Avondhu need late goal to pull away from Carbery 

Avondhu's Colin O'Brien tries to get away from Carbery's Jeremy Ryan, during their Cork Premier SHC clash at Coachford.

Avondhu 2-23 Carbery 3-15 

A competitive Preliminary Round of the Co-Op Superstores Cork Premier SHC Divisions/Colleges section eventually went the way of Avondhu at Coachford tonight. In a nip-and-tuck game, it wasn’t until the final quarter that Stephen Condon’s 56th minute goal put some daylight between the teams.

Up front, Condon and Colin O’Brien displayed their class for Joe O’Brien’s side, amassing 2-18 between them. While the winners conceded three goals in the opening half and also shot 11 wides in that period, they tightened up considerably in the second-half to progress to the semi-final in what was a solid performance overall.

However, all is not lost for Charlie Vaughan’s Carbery as they will play Duhallow next week and they can take plenty of positives from this match which was level on nine occasions, only for them to be outscored late on 1-5 to 0-3.

Carbery held a 3-6 to 1-9 lead at the interval. Full-forward Philip Wall found the net twice in the first quarter, but a goal from Colin O’Brien in the seventh minute meant Avondhu were never too far away.

It was Carbery’s third major in the 30th minute from Darren O’Donovan after he got a stick to Jeremy Ryan’s free that gave them that edge at the break.

Avondhu regrouped at half-time and set about cutting the deficit straight from the restart through Jeremy Saich, Jamie Magner, Condon and Brian Buckley to get back on level terms - Ryan was Carbery’s sole reply.

The north Cork side also introduced Davie Jones and Darragh O’Brien at the half-way mark.

It was nip-and-tuck throughout the third quarter with the lead changing hands continuously. But, Carbery were not allowed the same freedom in attack and most of the scores came from midfielder Ryan.

Avondhu moved 1-21 to 3-12 ahead with the final 10 minutes left on the clock. It was all to play for and it took Condon’s goal after he latched on to Darragh O’Reilly’s long delivery four minutes from time to finally decide the outcome in front of a fine crowd.

Scorers for Avondhu: C O’Brien (1-10, 0-7 frees), S Condon (1-8, 0-1 free), B Buckley, J Saich, J Magner, D Jones and D O’Brien (0-1 each).

Scorers for Carbery: J Ryan (0-8, 0-5 frees), P Wall (2-0), D O’Donovan (1-1), M Cahalane, M Lawton (sl), C O’Neill, D Lowney, K O’Donovan and F Butler (0-1 each).

AVONDHU: K Walsh (Kilworth); E McGrath (Kilworth), E Burke (Kilshannig), B Carey (Araglen); B Buckley (Dromina), M Keane (Ballygiblin, Capt), D O’Reilly (Ballyhooly); J O’Sullivan (Ballygiblin); D Buckley (Dromina); D Linehan (Ballyhooly), J Saich (Kilworth), C O’Brien (Liscarroll/Churchtown Gaels); J Magner (Killavullen); S O’Sullivan (Ballygiblin), S Condon (Harbour Rovers).

Subs: D Jones (Dromina) for S O’Sullivan (half-time), D O’Brien (Harbour Rovers) for D Buckley (half-time), L Cronin (Killavullen) for J Saich (53), P Walsh (Kilshannig) for D Linehan (53), E Cotter (Killavullen) for J Magner (62).

CARBERY: D Dullea (Doheny’s); E O’Brien (Ballinascarthy), C Nyhan (Ballinascarthy), J Hurley (Kilbrittain); D Lowney (Clonakilty), M Sexton (Kilbrittain), G O’Donovan (Diarmuid O’Mathúna); M Cahalane (Bandon), J Ryan (Ballinascarthy, Capt); M Lawton (Argideen Rangers), C O’Neill (Ballinascarthy), K O’Donovan (Diarmuid O’Mathúna); D O’Donovan (St Mary’s), P Wall (Kilbrittain), F Butler (Argideen Rangers).

Subs: A Hayes (St James) for M Cahalane (20 inj), S White (Clonakilty) for A Hayes (38), C Calnan (Bandon) for G O’Donovan (50), C Cullinane (Ballinascarthy) for D O’Donovan (53).

Referee: Brendan Barry Murphy (Aghabullogue).