Kilshannig coast to first ever Premier IFC victory

A young Na Piarsaigh side suffered a heavy defeat

Sun, 30 Jul, 2023 - 11:54

Kieran Doherty, Grenagh

Cork Premier IFC Group C: Kilshannig 2-25 Na Piarsaigh 0-5

Kilshannig had a convincing victory against Na Piarsaigh in the Bon Secours Premier IFC opener at Grenagh.

This opening Group C encounter was a very one-sided affair with the North Cork side winning their very first Premier Intermediate Championship game.

They will have a much more difficult outing when they play Cill na Martha in Donoughmore in three weeks. As for the young Na Piarsaigh side, who are at the start of a rebuilding process, they now have three weeks to prepare for a visit to Cobh to play Aghada. A loss for either team in this fixture would mean a relegation battle ahead.

Kilshannig got the dream start when they scored a goal with their very first attack, Diarmuid O’Sullivan made a surging run through the Na Piarsaigh back line and gave the perfect pass for Tom Cunningham to fist the ball to the net. They then added a point from a long-range free by Ciaran O’Sullivan to lead 1-1 after only two minutes.

The Northside outfit raised the white flag to open their account with a point from Cian Horgan, however, Kilshannig responded with another goal. This time it was Diarmuid O’Sullivan who finished off a good passage of play to smash the ball into the back of the net for a 2-3 to 0-1 lead.

The favourites were now dominant in midfield and added three points in succession from Cunningham, Ben Creedon and Jack Twomey — 2-7 to 0-2 after 20 minutes.

Na Piarsaigh reduced the deficit with two points from frees from Kevin O’Meara. However, Kilshannig Alan O’Connell and Cunningham added points from play to lead 2-9 to 0-4 at half-time.

Kilshannig started the second half with a flurry of scores from Creedon, Diarmuid O’Sullivan and Colm O’Shea and were 16 points clear.

Na Piarsaigh had their keeper Alan O’Sullivan to thank for not being further behind with a string of brilliant saves and yet they were still blitzed across the closing stages to lose by 26 points.

For Kilshannig manager Ger Creedon it was important that they got off to a good start to the season.

"I’m delighted to get our very first victory at Premier Intermediate level, however, we still have a lot of work to do in this campaign. To give Na Piarsaigh credit they battled right to the end and never gave up and I know they will learn from it."

Scorers for Kilshannig: T Cunningham 1-5 (0-2 f), D O’Sullivan 1-3, B Creedon 0-4, C O’Shea, A O’Connell 0-3 each, C O’Sullivan 0-3 (0-2 f), J Twomey 0-2, B Guerin, B Curtin 0-1 each.

Na Piarsaigh: C O’Meara 0-3 (0-2 f), S Cooke, C Horgan 0-1 each.

KILSHANNIG: G Creedon; C Murphy, E Burke, S O’Connell; B Curtin, C O’Shea, M Twomey; J Twomey, B Guerin; A O’Connell, B Creedon, E O’Sullivan, D O’Sullivan, C O’Sullivan, T Cunningham.

NA PIARSAIGH: A O’Sullivan; S Bowen, S O’Mahony, C Long; D Maguire, E O’Sheehan, D Spillane; A Burke, J Scanlon; C Horgan, R Lynch, S Cooke; K O’Meara, D Doherty, M Sheehan.

Referee: Eoin Coleman (Youghal).