Deane goal crucial as late Bantry revival beats Aghada in PIFC

HANDS UP: Aghada's Jake O'Donoghue and Aidan O'Connell and Bantry Blues' Sean O'Leary trying to win the ball in the Bons Secours Cork PIFC at Ovens. Pic: Denis Minihane.

Premier Intermediate Football Championship

Bantry 2-11 Aghada 1-9

Bantry came back from the dead before securing a crucial win against Aghada in a thrilling Bon Secours Premier Intermediate football championship clash at Ovens on Saturday.

Aghada looked in pole position in the closing minutes but the pendulum swung and a stunning Ruari Deane goal set the west Cork side up for this win against the odds.

Credit to Aghada they went into the game without stalwart Pearce O’Neill but they got a good start when a Danny Creedon point got them up and running in the fourth minute.

The east Cork side were dominant all over the pitch and when Shane Bennett burst through the lethargic Bantry defence in the 12th minute his final pass to Arthur Coakley was well off the mark.

Deane was man marked by various Aghada players and looked frustrated at times despite the sides being on parity in the 16th minute.

To be fair Aghada always looked dangerous going forward and consecutive classy points from Diarmuid Byrne and Charlie Terry edged them ahead 0-5 to 0-3.

Deane showed his class in the 23rd minute with a superb injection of pace but his blistering shot came off the crossbar to safety.

On the next Aghada possession poor defending by Bantry allowed Aaron Berry get in behind their defence as he billowed the roof of the net.

In the final minute Kyle O’Shea went close to raising another green flag for Aghada on the stroke of half time but they still looked comfortable at the break when commanding a 1-5 to 0-4 lead.

On the restart Bantry began to increase the physicality stakes but with the minutes ticking down they were still struggling to take command.

When Aghada look back on this game they will surely rue not scoring for 20 minutes as Bantry moved up a couple of gears.

There is little doubt a Kevin Coakley goal five minutes into the second half settled them into their stride as they looked far more clinical when the game hung in the balance.

When the going got tough the tough got going as Bantry outscored Aghada 1-3 to 0-1 in the closing minutes when defeat stared them in the face.

Scorers for Bantry: R Deane 1-3 (0-1f), A Coakley 0-4 (0-3f), K Coakley 1-0, S Keevers, S O’Leary, D Murray, K Harrington (0-1 each).

Scorers for Aghada: F Cody 0-4 (0-1 45), A Berry 1-0, D Byrne 0-2, D Creedon 0-2, C Terry 0-1.

Bantry: S Murray; S Thornton, T Cronin, C Power; E O’Shea, B Foley, D McCarthy; E Minihane, S O’Leary; R Deane, K Coakley, S Keevers; D Murray, A Coakley, P Cronin.

Subs: K Harrington for B Foley (43), D Daly for K Coakley (58).

Aghada: C O’Shea: J Colbert, R Power, K O’Shea; T Hartnett, J O’Donoghue, J Tynan; S Barrett, A O’Connell; F Cody, M Russell, D Creedon; A Barry, D Byrne, C Terry.

Subs: C Fleming for S Barrett (h-t); A Hogan for C Terry (50), D Collins for D Byrne (55).

Referee: B Coniry (Crosshaven).