Depleted Imokilly crushed by ruthless Ballygunner in Abernethy Cup clash
Cormac Cantwell, Ballygunner battles with Jack Leahy Imokilly during the Abernethy Cup final at Castlemartyr in 2023.
The All-Ireland champions turned up with a point to prove for their annual Abernethy Cup clash with Imokilly on Monday evening, as Ballygunner triumphed with ease. They raced clear to lead by eight after only a quarter of an hour, setting themselves up for what ended as a dominant 24-point win.
The mid-summer clash every year offers both teams an opportunity to test themselves prior to championship, but this one proved to be very much one-sided with Imokilly depleted and Ballygunner on it from the start.
The Gunners were without Waterford seniors Aaron O’Neill, Paddy Leavey and Ian Kenny but still exceptionally strong, as Dessie Hutchinson hit 2-4 from play and Peter Hogan 0-4 in the rout.
They broke through for their first of five majors in the fourth minute when Conor Sheahan teed up Hutchinson, and he blasted into the top corner to leave it 1-1 to 0-1.
The Imokilly response came less than 60 seconds after when Darragh O’Brien combined with Jack Leahy for the latter’s major, levelling the contest. Imokilly would even lead after eight minutes following a point from Luke Duggan Murray – who showed up well across the hour – but the Gunners stitched together six points unanswered to go five clear and remove any doubt as to which way the contest was going to go.
Imokilly would only raise five more white flags in the half while the Waterford kingpins struck for two more goals. They were well worked, too.
Kevin Mahony – scorer of 2-8 in the Munster SHC for Waterford this year – found Mark Hartley and he lashed to the net after 14 minutes, 2-8 to 1-4. The third goal came in the 26th minute, Eoin Cuddihy the provider as Waterford U20 Conor Tobin finished from close range.
By the break it was 3-13 to 1-8, Imokilly struggling to convert chances and Ballygunner utterly unrelenting. Jack Leahy clipped over a few scores as the four-man half-forward line offered Imokilly some outlets, but their opponents were simply too strong.
Seven minutes into the second half the Gunners had already struck 2-2 unanswered, which was more than Imokilly would end up with across the entire latter half. The fourth goal was superbly taken by Hutchinson after Tadhg Foley and Hogan worked it to him.
The Waterford veteran turned and fired brilliantly beyond Cork U20 Oisin Walsh, who would make a couple of critical stops to prevent the Gunners from scoring seven, though their next goal came immediately after the fourth when Tobin setup Mahony for their next hit.
Imokilly enjoyed a brief spark and hit four points on the spin – Sean O’Donoghue twice on target – but from there they would be outscored 0-12 to 0-3 across the remaining 20 minutes.
Hogan added 0-3 to his tally while substitutes Darragh O’Keeffe and Cathal O’Sullivan came on to contribute, as the visitors controlled the final quarter.
Oisin Walsh’s club and Cork U20 teammate Jayden Casey clipped over a good point and Leahy added two, one from play and the other a free. Ultimately, with only three of the team that started in their county final win over Sarsfields, they were always going to be up against it.
J Leahy 1-7 (0-2 f), S O’Donoghue 0-3, L Duggan Murray 0-2, J Casey, W Leahy, J Murray 0-1 each.
D Hutchinson 2-8 (0-4 f), M Hartley 1-3, P Hogan 0-4, K Mahony 1-1, C Tobin 1-0, E Cuddihy 0-3, H Ruddle 0-2, M Mahony, C Sheahan, T Foley, C O’Sullivan, D O’Keeffe, C Power 0-1 each.
E Davis (St Catherine’s); D Healy (Dungourney), E O’Riordan (St Catherine’s), C Martin (Castlemartyr); A Sherlock (Cloyne), C O’Brien (St Ita’s), J Casey (Youghal); J Murray (Youghal), W Leahy (Aghada); D O’Brien (St Ita’s), L Duggan Murray (Russell Rovers), J Leahy (Dungourney), C Cahill (Cloyne); A Lynch (Cobh), S O’Donoghue (St Catherine’s).
E Cullimore (Cobh) for Sherlock (12 inj), O Walsh (Youghal) for Davis (HT), S O’Driscoll (Aghada) for Martin (35), Davis for Cahill (57).
S O’Keeffe; T Foley, R Power; H Ruddle, P Mahony, F Cooney, C Power; M Mahony, C Sheahan; K Mahony, M Hartley, P Hogan; D Hutchinson, C Tobin, K Mahony.
D O’Keeffe for Sheahan (30+1-HT, temp) C O’Sullivan for Foley (41), G Corbett for Tobin (44), O’Keeffe for Mahony (49), P Power for Hutchinson (55), T Brennan for Cooney (57).
P O’Driscoll (Bride Rovers)
App?
