Premier IFC: Jimmy Allen delighted Naomh Abán's steady improvements continue

Naomh Abán’s progress chart since 2022 is almost perfectly linear.

In that year, they finished bottom of their group and had to take on St Vincent’s in the Premier IFC relegation play-off, triumphing by 0-8 to 0-7 in a tense encounter.

A third-placed finish in 2023 avoided putting their status on the line but it meant they didn’t reach the knockout stages; then, last year, there was a jump as they won two and drew one in their section to qualify for the quarter-finals.

While they beat Rockchapel there, they fell to Aghabullogue in the semis. A year on, and a perfect record of three wins from three has given them top spot again, while Saturday’s win over Bandon helped to edge out Aghabullogue for one of the two automatic spots in the last four.

Going in with a scoring difference of +11, they doubled that as they won by 1-18 to 1-7 in Kilmichael. Manager Jimmy Allen admitted that trying to copper-fasten a top-two seeding was an aim, but obviously only after the victory itself had been secured, against a Bandon side that could have managed to finish second in the group but now ultimately find themselves having to take on Macroom in the play-off.

“To be honest, we had half an eye on that,” he said, “but we had definitely two eyes on Bandon.

“They were fighting as well, and you could see it there in the first half, they put us to the pin of our collar.

“We came out in the second half and we played football and you saw the scores we got. The two-pointers made the difference.”

While Naomh Abán conceded an early goal as Mark Sugrue’s 45 ended up in the net, they assumed control of the tie with four two-pointers in the first half, two each from Darragh Ó Laoire and Ed Ó Mír.

Those scored helped them to lead by 0-11 to 1-2 at half-time and two points on the restart were followed by a goal from Ó Laoire.

“We had whatever bit of a breeze was there [in the first half],” Allen said.

“We have kickers, and our main thing is to get them to the kickers. You saw what we did, we kept a couple of nice two-pointers there in all ways.

“We came in the second half, we controlled the second half, I thought, and we got our goal.

“We're in the semi-final now and that's what we started the year to do.”

Naomh Abán had seven different scorers in total, with the varied threats of their attack making it different for opponents to shut them down. In addition, the lack of any players involved in hurling mean interrupted preparations.

“We're lucky enough in that respect,” he said.

“We're solid and we're working hard. I'm telling you, we're doing a lot of work and training.

“Carthach Keane there is working hard. We're rising to the challenge as we go along.

“We're not the finished article yet, but we're getting there.”

They will now have four weeks in which to prepare for a semi-final against Aghabullogue or Kiskeam. Tough challenge matches should fill that gap, while Allen and his selectors hope to have a difficult job in picking the team.

“We have players coming back as well,” he said.

“We have Aodhán Ó Luasa coming back now and we have Diarmuid Ó Ceallaigh back from Australia and things like that.

“There's going to be a lot of fighting for places now, which is what we want.

“We're going to have a few headaches – thanks to be God!”