Aghada worthy winners in IAFC quarter-final against Glanmire

Aghada 2-12 Glanmire 0-10 

Aghada booked their place in the final four of the McCarthy Insurance Group PIFC with an impressive victory over Glanmire in Lisgoold on Saturday. 

After finishing in third place in the group stage in the previous two seasons, the Aghada men were keen to make the most of this opportunity and in an excellent team display that saw them kick 1-6 in each half, they were worthy winners.

Points from Jordan Tynan and Cian Hegarty pushed Aghada 1-8 to 0-6 in front after half-time before the game just got away from Glanmire. Firstly, the excellent Sean Morrissey set up Jamie O’Hanlon’s second point of the game to push Agahda six clear and from the resulting kickout, they put the game to bed.

Former Cork footballer, Colm O’Neill, was manning the posts for Glanmire and he had already landed a superb two-point free in the opening half and had found his target from restarts regularly. However, a moment of hesitation in the restart that came after O’Hanlon’s point saw the ball end up in the arms of Tim Hartnett, and the Aghada centre-forward charged forward to bang in the game-defining goal. It made it 2-9 to 0-6, and Glanmire had a mountain to climb.

They made a good fist of climbing the mountain as a two-pointer from David Lynch was followed by another orange flag from O’Neill to leave five in it with two to play, but there was to be no denying a highly motivated Aghada.

The outstanding Diarmuid Phelan fisted over a point before kicking another while Hartnett rounded off the scoring with a beautiful point from play. Goalkeeper Cian O’Shea also earned his crust as he saved brilliantly from Conor Crowley and in the final play of the game, it was the great Pearse O’Neill who claimed possession.

After a flirtation with relegation last season, Aghada will now play Uibh Laoire in the semi-final. Nobody will give them much of a chance. That won’t bother them in the slightest. As for Glanmire, they can be more than happy with their season after gaining promotion from the IAFC last season.

They got off to a poor start when they lost Conor Nelligan to a black card in the third minute. O’Hanlon slotted over the free, but Glanmire then dealt with the challenge well, holding possession patiently while O’Neill’s first orange flag gave them the lead for the only time in the game. A score from Morrissey was then supplemented by a two-pointer from Diarmuid Byrne to leave Aghada 0-4 to 0-2 to the good at the end of the opening quarter.

Morrissey then blew the game open with a sublime pass to O’Hanlon who finished brilliantly to put Aghada in control. Glanmire’s response was impressive, as Daniel Molden, Brian Galvin and Crowley cancelled out the goal. Then Morrissey’s second point and a 45 from Hegarty sandwiched a Dan Hogan point for Glanmire to make it 1-6 to 0-6 at the interval.

From there, Agahda showed their mettle to take the victory and a place in the final four.

Scorers for Aghada: J O’Hanlon 1-2 (0-1 f), T Hartnett 1-1, D Phelan, D Byrne (2 pt), S Morrissey, C Hegarty (0-1 45, 0-1 f) 0-2 each, J Tynan 0-1.

Glanmire: C O’Neill 0-4 (2 2pt f), D Lynch (2 pt) 0-2, B Galvin (f), D Hogan, D Molden, C Crowley (0-1 each).

AGHADA: C O’Shea; R Murphy, J Colbert, K O’Shea; J O’Donoghue, E Leahy, J Tynan; D Phelan, C Hegarty; D Byrne, T Hartnett, S Maloney; S Morrissey, J O’Hanlon, P O’Neill.

Subs: D Wallace for Maloney (h-t), S Whyte for Colbert (49), J Norris for Murphy (53), J McKenna for Byrne (55), C O’Driscoll for Hegarty (58).

GLANMIRE: C O’Neill; R McSweeney, O Kelleher, B Murphy; S O'Driscoll, C Nelligan, D Murray; C Crowley, D Kenneally; T Hourihan, L Hackett, D Hogan; B Galvin, H Jones, D Molden.

Subs: J Kingston for Hackett (h-t), A Marron for Murphy (39), D Lynch for McSweeney (42), J Crowley for Jones (47), K Kenneally for Galvin (58).

Referee: Aidan Hyland (Kilworth).