O’Farrell goal lifts Magpies

MIDLETON’S excellent progress in the Evening Echo Cork SHC continues unabated after they garnered another splendid triumph in Saturday night’s fourth round tie in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

The east Cork side had opened their campaign with an eye-catching victory over last season’s beaten finalists Sarsfields, but despite the 10-week hiatus since that match, they displayed no signs of staleness. They ensured that earlier victory was no fluke by producing another dynamic display.

Make no mistake, Na Piarsaigh is a serious scalp for Midleton. The city team had produced a free-scoring display in the first round win over Glen Rovers when they had 16 points to spare at the final whistle.

There were spells on Saturday when they looked like producing something similar. John Gardiner, excelling in his deployment at centre-forward, was leading their attack in style while Aisake O hAilpín looked capable of wreaking havoc when fed regular possession.

But Midleton proved sticky opponents who were never rattled by Na Piarsaigh’s dominant phases. Their defence grew in confidence and tackled the threats posed by the Na Piarsaigh’s forwards. At midfield Seamus O’Farrell was the leading performer as he channelled plenty quality deliveries towards his forwards.

The Midleton attack produced two glittering individual displays. Sean Hennessy showcased why he is one of the most reliable free-takers in the county as he converted every chance that came his way, including a few crucial placed balls during the opening-half. At full-forward Luke O’Farrell again claimed vital scores and a 1-3 return signified the influence he had exerted on proceedings. Cork minor Conor Lehane grabbed a pair of lovely points as well while Kieran Mulcahy did an important job in constantly scrapping hard with Sean Óg O hAilpín for possession.

O’Farrell’s goal was the key score of the game. As the second-half wore on, there was an unmistakable sense that whichever team could raise a green flag would be primed to proceed to victory.

It was Midleton that grabbed it in the 47th minute with Sean Hennessy engineering the move with an incisive run from the half-forward line. He off-loaded to substitute Tom Wallis and the youngster showed great composure to tap the ball across the goal where O’Farrell was lurking. He finished with aplomb to the net. Similar to their tie against Sarsfields, a final quarter goal instilled Midleton with the confidence that they could achieve victory. O’Farrell added a point and they held a four-point advantage with 12 minutes left.

Na Piarsaigh did produce an excellent recovery. Gardiner began to dominate matters up front once more as he notched a trio of points and that salvo, allied to a neat score by Pádraig Gould, brought them level nearing full-time.

At that stage the smart money would have been on Na Piarsaigh to triumph as they possessed the momentum. But Midleton weathered the storm successfully with Declan Ryan and Pádraig O’Shea inspiring in defence.

The break came their way in the 60th minute when Paul Haughney seized on a loose sideline ball in the Na Piarsaigh defence and when he was fouled, Hennessy drilled over the resultant placed ball. In the 62nd minute Tom Wallis broke free before his run was impeded and again Hennessy obliged to give a two-point lead.

It was a deserved victory for Midleton but still a game that Na Piarsaigh departed from with regrets. The quality of point-scoring in the opening stages was breathtaking with Na Piarsaigh just edging it 0-7 to 0-6 on the scoreboard.

They quickly moved 0-9 to 0-6 ahead and their experience enabled them to still lead 0-10 to 0-7 as the game inched towards the interval.

Yet in the overall context of the match, those closing minutes of the first-half transpired to be critical. Midleton slotted over three points on the trot courtesy of O’Farrell and Hennessy (two) and being level at the break was a significant boost.

In the second half the match remained tight in the third-quarter before O’Farrell’s goal set them on the road for a quarter-final meeting with Glen Rovers or St Finbarr’s.

Scorers for Midleton: S Hennessy 0-9 (7f); L O’Farrell 1-3; C Lehane 0-2; P O’Keeffe 0-1.

Na Piarsaigh: J Gardiner 0-8 (4f, 2‘65s); C Lynch (2f), A O hAilpín, P Gould 0-2 each; R McGregor, S Glasgow 0-1 each.

MIDLETON: B Behan; S Murphy, D Ryan, A Kearney; J Nagle, A Ryan, P O’Shea; S O’Farrell, P O’Keeffe; C Lehane, K Mulcahy, S Hennessy; P Barry, L O’Farrell, P Haughney.

Subs: T Wallis for Barry (26).

NA PIARSAIGH: A Keating; D Mannix, M Prendergast, A Brady; R Healy, S Óg O hAilpín, E Moynihan; J Egan, R McGregor; P Gould, J Gardiner, S Glasgow; C Lynch, A O ‘hAilpín, S Duggan.

Subs: C Joyce for Glasgow (inj) (26), P O’Rourke for Moynihan (35), T O hAilpín for Lynch (50), I McDonnell for Duggan (59).

Referee: Conor Lane (Lyre).