Battling Midleton answer the call with five-star show

Midleton CBS 5-13 Abbey CBS 0-11

Needing Templemore to beat Douglas up the road and score a bagful themselves, Midleton’s task looked hopeless when they trailed 0-11 to 1-6 at the break.

Quite simply Abbey CBS, rocked by a quick Midleton burst inside the opening five minutes, with full-forward Killian Hurley goaling after taking the excellent Ger O’Leary’s free out of the air, proceeded to play some nice controlled hurling.

With Lorcan O’Dwyer and Barry Grogan controlling mid-field Abbey CBS battled back to trail by just 1-4 to 0-4 after the opening quarter with John Kelly pointing two excellent frees.

Midleton failed to get a stranglehold on the game despite their good start and some good play from Aidan Ryan. Alan Morrissey missed a sitter and with four minutes of the half remaining Midleton were only two points to the good and way off the mark for clinching the qualifying place.

It got even worse when Timmy Dalton sent over three points and Owen Davern another to give the Tipp boys that 0-11 to 1-6 lead at the break. Midleton, who have struggled in their games this season, looked to be heading for a peaceful New Year.

But what was to enfold in the second-half epitomised the strength of East Cork hurling these times as they dug in to give Abbey, who had no chance of qualifying, a lesson in the power of positive thinking.

O’Leary, now at mid-field, was tremendous, Hurley sublime and with each and every one of the Midleton players playing with pride the scores began to arrive.

Ian Fitzpatrick set the trend with a quick goal after the restart, O’Leary rode in with a couple of points and then came a double goalblast, the first from substitute Paudie O’Sullivan, brother of Cork start Diarmuid, in the 43rd minute and the second from Hurley and suddenly Midleton were three goals clear, 4-8 to 0-11, entering the final quarter.

There was no let up, Midleton on hearing the news that Templemore were taking care of Douglas, went for it and a fifth goal from Evan O’Keeffe lifted their spirits further. Only for brave Abbey goalkeeper Tom Gleeson the Tipp boys would have been blitzed as some super free-taking by O’Leary powered Midleton to an emphatic victory.

And when news arrived of Templemore’s victory, Midleton knew they had done enough. And how they celebrated. They had held Abbey CBS scoreless for the entire second half and in the process played their best hurling of the competition. The perfect fillip for the quarter-finals.

Scorers: Midleton: K. Hurley 2-2; G. O’Leary 0-7 (0-4 frees); I. Fitzpatrick 1-1; P. O’Sullivan, E. O’Keeffe 1-0 each; S. Crowley 0-2; A. Morrissey 0-1.

Abbey CBS: T. Dalton 0-4 (0-1 free); B. Grogan, J. Kelly (frees) 0-2 each; C. O’Dwyer, S. Grogan, O. Davern 0-1 each.

MIDLETON CBS: E. McGovern; I. Cooney; C. Leahy; A. Crotty; B. Hartnett; A. Ryan; K. O’Brien; K. Ryan; S. Crowley; G. O’Leary; S. Hennessey; E. O’Keeffe; I. Fitzpatrick; K. Hurley; A. Morrissey.

Subs: P. O’Sullivan for Fitzpatrick, Fitzpatrick for K. Ryan.

ABBEY CBS: T. Gleeson; M. Shanahan; S. Grogan; S. Spillane; J. Kelly; D. Hogan; R. Ryan; L. O’Dwyer, B. Grogan; L. Coskeran; O. Davern; T. Dalton, B. Hartnett; C. O’Dwyer; T. O’Brien. Sub: J. English for Spillane.

Referee: M. Meade (Ballylanders)