1-5 came from Mike Cahalane.

The results mean that Erin’s Own are on four points and cannot be surpassed at the top as Blackrock and Kildorrery, both on two, face each other. While Bandon need to beat Erin’s Own to ward off relegation play-off fears, such a result would not knock the leaders off the top as they would have head-to-head advantage over Kildorrery or the Rockies.

In Group 1, Aghada have been eliminated after their loss to Ballygiblin on Saturday, but the battle for the two qualifying spots will be keenly contested after Sarsfields and Midleton drew on Friday night.

The Magpies produced a fine comeback in Cobh, where they trailed by 1-15 to 0-9 after Darragh Long’s goal and Eoin O’Sullivan’s point-taking had put Sars in a commanding position.

However, following a delay due to injury to an official, Adam Daly’s goal brought Midleton back into the game and Aaron Mulcahy’s points helped them to draw closer before veteran Aidan Ryan got the equaliser.

The result leaves both sides level on three points, one ahead of Ballygiblin, who bounced back from their loss to Midleton by beating Aghada by 2-15 to 0-19 in Castlelyons on Saturday.

Shane Beston and Seán O’Sullivan both hit 1-1 for the 2023 All-Ireland Club JHC winners and Darragh Flynn contributed eight points. Twelve of Aghada’s points were scored by William Leahy.

Meanwhile, in Group 3 Lisgoold made it two wins from two as they overcame Cloughduv by 5-23 to 4-17 in Ballincollig. Liam O’Shea scored an incredible 2-14 with James O’Driscoll, Isaak Walsh and Cormac Hallihan all scoring goals too, while Brian McNabola and Brian Verling raised the green flags for Cloughduv.

While Lisgoold aren’t yet guaranteed qualification, their scoring difference of +31 – next best are Erin’s Own with +6 – means that it would be highly improbable that they would miss out. Another win, against Youghal, would give them a semi-final berth.

Youghal are now level on two points with Mayfield after losing to the city side in Youghal on Saturday.

The final score was 2-16 to 1-10, with Nicky Kelly firing 12 points for Mayfield and goals coming from Dave Malone and Tomás Hogan. James Murray got the Youghal goal.