Late O'Driscoll point earns Carrig second bite of cherry

Imokilly 1-8 Carrigdhoun 0-11

It was no more than the South East divisional side deserved as they proved more than a match for their illustrious opponents and matched them score for score in a disappointing tie.

The one bright feature of the game, however, was the display of Brendan Lombard for the home division. The Ballinhassig man was majestic at the heart of the Carrigdhoun defence where he faced county senior Niall McCarthy and still found time to come forward and score two points, the second of which would have been worthy of winning any match.

While Lombard's display was exceptional, a depleted Carrigdhoun side also had excellent players in goalkeeper Declan McCarthy, Declan Healy, Kieran Lynch and Richie Butler.

Imokilly were a huge disappointment. They came with a big reputation but on a night when Carrigdhoun tested their mettle to the full, only Brendan O'Driscoll, Noel Furlong, Ger Melvin and John Flavin can look back at this game with any degree of satisfaction.

Imokilly opted to play against the strong wind from the start and it looked the right decision when Liam Aherne slipped home a goal after two minutes. However, Carrigdhoun settled well and with Lombard magnificent at centre-back, they laid siege to the Imokilly defence and the home division were level with a succession of points, two of them from frees, by Brendan O'Driscoll.

Two evenly matched sides went on to be level on two further occasions that produced little in terms of skilful hurling and at the break Carrig led 0-6 to 1-2.

It needed to be a lot bigger given the strength of the wind but with Imokilly unable to make any impression on Lombard, despite trying a number of players at centre-forward, scores continued to be scarce.

Imokilly moved John Flavin forward for the last 20 minutes and while he improved matters for the East Cork divisional side they couldn't convert possession into scores and Carrig, inspired by Lombard, were well in the hunt at the three-quarter stage after he gave them the lead with a superb long range point.

The introduction of Michael Fitzgerald added more penetration to the Imokilly attack and his two points edged his side in front with two minutes remaining. Carrig looked to have blown their chance to level it after Brendan Lombard's 65 was narrowly wide.

However they weren't to be denied and Brendan O'Driscoll's point from a close-in free gave them a second bite of the cherry, which was no more than they deserved for a battling performance.

Scorers: Carrigdhoun: B O'Driscoll 0-4 (frees), K O'Driscoll, R Butler, B Lombard (0-1f) 0-2 each, D O'Sullivan 0-1. Imokilly: L Aherne 1-0, J Flavin, M Fitzgerald (0-1f) 0-2 each, B Coleman, N McCarthy, G Melvin, D Barrett 0-1 each.

IMOKILLY: J.J. Barry (Carrigtwohill), J. Flavin (Fr. O'Neill's), M. Fitzgerald (St. Catherine's), B. O'Driscoll (Fr. O'Neill's), B. Murphy (do.), B. Coleman (Youghal), N. Furlong (Carrigtwohill), P. O'Regan (Watergrasshill), J. Melvin (Aghada), E. Conway (Fr. O'Neill's), N. McCarthy (Carrigtwohill), G. Holland (Fr. O'Neill's), V. Morrissey (Aghada), S. O'Leary (Watergrasshill), L. Aherne (Dungourney). Subs D Barrett (Cobh) for Holland, M Fitzgerald (Carrigtwohill) for Conway, P Cahill (Watergrasshill) for O'Leary.

CARRIGDHOUN: D. McCarthy (Ballymartle); S. McCarthy (Ballinhassig), D. Healy (do.), O. O'Reilly (Shamrocks); C. O'Neill (do.), B. Lombard (Ballinhassig), K. Lynch (Tracton); K. O'Driscoll (Carrigaline), J. Mullaney (Ballinhassig); J. O'Sullivan (do.), D. Dineen (do), B. O'Driscoll (Carrigaline); R. Butler (Valley Rovers), D. Duggan (Ballinhassig), M. O'Sullivan (Carrigaline). Subs. P Lombard (Ballinhassig) for Dineen, P Murphy (Carrigaline) for J. O'Sullivan, E Manning (Valley Rovers) for M. O'Sullivan.

Referee: J. Kearney (Na Piarsaigh).