IAHC: Lisgoold reaping the benefits of good work at under-age

Such is the nature of championship format in Cork that very few teams are guaranteed progress to the knockout stages after two games, even if that pair of victories might have comprised an aggregate winning margin of 31 points.

Lisgoold are certainly in a strong position in the Co-op SuperStores Cork IAHC after beating Mayfield and then Cloughduv. For context, the next best scoring difference is that of Erin's Own, who have scored six more than they have conceded - though, such are the vagaries from group to group that the Caherlag side are the only team with their knockout ticket already punched.

On Saturday, Lisgoold will look to rubber-stamp their progress when they take on Youghal in Aghavine (4.30pm) and manager Mossie O'Connell is satisfied with how they are motoring so far.

“You have to be happy when you’re two from two,” he says.

“I know there’s a big scoring difference but there’s still an outside chance that we still mightn’t get through, even though things would have to go badly against us.

“We’re happy enough to be where we are.”

Any win would be sufficient for Lisgoold to take an automatic semi-final spot, but Youghal, having lost to Mayfield last time out after opening with a win over Cloughduv, will not be easy.

In the recent past, Youghal were senior while Lisgoold were still junior and so playing them in the championship as favourites might seem strange. It certainly means that nobody is getting complacent.

“Definitely not,” O'Connell says.

“It’s an East Cork derby and we played them last year and it ended up a draw.

“They beat Cloughduv by a similar margin to what we beat Cloughduv by. I’d be expecting that it’s going to be tit-for-tat.

“I know Bill Cooper didn’t play for Imokilly last week but he’s going to be a certainty to start for them.

“Culann Geary is on the panel too and they have quality all around their team – James Murray as well, James O’Mahony and these lads. Devon O’Donoghue is a serious operator.”

It was in August 2021 that Lisgoold escaped the junior A ranks, beating Harbour Rovers in the held-over final of 2020. Three months later, they had added the Lower IHC (now Premier JHC) title to the sideboard, overcoming Kilbrittain in that final.

In the first year up at IAHC level, they lost to Cloughduv after extra time in a semi-final and then last year they fell to Mayfield in the quarter-finals. Making such a leap in a short space of time takes adjusting.

“I’d say it’s probably more the physicality than anything else and maybe the speed of the ball,” O'Connell says.

“Certainly, the physical side of it, that was a big thing that we had to adjust to, especially as we jumped two grades very quickly.

“We were forever trying to win the East Cork championship and, whatever division you’re in, the junior championship is probably the hardest to win. You must come out of your division and then try to win the county after that.

“It’s after taking us a bit of time to settle in but we’re making progress. That’s all down to the great work done in the juvenile club, going back 15 years or so.”

That process has yielded fruit, with All-Ireland minor and U20 medallist Diarmuid Healy the stand-out name from the conveyor belt that is becoming even more prolific. O'Connell pays tribute to those who undertook the hard work.

“The likes of Liam Walsh, Brendan Healy, Ger O’Driscoll, Eugene Hegarty, Keith McSweeney, Brian O’Leary – I’m probably missing loads but they’d be the main fellas," he says.

“It’s work that’s still being done at under-age. You have Brian’s son James, Keith’s son Rory, Cillian Andrade – they’re all U18 and they’re playing with our second team.

“James O’Leary was with Cork minors a couple of years ago and Colm Garde was on the minor panel this year, even though he was still U16.

“Dean Murphy was with the Cork U16s, Dan Guiney with the U15s and James Forest, James Doyle and Kyle Murphy with the U14s. Then, you have lads who mightn’t be getting the look-in yet but could get it eventually.

“We’re just trying to get a thing going up along, so that these young lads can see that there are standards that they have to meet if they want to push on – it doesn’t automatically happen.”

Helping them to maintain those standards this year is coach Niall O'Halloran. The Ballinhassig native has previously enjoyed success with Bandon (Premier IHC in 2016), Éire Óg (IAHC in 2020) and Fr O'Neills (SAHC in 2022) and he is a good match with a club looking to maintain their upward momentum.

"Niall is a good operator, to be fair to him," O'Connell says.

“If you look back at the last few coaches that we’ve had, we’ve had success with all of them. We had Richie Lewis and Trevor O’Keeffe from Aghada when we won the junior East Cork and then the county and the following year we won the lower intermediate, as it was known at the time.

“The lads moved on and last year we had Kieran McCarthy from Ballyhooly. We did okay in the hurling, we were beaten in the quarter-final, but we won our first-ever East Cork junior football!

“Lads were still winning together and we celebrated that one as much as any of the hurling wins!"