Premier SHC: Plenty for Midleton to work on but Micheál Keohane delighted to be in last four

Though there were aspects of their Co-op SuperStores Premier SHC win over Glen Rovers that need improving, Midleton manager Micheál Keohane is happy to have the time to do that.

At Páirc Uí Rinn on Friday night, the Magpies came from seven points down in the second half to get the better of their city opponents on a 2-19 to 2-17 scoreline, setting up a meeting with Blackrock in the semi-finals.

For Keohane, the character and spirit required to haul in the Glen on a difficult night for hurling were especially heartening.

“I don't know was it a good win – we won in the end, which is all that matters to us now at the moment," he said.

“It was great that they ground it out. They never say die, that's the one thing with this team. They never, ever give up and they don't really panic either.

“There wasn't rushing for goals for the last ten minutes or anything like that. They stayed plugging away until points got us over the line at the very end. So, no, I'm really delighted.”

Having fallen behind to an early Patrick Horgan goal for the Glen - the veteran would go on to finish with 2-9 - Midleton hit back thanks to a Cormac Beausang goal and most of the first half was even but the latter part of it belonged to the northsiders, who led by 2-10 to 1-8 at the break after Horgan stitched a 20m free.

“At half-time, it was just disappointing,” Keohane said.

“We just felt that we just hadn't played that well, we just hadn't really gotten a proper foothold in the game.

“In the second half, it looked for the first couple of minutes that we were going to get back into it and all of a sudden, they put the foot in the accelerator and drifted away from us altogether.”

Soon after the restart, the gap had swelled to seven points, but Midleton's resolve never wavered. A second Beausang goal, well set up by Eoin Moloney and Tommy O'Connell, reduced a six-point deficit to three and ensured they stayed in the game.

“We were just saying, get it to four, get it to three, get it to two and obviously Cormac Beausang got two incredible goals," Beausang said.

“The one in the first half, I don't know how he treaded into the back of the net from near the sideline, and the one in the second half was a great finish as well, but really well worked up the field.”

In addition, the impact from the subs who came on was key. Former Cork player Luke O'Farrell brought his experience to bear with two points as the Magpies finished with four in a row, while young starlets came in for praise from Keohane too.

“Some of the younger guys that came on, like Evan McGrath, he was absolutely immense, fantastic guy. He's just a different type of player. So strong, so athletic, so direct and a great young fella as well.

“It’s great to see fellas like that coming on and playing well – the likes of Davey Cremin and Evan on the younger side of it and Luke on the older side of it.

“They all came on and had a big impact. Most of the fellas that actually came off, they played pretty well. They were just out on their feet and just fresh legs.

“There’s ll be loads of competition for places now for the next two weeks.”

They will need it all against a Blackrock side that took the one automatic semi-final spot after three good wins in the group stage but Keohane hopes that Friday will stand to his side.

“We're going to go in knowing that we have to work really hard and dig deep enough for two weeks to try and improve,” he said.

“We’ve had a massively competitive game and I'm delighted with that. You can see the quality strung through with the Glen side, the Glen have a very bright future and lots of talent there, so we're not dismissing the win or anything like that.

“We know that they're a really top side, so we'll take confidence from that too.”