Naomh Abán will relish rare semi-final appearance

The last time Naomh Abán qualified for the last four of the Premier Intermediate Championship was in 2018 and on that wet evening in Páirc Uí Rinn, their current manager Diarmuid Ó Scanaill was in the fray when they were narrowly defeated by Fermoy. 

After a three-point victory in a tight encounter with Rockchapel on Saturday evening in Banteer, the Naomh Abán man was satisfied that his side had upped their second-half performance considerably to edge their noses at front when it mattered, the final quarter. 

"It was a mighty performance, we don't win too many games up here in Duhallow and we're very happy with our victory today," he said. 

He credited sterling performances in the defence and midfield with the low impact of the Rockchapel forwards on the scoreboard and said it built the platform for Naomh Abán to mount its own more profitable attacks. 

"Dara Mickey (Ó Loinsigh), Jack (Ó Donnchú), Seán (Ó Riordáin) Colm (de hÍde), all those lads came into the game and in that final quarter, they took control of the game and went on from there."

Ó Scanaill said that he and his fellow selectors felt that they hadn't imposed themselves on the game in the first half, performing way under par. "A tally of 0-4 from that first half is never going to win a match," he said. 

LONG WAIT

Naomh Abán lost that semi-final to Fermoy in 2018 and have to go back to 1999 when they last won a semi-final at this grade. They went on to win the county championship that year, beating Castletownbere in the final. 

But before they can think of the final, they face Aghabullogue, one of the fancied teams at this grade in the semi-final. 

"They're a formidable side, they won the Intermediate championship last year and emerged at the top of a group including Iveleary, Ilen and Aghada, a tough group. 

They're a tough side, they have Bradley, Paul Ring and others, it will be a different match.

"We will see, we will return to Baile Mhúirne and put our heads down and move on."

Of course, Naomh Abán are down a few of their marquee players as they move on in the competition, Ed Myers and Aodhán Ó Luasa are both injured. 

Rockchapel's Gerry Casey was disappointed on behalf of his side following their defeat but felt the missed chances cost them dearly. 

"I thought we had a period there in the second half where we had some good moves but we didn't finish them - we had five wides in a row and that was costly in what was always going to be a tight game."

The first-half goal chance is also a miss the North Cork side will rue. It was a disappointing end to the season as they had been reasonably confident coming into this match but had encountered some setbacks. 

"You come into every game, no matter what, and the last few weeks, we were struck down with injuries, there were five fellows there that were out that could have played."