O’Connell goal seals it as Aghada survive searching Naomh Abán test

THEY may have been slick and fast in the first-half, but Aghada had to withstand a searching second-half test from Naomh Abán at Páirc Uí Rinn before booking their place in the Evening Echo Cork Co SFC quarter-finals — a last minute James O’Connell goal securing a hard earned passage.

Naomh Abán will bemoan a second quarter collapse. With Pierce O’Neill and Aidan Kelleher giving Aghada a grip at midfield, it was a lapse the Ballyvourney men never fully recovered from. They came close, but Aghada deserved their victory, despite playing second fiddle in the second-half .

Selector Declan Devoy was happy. “I though we played some good football in the first-half and deserved to be in front. But I knew they would come at us in the second-half and we had to be really strong to come through. We can take a rest from football for a while now and concentrate on our hurling relegation battle. We beat a good Ballyvourney side and we have to be happy with that.”