Imokilly make light work of Avondhu to secure quarter-final berth

STAR: Imokilly's William Leahy wins the sliotar. Picture; Eddie O'Hare

Imokilly 3-29 Avondhu 1-20 

Imokilly secured their place in the Co-Op Superstores Cork Premier SHC quarter-final at Páirc Uí Rinn on Sunday evening. 

They comfortably got the better of Avondhu with a 15-point winning margin in this Division/Colleges final. Having conceded two goals in the first four minutes, the north Cork men were always chasing this game.

Those green flags from Diarmuid Healy and Sean Desmond got Imokilly up-and-running, but this result was all about a cohesive team display.

There were three changes to the Avondhu team with Ben Carey replacing the injured Fionn Herlihy at corner-back, Liam Cronin started at midfield instead of the unavailable Jeremy Saich while David Jones came in for the injured Chris Buckley at full-forward - and Jones had to give way after just 16 minutes to injury himself.

Imokilly, meanwhile, named Ciarán Joyce - recovered from injury - at centre-back with Kevin O’Neill moving to the middle of the park instead of Mark McCarthy.

Imokilly, managed by Denis Ring, were boosted by a great start when they went 1-2 to nil up after just three minutes. Wing-forward Healy grabbed the goal when his shot from out the field deceived Kieran Walsh who appeared to be blinded by the sun.

A second goal then came from corner-forward Desmond a minute later after he was set up by Brian Lawton. The east Cork side continued to hit their stride to go 2-6 to 0-3 in front after a mere 10 minutes.

When William Leahy opened his account with a trio of points, all six Imokilly forwards had registered on the scoresheet.

The expected recovery started for Avondhu with Darragh O’Reilly, Colin O’Brien, Stephen Condon, Jamie Magner, Jack Twomey and Mark Lenahan hitting points but they could never close the gap sufficiently. They too were grateful to their ‘keeper Walsh who denied William Leahy a third Imokilly goal in stoppage.

It was a measure of Imokilly’s superiority that they hit their first and only wide of the half on the 30 minute mark, as they led 2-15 to 0-13.

The teams continued to trade points as the difference remained at eight points at the three-quarter juncture, 2-21 to 0-19.

A much-needed Avondhu goal arrived from Mark Keane in the 59th minute but it was too late to make any sort of a difference.

For good measure, Imokilly sub Mark McCarthy answered Keane in emphatic fashion when he fired Imokilly’s third goal right on the 60 minute mark.

All that was left to do was the presentation of the inaugural Denis O’Riordan Memorial Trophy to joint-captains Ciarán O'Brien and Brian Lawton.

Scorers for Imokilly: W Leahy (0-11, 0-8 frees), S Desmond (1-4), D Healy (1-1), J Leahy (0-4), M McCarthy (1-0), M Kelly (0-3), Brian Lawton, Seamus Harnedy and J Stack (0-2 each).

Scorers for Avondhu: S Condon (0-9, 0-5 frees), C O’Brien (0-6, 0-2 frees), M Keane (1-1), J Twomey, D O’Reilly, J Magner and M Lenahan (0-1 each).

IMOKILLY: E Davis (St Catherine’s); M Russell (Aghada), D Moran (Castlemartyr), S Hegarty (Dungourney); C O’Brien (St Ita’s, J-Capt), C Joyce (Castlemartyr), J Cronin (Lisgoold); J Leahy (Dungourney), K O’Neill (Watergrasshill); Brian Lawton (Castlemartyr, J-Capt), S Harnedy (St Ita’s), D Healy (Lisgoold); S Desmond (Watergrasshill), W Leahy (Aghada), M Kelly (Castlemartyr).

Subs: J Stack (Castlemartyr) for D Healy (46), Barry Lawton (Castlemartyr) for K O’Neill (49), M McCarthy (Aghada) for J Leahy (50), L O’Shea (Lisgoold) for S Harnedy (57), E Cronin (Youghal) for M Kelly (62).

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

Subs: M Lenahan (Buttevant) for D Jones (16 inj), S Linehan (Ballyhooly) for L Cronin (31 inj), B Nyhan (Clyda Rovers) for J Magner (39), D O’Brien (Harbour Rovers) for B Carey (62), E Cotter (Killavullen) for M Lenahan (62).

Referee: Dave Daly (Brian Dillons).